Las Vegas Part 1
Literally the first thing you see when landing at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas is neon and slot machines. Get used to it.
Our brief but enjoyable stay in Denver is over and we land in Las Vegas by 10:00am. It is fascinating to see how the terrain changes from snow-capped mountains to desert hills as we travel along.
The snowy mountains turn into desert as we travel from Denver, CO to Las Vegas, NV.
Pretty sure our hotel room will not be available so we try to think of things to do and all I can come up with is breakfast. The Vegas airport is close to the center of town, so we arrive at the Waldorf Astoria (previously the Mandarin Oriental) around 10:30 or so, and a room is ready for us. Wowza. Time to drop off our stuff and find some food.
We are informed that the pool area is under construction, but it does not matter as it is barely 60 degrees. We are here for the Consumer Electronics Show, one I've been to many times in my professional life and I am excited to say I will not go anywhere near the exhibition halls on this trip. I may not leave the hotel. I've been to Las Vegas a lot, and the veneer has worn thin for me. Not my kind of town. But I will make the best of it, starting with the restaurants at the Waldorf as well as the spa.
We hit Zen Kitchen restaurant for a perfectly delicious breakfast and then Bob has meetings almost immediately. I take a quick snoozle before hitting up the Spa for a luxurious body treatment. My lower back is an issue and it needs some love and attention. I choose a basic 50 minute massage with an exfoliation add-on for dry skin. So excited, this will be so relaxing! I get a quick tour of the facilites, slip into my robe and sip on some peppermint tea while waiting for my therapist. I have a great view of the strip, such as it is at 1:00 in the afternoon.
Photos of the spa waiting area and indoor pool from their web site. None of these people are me.
My therapist arrives to take me to the treatment room and we confirm the services I requested. She asks me what type of massage I prefer, so I tell her I usually prefer a deep tissue treatment, but because my lower back is tender, we might go a little lighter. She informs me her technique is "therapeutic", so I tell her to do her job and fix me up. My first mistake.
I lie on the table, face down. She enters the room and starts with a basic shoulder rub. Somehow her elbow get under my scapula and it is a tad uncomfortable, but in a good way. She works down my back to the sacral area and before I know it she is on the table, legs on my legs and getting her forearms all into my back area! It is surprising! I have heard of this move, but never experienced it, so at this point I am putting all my trust in her. #hurtssogood.
She then returns to the floor and starts to karate-chop my butt a bit. She has muscles! I have no idea what is happening next. We get through this maneuver, she rubs it all out and it is now time to flip over onto my back. Thank goodness!
I feel like this will be gentler but she starts with my head in her hands and I am worried. There are no sharp movements, though, but her thumbs come close to piercing my temples at one point. She next works her way down to my hips, where my legs get bended like a frog and her knee goes into my hip sockets. #gowiththeflow. This, too is somewhat painful, but I tell myself it is for my own good. I am instructed to breathe in and out through the nose if it gets uncomfortable, so I do. She will NOT hear me whimper!!
We finish with a sugar and coffee scrub for the exfoliation part, then I shower off and my lower back feels great! On the way back to the locker room, I learn she is Brazilian but has been in the States for 31 years and she is so animated when she talks of her home! I like her, even though she beat me up. Bad. She did her job, my back feels pretty amazing! Gonna go back to the room and do some writing, etc. until it is time for dinner. Bob and I are eating at the Waldorf's fine dining establishment: Twist by Pierre Gagnaire. Because I am serious about not leaving this hotel for three days.
The view from our table at “Twist by Pierre Gagnaire”. He is a French chef who owns multiple restaurants around the globe. This one is absolutely delicious!
We are seated at a window table (first come, first served) and are immediately impressed by the decor and the service. I order a cocktail, Bob orders some wine, and in no time we are served with some homemade bread and French butter, which is slightly higher in fat than American butter. Check out the color. One has sea salt, the other has a citrus zest. I don't always eat bread at a restaurant but tonight I certainly do and it is amazing! I did suggest the wine decanter looks like a French horn and one of us should blow in one end, but Bob is not having it.
Some amazing baguette, dark rye bread and two types of French butter, along with Bob’s wine selection in a funky decanter. Yum.
Shortly after the bread and wine, a complimentary selection of small bites (amuse-bouche) arrive and they are light and delicious, not to mention visually amazing. We snap these up casually and since we are having a great conversation and enjoying the night, we ask for a slowed down meal service, and our waiter says he can make that happen. Yay.
A few yummy bites before the meal actually happens. Puff balls, cucumber with salmon roe, some other thing on the left. An eggplant mousse on flatbread and a foamy thing on the right. That’s all I got, I ate this a week ago, sorry!!
Our next course is the appetizer, and we share three dishes: the Hudson Valley Foie Gras with Raspberry Bigarade, Poached Rhubarb and Almond Crust and Potato Gnocchi, a second plate of Smoked Duck, Duck Jus, Spinach Velouté, Burgundy Spinach, and then Shaved Foie Gras, Corn Velouté, Foie Gras Ice Cream, Aged Balsalmic, Sylvetta Arugula and Petite Roasted Corn. I know, it sounds ridiculous, I basically copied this from their menu. It's three separate dishes. Here's a photo. So much going on here but it is delicious.
Don’t ask me, but I think the foie gras is upper right, smoked duck lower center and corn veloute with stuff on in upper left. It is all amazingly tasty!
The waitstaff checks in on us here and there to see when we are ready for our main courses, and when we are, they come out with a flourish! Silver cloches atop our plates are removed simultaneously! Bob ordered the Duck with Black Currant & Chocolate, Fig Marmalade, Parsnip Purée, with a side of Wild Mushroom Casserole and Potatoes Gaufrette. I ordered the Loin of Lamb with Marjoram, Apple Purée, Baby Artichokes with Mint and a side of Ratatouille and a Manchego Flan. There is also a White Truffle Risotto special which we ordered to share, not realizing that each dish came with 97 sides. So we have a lot of food.
Our dishes at Twist Restaurant are visually lovely and very tasty!!
Unfortunately, someone did not get the memo that we wanted to slow down the service so the main course was luke warm at best. I'm not too fussy, but Bob likes his food piping hot, so while he expresses his concern to the manager, I slip out to the ladies room. When I come back, all is good, he is always adept at expressing concerns without being a jerk and the manager agrees that they missed the slow down signal, so our dessert course is complimentary and this seems to work for everyone. There are (5) small bites in the Grand Dessert and they are all very different. We are instructed to start at one point and work our way around. We like some better than others.
The five course dessert tasting menu. All looks good, but some are better than others. You know who you are, chocolate.
We finish our meal and our first day in Las Vegas. I have not yet left the hotel. Gonna try and keep it up. Tune in for day 2 episode, where Ann has amazing sushi. In the hotel. Thanks for following!!