I've decided to put my thoughts in one place because I enjoy being able to easily go back and figure out where past posts are. Hopefully this is enjoyable and useful. I've been making a big effort to go to many new places lately that I personally haven't been to, so hopefully we can get some discussion going beyond the standard "Restaurants at Venetian and Cosmopolitan and oh, yeah, Picasso and maybe Robuchon" conversation that dominates around here.

Keep in mind I love bringing in my own wine so places like the Wynn with $50 corkage fee restaurants will likely not appear all that soon.

I aspire to at some point list the places I've been in Vegas in times past all on one list. In the meantime, this will be my random dining blog. Will include trips to other cities as inspiration dictates. Other random Vegas observations from time to time.

I'm really bad/lazy about uploading photos for stuff like this so don't plan on a lot of them, it's just a bit of a pain. Anyways, I hope you enjoy.

Edit: I plan on grabbing some old posts and quoting them in here for ease of reference for...well...me, but hopefully y'all don't mind the duplication of old stuff and ideally it'll be fresh for some of you and a good recall for others.

My current "If you could only eat at 20 places in Vegas every day for the rest of your life" list:

Last night hit the Velveteen Rabbit downtown for drinks. Over on Charleston/Main in the Arts District. Really liked the place. Good beer list and a mini-DCR style cocktail list. Apparently they get some bands from time to time. Definitely will return, big thumbs up.

Bar-Bistro for dinner. Lived up to what I had heard - namely poor service and slow food delivery. Food itself was pretty good other than an embarrassing margherita pizza. The first homemade ketchup I can recall liking ever. Would go again, but only if telling myself I wasn't going to get upset with slow service. Had a pretty cool little two-man band with prerecorded background tracks, a guitar and bongo drums doing stuff like Dr Dre/Snoop Dogg. Pretty fun.

Ended the night at the Downtown Cocktail Room (DCR). Great as always. Asked for "something awesome with Absinthe" and got what seemed like a bourbon/absintehe/something lethally strong but smooth cocktail that had me ready to go home after just one. DJ was killing it. Had a guy on bongo drums doing accompaniment....wasn't feeling it.

Today checked out the new Linq mini-shopping area. The group decided to check out Chayo Mexican cuisine. Chips were fresh but not all that good. Guacamole was flavorless. Didn't personally like the salsas. All seemed homemade. Did thoroughly enjoy my Chicken Torta. Expensive menu. Locals 20% off on Mondays. Wouldn't go back on my own but wouldn't veto it if someone else suggested.

O'Shea's (the new, mini one, about the size of a 7-eleven convenience store, was rocking. Beer pong, live band playing and full tables and a cool little bar areas. Blackjack was 6/5 out of a shoe.

Rest of that whole area stretching from the Flamingo (can access from the strip by Jimmy Buffet or an entrance in the back of the Flamingo by the pool) down to the Linq shopping area which stretches east to west between the Flamingo and old Imperial Palace, rebranded the Quad, has interesting and well done flow from Flamingo, through the Linq area, into the Quad, and ultimately out through to Harrah's where the Carnival Court still exists and is up and running.

Pretty well done area for the casual person. Still super Vegas pricey but not nearly as much as MGM properties, so it's basically the best center-strip value proposition that currently exists. Easiest access near as I can tell is by valeting it at the Flamingo.

BTW, I briefly walked through Rose.Rabbit.Lie at Cosmopolitan yesterday. First thought was holy cow at all the labor. Second thought was my lord this place is trying so hard, I can't imagine it not being odd or uncomfortable. Will still check it out sometime, but didn't feel like it was a comfortable place at all.

sub'd...thanks!

Have been to Bazaar by Jose Andres in the SLS hotels in both Miami Beach and Beverly Hills in the last month. Different menus at each. Both experiences were generally top notch. The Somm at the LA version said that at the Bazaar that will open at the SLS in Vegas later this year, the feature will be a giant pig roaster in the middle of the restaurant, with the menu featuring many pork-related items. So, yeah, that sounds pretty ok to me.

Nice thread, Sub'd

American Fish by Michael Mina at Aria for the first time last night.

Service timig/order was perfect. Got our drinks, brought us water, then the bread, then took our order. Didn't rush us into things. Did ask if we were on a time constraint. Took a long time for the first course to arrive after ordering but they righted the ship and acknowledged the issue when I shot the waiter a "wtf" glance. Service was actually top notch.

