My friend from L.A. and I met up in Las Vegas for Thanksgiving again. We both stayed at The Venetian. I arrived on Wednesday morning; she arrived around noon. Although The Venetian gave me early check-in, they put me in the Venezia Tower for the first time. The room was perfectly fine, had I not stayed in the Venetian Tower the last times. My suite in the Venezia Tower was slightly smaller, had a more traditional Venetian décor, lacked a TV in the bathroom and lacked the remote control blinds. I’m spoiled, it’s true, but since I spend a large amount of time soaking in the tub while there, I simply can’t live without a TV in the bathroom! I resolved to switch rooms after eating.
While wandering through The Venetian, I came upon Prime Burger. I wasn’t in the mood for eggs, bacon, omelettes or any breakfast food. Prime Burger, believe it or not, had acai bowls for breakfast. I wasn’t expecting much from a burger place, but their acai bowl truly surprised me. For $10, the HUGE acai bowl had the usual bananas and strawberries, but also had shredded coconuts and cocoa nibs. It was VERY tasty and a much better value than I receive at Blue Hawaii in the Embarcadero in San Francisco.
After breakfast, I did indeed call to inquire about having my room changed. I was willing to wait until the normal check-in time of 3:00 p.m. to get a room in the Venetian Tower, but they told me that several of those rooms were ready. They simply told me what floors had available rooms, then I chose a floor. A bellman came to roll my two heavy hand-held bags over to the Venetian Tower. I then settled in for awhile.
Eventually, I wandered down to Table 10 to see if my fave bartender from last year, Daniel, still worked there. They were sad to inform me that he was off both Wednesday and Thursday, but would be there at 4:30 p.m. on Friday – right around the time I’d have to leave. I had a few drinks while chatting with Pedro, anyway. Then I told him that he’d see me again for Happy Hour.
When my friend, S., arrived, I went up to her room to get caught up on what had been going on in both of our lives for the past month and a half. Once that was accomplished, we agreed to meet at Table 10 for Happy Hour.
Back at Table 10, even though we had an upcoming dinner reservation, I broke down and ordered the BBQ Shrimp. At Happy Hour, the small portion (3 shrimp, plus a biscuit) was only $9. They were really good, though.
Dinner, as usual, was at Mon Ami Gabi in Paris Hotel and Casino. We LOVE their filet mignon with merlot butter. We’re opposite, however, in that I order mine medium well and she orders hers medium rare. We oohed and aahed over dinner, wishing that we could eat there every day. After we finished our filets, the waitress came out with a profiterole with a candle in it and asked whose birthday it was. Since both of us have birthdays at the end of October, we told her that there had obviously been a mistake. She gave it to us, anyway, and we shared. Yum!
Then it was back to drinking. Since we were just across the street from The Cosmopolitan, I had to check out the Chandelier Bar and their much-talked about verbena drink. The lower level is supposedly open 24 hours, but we went to the second level, which opens around 5:00 p.m. or 6:00 p.m. It was beautiful – all those crystals, all that bling. The $15 verbena drinks were interesting; we’d both order them again. We were instructed to inhale the aroma, chew on the flower, then drink. That resulted in a numbing sensation and, like a mini high, we were wide awake! Of course, we didn’t just nibble on the flower. Both of us ate the entire thing! S. enjoyed it so much that she ordered another!
We later took a cab to another place that I’d read about, the Peppermill Restaurant and Fireside Lounge. The restaurant seems more like a diner. The Fireside Lounge definitely has a firepit and seems very old school. We seated ourselves around the firepit and were happy to discover that it was Happy Hour. S. had the Bacardi Margarita, while I had the Bacardi Creamsicle. We also ordered some chips and salsa. Everything was just ok. Surprisingly, in a nod to my fedora, the waitress informed us that there’s a “no hat” policy enforced from 11:00 p.m. to midnight. How bizarre is that?! I could understand if it were baseball caps maybe, but… Whatever, I removed my fedora, even though it wasn’t quite 11:00 p.m. After our one drink, we both returned to The Venetian and called it an early night because I’d been up at 3:00 a.m. that day and she’d been up at 5:00 a.m.
I slept in until about 10:00 a.m. on Thursday. I intended to go pick up some macarons at Le Macaron in the Grand Canal Shoppes. I couldn’t find it again, though, so stopped in at Double Helix instead and had a few glasses of chardonnay. The place was relatively empty, so I put my feet up and attended to social media on my iPad Mini whilst drinking.
