A number of years ago, Thrifty read a book titled The Penny Pincher's Passport to Luxury Travel http://www.amazon.com/Pinchers-Passport-Luxury-Travel-Travelers/dp/1885211317 -- from which she took the lesson that concentrating your travel in the hands of a few providers (airlines, hotel brands, car rental companies, etc.) will tend to accrue loyalty rewards that can genuinely elevate travel comfort. Since that time, Thrifty has managed to concentrate air travel pretty much with American and the former Midwest (both sensible choices when starting from Chicago or Milwaukee, although United devotees will surely argue). The upshot of following the Penny Pincher's advice is that Thrifty has retained either Gold or Platinum status for nearly all of the intervening years since reading the first edition of that book. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but the access to snagging exit row seats when making reservations is reason enough to pursue elite status. Electronic upgrades make the good life accessible on a lot of flights without breaking the bank to pay exorbitant first class fares. When, in December of 2010, our plane from Madrid was delayed and someone met us with signs at Heathrow and literally ran us through security to barely make our connecting flight, we had to wonder if the airline would have arranged that level of helpful service for non-elite passengers. When we hear people scheming about how to get enough stuff for a trip in their carry-on bag so they can avoid baggage fees, we are reminded that fee-free traveling without lugging bags around the airport and trying to stuff them in overcrowded overhead bins is another perk.
So when this past December rolled around and Thrifty thought she needed another 4,000 miles or so to make Platinum (requires 50k miles in a year), the search was on for a quick, easy, and inexpensive trip. How about Christmas Eve in Las Vegas? The right distance, the right price, easy access to the final destination from the airport, and best of all -- an array of great eating.
Every month or so, some travel writer "discovers" all the good eats available in Las Vegas and writes an article on how far things have come since the old buffet days. (One of the most extensive last year was Travel & Leisure's Feb. article: http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/las-vegas-best-restaurants). We have long admitted to people who ask about gambling or shows that one of the main reasons we go to Las Vegas is to eat. Nowhere else is there such a concentration of restaurants by noteworthy chefs with such easy availability of reservations and parking! Add to that an extensive collection of worthwhile ethnic restaurants (we tend to favor Vietnamese, Korean, and Indian -- we have those aplenty in Chicago, but driving to the food and parking is so much easier in Las Vegas that we cannot resist), and you have culinary temptations that could keep you in town for a month.
The overwhelming number of dining possibilities available for a one-night trip made choosing tough. But what delicious fun to spend 3 or 4 days reading menus! (Most of the restaurants under consideration had menus on line.) After 3 days of reading, drooling, and discussing, we (well, Thrifty) chose what is always our preferred choice: Joel Robuchon's l'Atelier at the MGM Grand. This is Robuchon's little sister restaurant to his grand eponymous restaurant next door in the MGM, with Atelier (the name means 'workshop') utilizing counter seating around a large open kitchen -- thus making it the perfect choice for a food-centric solo diner.
So when this past December rolled around and Thrifty thought she needed another 4,000 miles or so to make Platinum (requires 50k miles in a year), the search was on for a quick, easy, and inexpensive trip. How about Christmas Eve in Las Vegas? The right distance, the right price, easy access to the final destination from the airport, and best of all -- an array of great eating.
Every month or so, some travel writer "discovers" all the good eats available in Las Vegas and writes an article on how far things have come since the old buffet days. (One of the most extensive last year was Travel & Leisure's Feb. article: http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/las-vegas-best-restaurants). We have long admitted to people who ask about gambling or shows that one of the main reasons we go to Las Vegas is to eat. Nowhere else is there such a concentration of restaurants by noteworthy chefs with such easy availability of reservations and parking! Add to that an extensive collection of worthwhile ethnic restaurants (we tend to favor Vietnamese, Korean, and Indian -- we have those aplenty in Chicago, but driving to the food and parking is so much easier in Las Vegas that we cannot resist), and you have culinary temptations that could keep you in town for a month.
The overwhelming number of dining possibilities available for a one-night trip made choosing tough. But what delicious fun to spend 3 or 4 days reading menus! (Most of the restaurants under consideration had menus on line.) After 3 days of reading, drooling, and discussing, we (well, Thrifty) chose what is always our preferred choice: Joel Robuchon's l'Atelier at the MGM Grand. This is Robuchon's little sister restaurant to his grand eponymous restaurant next door in the MGM, with Atelier (the name means 'workshop') utilizing counter seating around a large open kitchen -- thus making it the perfect choice for a food-centric solo diner.