The group ordered some Mina staples (tuna tartare and lobster pot pie) that were good as usual. Loved the menu actually, pretty much could've ordered anything. In addition to those, got fish tostadas that were really really good, along with oysters and a few salads. I had a medium rare salmon entree that was closer to medium so that was merely ok.

Overall really enjoyed it and got away for about $120 a person with appetizer, entree, desert, a round of drinks as well as coffee, per person. Corkage was $35 for the rather delightful 2006 Robert Foley Claret that I brought in with us. Maybe the best wine I've had from the overly tannic 2006 Napa vintage. Next closest would be a Pride Reserve Cabernet.

I'm going to Bazaar in Beverly Hills in a few weeks, would like to hear more specific thoughts on that.

Two Aria comments re absinthe/whiskey: American Fish does all whiskey cocktails very well, and downstairs at Sage I had one of the best sazeracs I've ever had.

Bazaar BH highlights:
Caprinhas
Jicama Wrapped Guacamole
Philly Cheesesteak
Not Your Everyday Caprese
Brussel Sprouts
Squid in Squid Ink
Potatos New Way
Boneless Buffalo Wings
Ultimate Spanish Tapa
Any of the Ham trays

Dessert at Bazaar BH is mehhh; don't save any room - just pound at the main restaurants. Sit in the Rojo side of restaurant near kitchen if you can. They have about a dozen chefs working like artists - specialized in certain dishes.

Babystacks this AM, the one by Flamingo/Buffalo. Got the Mexican Skillet with corn tortillas: scrambled eggs, potatoes, pico de gallo, salsa, pulled pork, jack cheese, jalepenos. Really liked it. Would do again.

Clark,

What was the presentation of the lobster pot pie at American Fish. Do they bring it out in the pot and do the presentation at the table or does it come plated already deconstructed? They have changed from the former to the latter at some Mina restaurants.

The former. Which is necessary as it can cool quite quickly.

Clark: spot on comments about The Linq. Wife and I met up in LV on Fri 3-14 and stayed the weekend @ Flamingo. (yeah, I know....it was last minute. Couldn't get Caesars)
regarding parking- caution about using the Flamingo valet parking, when I retrieved here from Mccarran at 11pm Friday, the valet was closed to only Platinum and above, staying at the property. Really sucks if you were staying there below that level. There was absolutely NO parking in the garage self-park, as I got in our car about 1015pm, and was stalked by several folks looking for that one parking space I was about to free up. It was a PITA digging out her card from luggage.
From my recent vantage points of Venetian, Harrahs and Flamingo, it does appear that there is a parking garage to the north of the High Roller. Lets hope they open that one soon. Harrahs may offer more valet and general parking that Flamingo also.
BTW, I ate solo at Yard House in Linq- at the bar- very good, predictable, solid food. I don't drink, but lots of folks were enjoying the six draught beer specials.

What did you mean by "trying too hard" and that it "wasn't a comfortable place"

Took itself very seriously, and in a way that just wasn't natural or welcoming. Dunno....I feel like I can't come up with a better phrase than trying too hard. I do plan to dine there at some point so maybe my take that day will be different but man, there was a freaking ton of labor working in there, mostly in costume and in character, all really...well...trying awful hard.

We had a group of 8 and our waiter suggested that we let him just bring us out food. There wasn't a menu card as there was in Miami (where there were $85 and $125 tasting options). Anyways, we were like, yeah, that's cool, save us the effort. Had no issue with it.

The only hiccup was that we placed an order for a round of drinks. A few minutes later (maybe 10 minutes) I asked for the somm. The somm shows up, takes my order (a nice Rioja at his recommendation), disappears, comes back as food is being served, and there were still no drinks. I wanted neither wine nor food til after we'd at least had a moment to ease into the meal, especially with an entire round of $20 cocktails on order. After that it was fine.

Dishes that come to mind:

Green olives with a side of yellow booger that worked incredibly well, especially with any booze at all.

Egg Spanish omlette thing that was quite tasty but needed a little more texture

Standard ham/tomato bread service that disappointingly wasn't conducted at the same time as the subsequent cheese service. The latter was better.

Got the philly mentioned above, that was quite good.

Had two tomohawk chops that was grilled and served to the table, delicious.

Some truffle risotto that was exactly what you'd expect.

Some vegetable thing that was really good.

