June 22-27 TR
June 22-27 Trip Day 1 - Robuchon and Assembling the Degenyateam
Mrs. Ferguson and I have been looking forward to this trip for a while. The trip was actually conceived by 2+2er Phunkphish and I as a dining/WSOP trip, but morphed into much more than that since we planned it a few months ago.
This would now be a trip to celebrate:
1-Phunk winning the Canadian Scrabble Championship/eating great food.
2-Meeting up with an awesome friend named Ray who we hadn't seen in a couple of years
3-Hanging out with our big papi/most relaxed dude on earth, Scott Davies (+his wife)
4-Playing the WSOP Monster Stack
This trip we would definitely hit max degen mode.
Shoe and bankroll were a few posts ago.
We show up to the YYC airport and the forecast is for rain/lightning all weekend. I can already see the delay and pray that we don't board and then sit on tarmac for hours. Obv that is exactly what happens. I love Westjet, but they won't serve alcohol while on the tarmac during a delay, and I have no idea why.
We get our dinner reservation at Joel Robuchon changed to 830 from 645, and it's a good thing as we don't get going until about 2 hours after our planned departure time. About 5 minutes after takeoff we are in beautiful sunny skies and the remainder of the flight is uneventful.
FYI we are only in Westjet Plus because we were both assigned middle seats completely separately in the plane. Not because we think we're balling in Westjet Plus
Most Canadian drink?
Tastes about as bad as it looks, no bueno.
Mamiiiii's drink. Prolly about same quality as Ace of Spades.
Ooooh, ahhhhh.
On the way from the airport we see the first sure sign we’re in Vegas, fat Elvis talking on a cell phone and riding a scooter.
We have 5 comped nights at the Cosmo this trip and get checked into our 1 bedroom terrace studio.
We meet up with Phunk and his gf who are already in town post Scrabble championship. We start off with a little pre-dinner cup celebration and fill it up with Montaudon. Just like the Stanley Cup, you get to keep this baby until the next year and tote it around Vegas partying. Actually, I'm guessing this might be the first time this has happened with it. The bonus is that the next championship is in two years.
CNSC Cup
The Champ and his better half enjoying sweet sweet Scrabble champagne.
Time for Robuchon. The reason we went with JR is because I had told Phunk the egg dish (Le Caviar) was one of my all-time favorites. That was about 5-7 years ago and in the early stages of my dining career. 91 Michelin stars and a lot of other amazing meals later, it would be interesting to see how this dish stacks up on a second visit.
The spectacular Robuchon bread cart. Combining this with the mignardise cart is why you only need to do two courses at Robuchon and you'll still be full.
We all went with 4-5 courses, but that was completely unnecessary.
So many amazing breads on this cart, from the Epi to the saffron, milk bread, bacon bread, and more. The butter is unbelievable as well. This makes the trip to JR worth it for me. Sorry if your celiac.
For wine we went with Champagne through the meal, NV Chartogne-Taillet Cuvee St. Anne BdB. It was a perfect choice as we were doing multiple caviar dishes and fish.
Gazpacho Amuse Bouche - The only real miss course of the night. Lacking in intensity and balance.
Wifey can't eat bell peppers (in gazpacho) so got a small version of the Watermelon and Crab appetizer course as a substitute. This was a much superior course. The baby kohlrabi were perfectly cooked and had a great texture. I should have said I couldn't eat bell peppers either.
Salmon tartar with caviar. Great dish, the wasabi foam and finger lime were brilliant at balancing out the richness of the salmon, and the salt of the caviar wasn't overpowering. Would have been better if there was a bit more finger lime, the acidity really brightened up the salmon.
The egg! A perfectly cooked sous vide egg, deep fried quickly with phyllo and served on a bed of creme fraiche, salmon cubes and topped with one ounce of Osetra caviar and gold leaf (because WTF not).
This remains a brilliant dish, so rich and intense, but it is probably not the perfect dish anymore. Unfortunately too many years of fine dining are taking a toll and I no longer think this is the perfect dish. Though it is still nearly perfect. Would have like a mother of pearl spoon though as loads of caviar on a metal spoon gets a bit metallic.
Wifey's fish course was the sea bass with curry, asparagus, lemongrass and crispy potatoes. Fish was cooked very well, excellent sauce.
John Dory with tempura of shiso leaf on squid ink risotto. Amazing shiso and the squid ink risotto was cooked perfectily. The John Dory texture was very dense, close to halibut or turbot, but very good. I think I prefer sea bass/black cod texture.
La boule dessert - Violet mousse inside a sphere of thin sugar. Maybe my favorite course of the evening. The sweetness level was just right and the violet flavor amazing.
Birthday cake! It was my birthday this week, so wifey called and had them make me a special birthday cake, frozen passionfruit/coconut. Two of my favorite flavours, thanks honey. It was great cake.
Mignardise cart. The other amazing part of the meal that is included. It's so hard to not ask for one of everything off this cart. The strawberry margarita gelee was my favorite.
Overall the meal was excellent, actually better than our first trip years ago. Other than the amuse bouche, no misses, all 8.5/10 or better courses and the plating was flawless on a few dishes. I will say the service is a bit clunky for a restaurant to consider itself three stars (I know the Michelin guide no longer visits Vegas). Eg. didn't get crumbed basically ever, little things like that.
Okay enough about the food, it’s time to sound the conch and meet up with Ray and Big Papi. Degens, Assemble!
We head over to the Cosmo for some high limit slot + VP degeneracy. We are already Identity gold, but since we’re being comped this stay, we need to get some play in. Fortunately I have the wifey and Ray going full degen mode to rack up the points. Should be no problem with them around.
It’s only a few minutes of boring VP before Ray and wifey are enticed by the siren’s call that is Wheel of Fortune.
It nicely works out though and we are 1 reel away from a 40K bink
My wife is Vanna White!
After a bit more degenning, and a lot of Hennessey XO, it’s time to crash after a very fun and successful Day 1.
Sun is about to come up on Vegas.
Net $ balance – Unknown