We had booked our Vegas trip through American Airlines Vacations and as such had to fly from St. Louis to Los Angeles and then catch another flight to Vegas after a layover in LA. By the time we reached our hotel, unpacked and settled in, we were ready for a light meal.
We took a stroll through The Venetian, through the Canal Shoppes, and entered The Palazzo. Here we found the Grand Luxe Café. This restaurant has two locations at the resort – one inside The Venetian and another inside The Palazzo. These restaurants are operated by The Cheesecake Factory so we were pretty sure the food would be good, but were worried about the cost since The Cheesecake Factory is somewhat pricey at home, we thought Vegas might be even more so. But we were pleasantly surprised. I don’t know if I enjoyed the meal because it was really good, or if I was just hungry, or both!
They have a section of their menu called Minis, Bites and Tapas. From that I ordered:
Warm Goat Cheese Salad
Crispy Goat Cheese, Baby Greens, Fresh Apple with a Touch of Honey
And
Zucchini and Onion Haystack
Fresh Zucchini and Onions Lightly Breaded and Fried Crisp. Served with Garlic Aioli
The husband ate the following:
Grand Club Sandwich
Freshly Roasted Turkey, Crisp Applewood Smoked Bacon, Arugula, Tomato and Mayonnaise on Toast. Served with an Organic Green Salad or French Fries.
After our meal we hit the casino for an hour or two before we headed back to end our evening somewhat early as we were prepared to get up early to make it to Hash House A Go Go (see Pancakes – Part II).
For lunch one day we happened upon Carnegie Deli at The Mirage. Since I’ve never been to New York and probably won’t make it there anytime soon, I told the husband I wanted to eat here. We waited in line about 15 minutes. As we were seated the waiter brought out a dish with pickles. We checked out the menu and couldn’t believe how expensiv
e the sandwiches were. If I remember correctly the sandwich was $20+ and since we split it we had a plate charge and fries were extra, but look at the portion. We had Jeff’s Tatalah sandwich (http://www.mirage.com/files/carnegie_menu.pdf). We left stuffed.
For our Sunday night meal we had reservations at Delmonico’s Steakhouse, an Emeril restaurant. The experience here was fine dining and very enjoyable. The wait staff was extremely attentive and courteous. We both had rib eyes that were dry aged. They were cooked to perfection, but I can’t honestly say they were any better than the Costco rib eyes my husband grills at home. But they topped their salad with a candied pecan bacon that was to die for.
We were going to see Cirque de Soleil’s “O” one evening and went to the Grand Luxe Café at The Venetian. The menu here was different. They didn’t have the same minis that I enjoyed the first night. And to be honest, I cannot remember what we ate as my nosy self was too interested in the Italian family that was seated next to us. The story of this family deserves a posting of its own.
We had a late lunch at Paris’ Le Village Buffet and while it was acceptable, I wasn’t impressed, especially with the desserts. I would assume that the crème brulee at a “french” restaurant would be excellent, but it fell short. We had dim sum at Ping Pang Pong at the Gold Coast casino. We really weren’t sold on this and the wait staff spoke very limited English and were difficult to understand but most of the clientele was Asian and seemed to be locals enjoying the food.
This post has gone on far longer than I imagined. I promised you some non-food related information and I will follow up with that in another posting very soon.
We planned a trip early this year to go to Las Vegas in March. Last year, before our travels to San Diego, I’d read about a place called Hash House A Go Go (http://www.hashhouseagogo.com/ ) located in the Hillcrest area of San Diego and had planned on going there on Sunday morning of our visit to San Diego. When we got there the crowd lined the streets out front and we drove around the streets near the building several times and finally gave up because we couldn’t find a place to park. So, as we planned our trip this year to Vegas, I found that Hash House A Go Go had four locations in Vegas. One of these locations was at the Imperial Palace, which was only two casinos away from The Venetian where we were staying. So I told the husband that our first breakfast in Vegas would take place at Hash House and we would wait no matter how many people were there.
When we arrived it looked extremely busy and there were probably 50 people waiting. They said the wait would be about 20 minutes. We looked at the crowd and figured it would be quite a bit longer. Note: Imperial Palace is owned by Harrah’s and if you have a Harrah’s card and are a high tier cardholder you have a separate line. Unfortunately we don’t have that prestige. But, indeed, the wait was less than 20 minutes.
We perused the menu. They are apparently well known for their chicken and waffles, but I kept leaning towards the pancakes or as they call them on their menu, flapjacks. I flip-flopped between getting the Apple Cinnamon (our waiter’s favorite) and the Banana. Again, just like at Aunt Emma’s Pancakes the year before in San Diego, I opted for the Banana.
The waiter told us that our food might take awhile, but he sat the plates (or should I say platters) in front of us less than 10 minutes later.
The batter on these flapjacks must have been concocted differently than most because while there was height to the flapjack it had a crispiness to the edge that was fabulous. There were at least two bananas sliced down the middle lengthwise and then in half. They were placed on top and the batter cooked up around them. The flapjack the waiter brought to the table was gigantic. They gave me syrup to go with it, but the “cake” and the bananas cooked inside were so flavorful that I left the syrup untouched on the table. I did use a good deal of the scoop of butter on top to add a little wetness to the top. The portion was so large that I was only able to eat about half it. To give you an idea of the actual size, the “plate” that it was on was the size of a charger plate. The s
econd picture shows the flapjack in comparison to my hand. At a cost of $8.95 it was one of the best bargains we had during our Vegas trip.
Check out their menu at the link above and see what tempting delights they have. My husband opted for a Farm Benedict - Andy’s sage fried chicken with fresh spinach, hardwood smoked bacon, market tomato, griddled mozzarella, chipotle cream and scrambled eggs. This was priced at $15.95 and was huge
. It came on top of biscuits and mashed potato with fried spaghetti for decoration.
Our visit to Vegas included four mornings and had I not already had other places to try out, we would have gone back every day of our visit.
And for those of you wondering, the Hash in Hash House is in honor of their seven dishes of hash – dishes made with a variety of meats and vegetables mixed together.
e the sandwiches were. If I remember correctly the sandwich was $20+ and since we split it we had a plate charge and fries were extra, but look at the portion. We had Jeff’s Tatalah sandwich (http://www.mirage.com/files/carnegie_menu.pdf). We left stuffed. 