So Thrifty winged off to Las Vegas (with an electronic upgrade to first class, thank you), grabbed a rental car, and headed to THE Hotel, where she had snagged a rate of $68 for the night of Christmas Eve. (Okay, they added tax and a resort fee for wi-fi that didn't work, but it was still a Thrifty Posh bargain at under $100 for a luxurious room with really pleasant and capable staff at the front desk & valet station.) The surprising thing was the unexpectedly large number of families with children in Las Vegas -- who thinks snowflakes, presents under the Christmas tree, and Las Vegas all in the same breath??!!
Because the valet was so jammed up at the MGM Grand, Thrifty had to park and hike and was actually about 10 minutes late for her 6:30 reservation. Similarly, l'Atelier was packed, with more people seated in the restaurant than we have seen in any of our six or so previous visits. Thrifty had studied (and nearly memorized) the several menus available at l'Atelier and was sorely tempted by the seasonal discovery menu (chef's 10 course tasting menu), but in the end reverted to our favorite tactic of ordering just exactly (and only) the most tempting and desired courses (from the 'degustation' menu).
http://www.mgmgrand.com/restaurants/atelier-joel-robuchon-french-restaurant.aspx
The amuse bouche has recently been changed back to the original we first tasted at l'Atelier, which may still stand as the best bite of food ever. It's a foie gras parfait with port wine reduction sauce and parmesan foam. The new version is in a wider, shorter vessel than the original, and so seems to carry a bit less of the port wine sauce, but it's still a fantastic bite (or slurp) of food. Following the amuse and an egg cocotte with a light mushroom cream, Thrifty enjoyed something called a potiron, or a pumpkin veloute accompanied by a ginger cappuccino with toasted pumpkin seeds -- fabulous!
Subsequent courses included a wonderful carmelized kampachi with a little endive salad, a cebette (a white onion tart on crisp thin pastry with asparagus, lardons, and shaved parmesan), and a quail stuffed with foie gras and served with a side of Joel Robuchon's famous mashed potatoes, which are probably really only half butter. Either a repeat of the veloute or the onion tart would have made a great dessert if one were required, but an order of coffee (French roast in a French press, natch) provided sufficient goodness at the finish. We have never been disappointed in the experience or the food at l'Atelier.
After retiring to THE Hotel to dream of sugarplums, Thrifty arose, packed her suitcase, and pointed the rental car to the Venetian Hotel and Thomas Keller's Bouchon for brunch. Since they do not make reservations for brunch (except for very large groups), Bouchon was coping with a frenzy of would-be Christmas morning diners. Would Thrifty like to wait or be seated for service at the bar? The bar was perfect -- providing relatively speedy service that would permit an extravagant meal in time to make a 1 P.M. flight. Although Thrifty usually finds it hard to pass up Keller's brioche French toast, his croque madame was calling, and seemed a sturdier preparation for a day of flying (with another electronic upgrade, thank you very much). http://www.venetian.com/uploadedFiles/The_Venetian/Content_Blocks/Restaurants/Fine_Dining/bouchonBrunch.pdf#zoom=100
Brunch is superb at Bouchon; we have always enjoyed it more than our one try at dinner there (when the staff was distracted by visiting members of the chef's family). On any day other than Christmas (and no doubt New Year's morning), this is a delightful and generally relaxing option.
After downing the croque madame and more good french roast coffee, Thrifty grabbed her bag of scrumptious surplus frites and made her way back to McCarran airport, regretting only that she had failed to score the perfect one-day trifecta by snagging some exquisitely tender grilled octopus in limoncello at CarneVino in the Palazzo -- because they don't serve it before 5PM.
Besides confirmed Platinum status, the other outcome of this one-day challenge came from reading the menus and realizing that we need to schedule another eating trip to Las Vegas -- and soon -- to sample Michael Mina's StripSteak at Mandalay Bay (for the lamb, pork shanks, & Kobe carpaccio), Sirio Ristorante (as in le Cirque's Sirio Maccioni) at Aria, and (at the very top of our list) Jaleo by Jose Andres at the Cosmopolitan.
Some of our previous scouting and dining efforts are recorded on a public album on Picasa entitled Eating Las Vegas:
Buen provecho.
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