Wine went Rioja, Barolo, Grenache, back to the original Rioja, all after discussing with the Somm. The Rioja was the clear winner, then the Barolo which was very Barolo, then the Grenache which was a terrible selection by him given what we had been looking for. All about $150 a pop. Total including 20% autograt was almost exactly $300 a person.

Last few days included lunch at Jimmy John's by UNLV (standard solid sub), dinner at Chipotle in Fashion Show mall (typically very fresh meat and medium rare steak but was overdone this day) and lunch at one of my local favorites Broadway Pizza over on Charleston and Rancho, where I went with my usual chicken parm order. Worth checking out. http://www.broadwaypizzerialv.com/

Tonight went to Cafe Martorano in the Rio, followed by Penn & Teller. Fun night out with my stepdaughter.

Some interesting stories. First, I go into Cafe Martorano at like 6:50 with the intent of going to Penn and Teller afterwards and am told they can't seat us til 7:45. I can easily see they aren't full and let's be honest, this isn't L'Atelier we are talking about so I blurt out "are you serious??" I am told yes, and I say thanks, but no thanks.

I decide to go walk around and figure out where we'll eat. I go on opentable and see they have open reservations at 7:15, 7:30, 7:45, etc. I ask stepdaughter if she'd like to eat somewhere else or go back in and taunt the hostess. She opts for the latter. I look at recent reviews which were good enough and consistent with my only prior experience there, but note that a review says there is a 25% discount on meal with Penn & Teller tickets.

So I go to P&T box office, ask if there's a locals discount, and there is (2 for 1). Buy us two tickets, go back to Cafe Martorano and stroll in. The hostess says welcome back, smugly, I then more smugly than her say "we've got a 7:15. She looks down, is snarky and says we need to wait for our table to be ready, and 4 minutes later we end up with the best deuce location in the house as she seats us with all sorts of attitude.

From there the meal was just fine. $45 special menu including one of 4 apps, on eo f 4 entrees, and one of two desserts. She orders Caesar, Signature spaghetti and meatball and tiramasu. I get scampi, spaghetti and meatball and cannoli. All done very well, spaghetti served perfectly, good meatball, hey...it was really well done red sauce american italian. Glass of Damilano Barolo and after the 25% discount (which we wouldn't have gotten if it weren't for the original delay!) we were out of there for about $100 including tax and tip).

Penn & Teller was good not great. I love them and while I generally agree with their philosophy (they are all science and libertarian and athiest to the max) but even for me at times it got a little preachy. Some of the bits moved too fast as well. Did love the tricks and the humor was good. Good value at the 2/1 price which totalled $94 all-in for two.

Had a nice relaxing brunch at Marche Bacchus today. Beautiful morning, nice menu at reasonable prices. I do not go here often enough.

http://www.marchebacchus.com/wp-cont...inter-2013.pdf

Nothing new lately but some of my old may be new to some ITT, plus it'd be good to get some of my old thoughts into one place, so I'll periodically add in thoughts on random places that come to mind, or places that I've been to recently that aren't brand new to me but others may want to read.

Went to Al's Italian Beef on Sunday for a quick to-go lunch run. Got two Chicago dogs to go. Apparently they came with fries, which I didn't know when I ordered them. Great legit Chicago style hot dogs. The Italian beef (order it wet) is the way to go for first timers tho. Not getting great reviews on Yelp but not really sure why. It's the same Al's as in Chicago and the staples are great. Service is a tad slow, which is odd because they have a TON of staff in there, but it's not agonizingly slow.

http://www.orderalsbeef.com/Media/Me...web%20menu.pdf

Ate for the second time at Rollin' Smoke BBQ the other night on the way home. Located about 300 yards north of Spearmint Rhino, the place has been crowded both times I was there. Again it was really good. Love the pulled pork, their best dish of what I've had. The brisket is really good. Amazing corn bread. Beans are solid with just the right amount of spice. Overall not the best BBQ of all time but damn good for Vegas.

http://rollinsmokebarbeque.com/menu-2/

Clark, I think we both live on the same side of town, since a lot of the restaurants you frequent are around where I live. The Chicken Parm at Broadway is for sure a hidden gem. Have you tried the sandwiches at the goodwich yet? That's on my list to hit up next.

I live around Jones/Spring Mtn.

Have not hit Goodwich yet. I also want to hit the arepa place. I cast a pretty wide net for lunches, so hoping to do both relatively soon. Been super motivated to try new places lately.