Viva Las Vegas Foods!

My husband and I spent last week in Las Vegas. Neither one of us are big gamblers, but the idea of a day at The Grand Canyon and access to restaurants by many of this countries top chefs all in one spot was too appealing to pass up. If you find yourself in Sin City you may want to check out some or all of these spots!

Max Brenner (The Forum, Caesar's Palace)-Hands down the very best milkshake I have ever drank. The 80's shake for $7-served in an Alice in Wonderland "Drink Me" cup is vanilla ice cream blended with chocolate fondue, topped with another scoop of vanilla and then homemade magic shell. It was rich and chocolately without sending us into a diabetic coma. The best part? There is a MB in NYC so I will be having more of these shakes!

The Wicked Spoon (The Cosmopolitan Hotel)-The Vegas buffet that all the other buffets wish they were sofisticated enough to be! For $35/pp (includes soda/juice/coffee/tea) you can enjoy literally hundreds of freshly prepared buffet items. The best part is the presentation. Gone are the chaffing dishes that allow food to dry out or become mush. Think tiny paella pans filled with the rice mixture, or mini dutch ovens with individual chicken pot pies. Even cuter are toddler size fry baskets with a freshly fried piece of fish. Mussels prepared to order or hand carved rotisseirie pork tenderloin and chinese takeout boxes of rice. My personal faves at this locale were the aforementioned pot pie, a simple salad dressed with a spicy sweet chili dressing and a lemon coconut parfait of creamy goodness. Oh, and did I mention the gelato bar....?

Pinks Hot Dog (Planet Hollywood-entrance on Strip only)-If you can't make it to the original in LA give this one a try. No line and having had both thought this was almost as good. Go for the Brooklyn-dog with pastrami, kraut and swiss.

Fleur (Mandalay Bay)-Top Chef Master Hubert Keller's Vegas foray. I have to say dinner was "eh" so I won't waste time on it. Dessert was memorable. Husband ordered the tableside Baileys ice cream topped with espresso. To clarify, they made his ice cream by whisking homemade ice cream base in a metal bowl with liquid nitrogen. It smoked and with each whisk in that bowl became a creamy frozen confection and was topped with a shot of freshly brewed espresso.

Johnny Smalls (Hard Rock Hotel & Casino)-Tapas style dining. Go for the All You Can Eat option for $24.95 if you plan to order more than 2 items it is worth it. Deep fried green beans-perfectly crisp served with a sweet chili sauce, "smalls balls" are risotto filled with short rib, breaded and fried. Oh and covered with a cheese fondue sauce.

The honorable mentions list includes Otto (The Venetian) for the delish thin crust mushroom pizza, Payard (The Forum at Caesars) for the homemade marshmallows and chocolate biscuit clusters and to Bouchon Bakery (The Venetian) for caramel macaroons.

My cardiologist is going to kill me, but we did walk at least 5 or 6 miles each day so I do have that going for me. However, this week I think I will stick to celery and carrot sticks! :)