Our Thanksgiving lunch was at Buddy V’s (the Cake Boss). We didn’t want to spend a small fortune and neither of us really cared about having turkey, though they were offering a special Thanksgiving menu. I had the macaroni and cheese carbonara (good) and Grandma’s meatballs (VERY good!). S. had the pasta carbonara, which she raved about. We split the butterscotch crème brulee, which was wonderful, although the cookies that came with it didn’t impress us.
The Venetian had given me a coupon for 2-for-1 well drinks at Yardbird, so we went in there for rum and Cokes. They truly have a Southern menu when they offer things such as Chicken N Watermelon N Waffles or a Swine Burger! Then it was back to Table 10 for Happy Hour again. We both agree that it’s our favorite place, the bar we feel most comfortable at. When we finished drinking there, we actually took a break (yes, to take naps!) before meeting up again around 8:00 p.m.
We started up again at I Love Burgers. I’d been craving their Twisted Caramel Corn alcoholic milkshake (butterscotch schnapps with vodka). I also ordered the turkey meatball sliders, which I couldn’t finish. This time around, the milkshake had the caramel corn mixed into it, which I wasn’t fond of. There’s nothing quite like sucking popcorn husks up in a straw. The next time I’m going to order just the milkshake WITHOUT the caramel corn. S. just had some fries.
We then ended up shopping. She was looking for a new bag and wanted to look in Coach, Michael Kors, Kate Spade and Tory Burch. Coach was the first stop. Neither of us are huge fans of Coach and generally don’t like their stuff. However, we both found several things we liked that evening. She ended up buying some booties, some regular boots (at a VERY good price) and a handbag. The sales people were very nice and offered us several bottled waters. The Michael Kors store was next. I found two bags and a pair of heels that I liked. Unfortunately, the heels, though they looked fabulous on me, were not on sale. The bags were, though, so I decided on one of them, plus bought a tunic top that was also on sale. The best part was that our salesman, Bryson, offered us champagne. We thought he was joking, but he most certainly was not. We had a couple of glasses of champagne each! I was also teasing him that a certain pair of flats with bling on them looked like orthopedic shoes! (He actually agreed.) Anyway, if you’re in Michael Kors in The Grand Canal Shoppes, ask for Bryson. He’s a sweetie!
We had tickets for the High Roller and planned to be there around midnight. As we were walking to the The Linq, we stopped off at one of those frozen daiquiri places ’cause I wanted a Bellini one. S. decided to get one, too. We were allowed to take them on the High Roller, which was better than paying extra to ride in the “Happy Hour” pod with the bar. The view, as you can imagine, was pretty impressive at night. I liked the music they played as well, which got you pumped up. The only issue is that you get a lot of reflections when attempting to take photos. There were probably 4 or 5 other people in the pod with us, and the ride lasted 30 minutes. Once it ended, we high tailed it back to The Venetian because it was COLD and breezy outside!
We sat at the Laguna Champagne Bar, where I had cabernet sauvignon (not a very good one) and S. had a cocktail of some sort while playing video poker. She then moved to a slot machine. I was wandering around and even ate a slice of greasy pizza around 3:00 a.m.! We’d had it by 4:30 a.m. and went to bed.
After checking out on Friday morning, I went back to I Love Burgers because they have $5 Bloody Marys and Mimosas from 8:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., which is what they call their Hooray Hour. I had three mimosas while talking to Sean and Izzy, two great guys. Sean was telling me that he’s a hippie, but also suggested that I go to a place in Chinatown called Pho Kim Long for pho. Izzy talked to me about his 17-year old daughter, saying that once she graduates in a year, he’s moving the family to Oregon because he hates Las Vegas.
S. and I had lunch reservations at B&B Burger and Beer. I had The Morning After Burger – sautéed mushrooms, fontina, frisee, sunny side up egg and truffle aioli – plus a Peroni. S. concocted her own burger, but it was very similar to mine, sans cheese. That was a damned good burger!
S. left around 2:00 p.m. to go to the airport. Once she left, I wandered back down to The Linq. I looked in that Polaroid store, but it failed to interest me much. I was planning to eat/drink in the Brooklyn Bowl, but they don’t open until 5:00 p.m. I stopped in Yard House instead for truffle fries and the salted caramel butterscotch pudding. The truffle fries lacked any discernible taste or essence of truffle and the salted caramel butterscotch pudding was so nauseatingly sweet that I couldn’t eat it.
Then it was one last time at Table 10 for a couple of pinot grigios at Happy Hour. Daniel managed to show up a few minutes before I paid my bill. He remembered me from last year, but had to ask my name again. Told him that I’d see him on the next trip, which will hopefully encompass a weekend so that he’ll be around!
When the shuttle picked me up at The Venetian, I promptly fell asleep en route to the airport!
