Sin City Spectacular - Part 2

Tuesday was my dad's last day in Vegas and we spent a good chunk of time with him in the sports book or playing craps.  For dinner we took off to Bally's Steakhouse, his favorite Vegas spot, for a nice meal before he headed for his red-eye back to Michigan.  The food was good.  I have a hard time with steakhouses because Ben makes such incredible steaks.  I find it hard to justify paying such high prices for something we can do as well at home for far less.  But my dad seemed to enjoy his meal and it was nice to take him out for once rather than the other way around.

(Ben and I on the bridge between NYNY and MGM with the Strip behind us)

(Ben and my dad, same locale)

After dinner he headed to the airport and we hit the monorail for the Flamingo to see our second show of the trip, X Burlesque.  Short review - this show is for people who are too chicken to go to a strip club and want to fool themselves into thinking that they are somehow more virtuous than people walking the streets of Vegas, wallets weighted down with singles.  Fun show, decent music, six women with bodies I would pay to have.  But there was still a pole and a lot of boobs, let's not fool ourselves here people.  Just go to a strip club.  After the show we hit the craps table again for a great night, which made up for a whole lot of less than great play we'd done the preceding days.

Wednesday dawned later than our usual early rising time, certainly the result of a late night.  But it turned out to be great.  We headed to the Paris for breakfast, played craps fairly successfully there for a while and then headed back to the NYNY.  More craps, a little more success.  I know it doesn't sound very exciting, but Ben and I were having fun standing next to each other watching the dice get thrown.  Laughing and winning!

For our last night in Vegas we had tickets to the Lion King at the Mandalay Bay.  An amazing show! Preceded by the best meal I have EVER had on this continent (I am therefore discounting some of the incredible deliciousness we encountered in France and Italy this year, etc.).  We enjoyed three courses and wine pairing at Fleur de Lys, Chef Hubert Keller's Las Vegas branch of his renowned San Francisco restaurant.

(Courtesy of their website - the inside of Fleur de Lys)

We began with a champagne aperitif.  The perfect thing for me - I LOVE BUBBLES!  Our first course included Ben's trio of foie gras that included a foie gras cappucino and my braised veal cheek and yukon gold potato ravioli, paired with Sauternes and Italian Rosé, respectively.  Our mains included Ben's halibut with chorizo oil paired with a sauvignon blanc and my roasted guinea hen with asparagus risotto paired with a buttery chardonnay.  Our last and final perfect, incredible course was a shared chocolate souffle with sweet glasses of raspberry liqueour.  I have never, even been so blissfully happy after a meal in my life.


We ended up our trip quietly, with a little more gambling and lot of ambling around the city just enjoying being together and away from work.  It will be a while before we get another vacation, so we tried to soak up every last minute of relaxation before we boarded our crowded Southwest flight home.