Bright lights, late nights, groovin’ music and fine wine….Vegas here we come! I am so…
Viva las Vegas: The Finale
Day 4 and 5
Continuation of our incredible Vegas trip….and a little venting…
Day 4 began with morning spa appointments, but these were extra special. Hubby and I got couples facials, and because their hot tub wasn’t working, the Cosmopolitan spa offered to upgrade us to a private spa suit for the entire morning!
This was heavenly! Dual facials in a private spa suite overlooking the strip.
Mimosas and fresh fruit at your disposal… just hubby and I, lounging in thick terry-robes in this 1000sq foot luxurious suite. Amazing!
Now I wanted to end this post with our last 2 dinners, because I found these to be the most important. One being our absolute favorite and the other an absolute disappointment.
The favorite: Craftsteak in the MGM
Finally! Charred medium-rare, pink in the center, juicy meat flesh! With all the creamed sides you could want….a cardiologists dream dinner.
If you know Top Chef, you know Craftsteak. This is Tom Colicchio’s restaurant and it is fabulous.
We decided to have dinner and sit at the bar, to have more of a casual, hang-out feel. Alexandria, the bartender was way cool. Cracking jokes with us, sharp, and a pretty darn-good bartender too.
What we ordered:
Several recommendations suggested to order the beef tartar. Twitter, Yelp, and Alexandria said order it! So chopped raw beef it is!
This was seasoned perfectly. It was light and not daunting. The meat was delicate and smooth and easy to eat. Sweet finely diced onions sprinkled throughout, topped with a quail egg, giving it more of a smooth texture. It was pretty darn good!
Our main courses were mouth watering. I’m writing about it now at 8 in the morning and could eat that entire dinner again…right now!
We shared the 12oz domestic Wagyu skirt steak, and normally we wouldn’t order skirt steak, because it’s a tough cut of meat and wherever you go you find it soaked in soy sauce and brown sugar. But this was special. This skirt steak was Wagyu. It was perfectly marbled throughout and tender to the tooth. The meat was cooked perfectly at medium with a nice flavorful crust that offered a slight crunch. The natural juices of the meat fell in the pan, giving you a sauce to pour over your meat.
This was probably the best steak I have ever had!
Our side dishes were, Wild Mushroom Risotto, creamy, hearty and earthy from the mushrooms. I ate most of the bowl. Enough said. Just give me a bottle of Cabernet and a bowl of Craftsteak wild mushroom risotto, and I’m good!
The roasted corn, recommended by Alexandria. This corn was like no other. Fresh cut right off the cob, roasted for a smoky flavor and mixed with chilies to give you a kick in your bite. This rocked.
In fact…this whole dinner rocked!
Desert: Monkey bread
How can you leave a steakhouse without ordering their best desert?
Monkey Bread was in order. Big round gooey caramelized, almost cinnamon-bun-like with toasted nuts and caramel oozing from the center. Served with vanilla ice cream and the remaining of my glass of Cabernet….this was THE perfect ending to an AMAZING meal.
Thank you Craftsteak and Tom Colicchio for making such a fantastic restaurant with great people. We can’t wait to be back!
Now onto the Vent….B&B Ristorante in the Venetian
I was dreading this last post. Our last dinner in Vegas was unfortunately such a disappointment. And surprisingly so.
We made reservations at Mario Batali’s restaurant B&B in the Venetian. Ending our amazing week with an extraordinary Italian restaurant sounded perfect.
We’ve met Batali several times in NYC too and he is a very cool guy. In fact, our favorite restaurants are Batali’s Babbo in NY and Pizzeria Mozza in LA. (Can’t wait to review about them next time we go…seriously…BEST pizza on the west coast!)
I also have to mention that I have lack of photos for this review, so I may borrow from a search engine. My apologies.
Reservations were made at 9pm and we got there few minutes early and sat at the bar to have a drink.
Adam the bartender is not to be missed. He sported a handlebars mustache and we knew he was one confident cool dude.
After mixing us some drinks and chatting for a while, we were finally seated.
Our waiter came over to our table and did the usual shtick. Told us about the specials, water, etc. When I asked him his recommendations he seemed thrown off guard and rushed for some reason. That let me down.
Antipasto: Heirloom tomatoes with buratta.
If you’ve seen my previous post on caprese with buratta, you know this is my infatuation. I eat this so often, so I knew what I was getting into.
The tomatoes were at room temperature, which I appreciated and the buratta was creamy and indulgent. A nice caprese. However, what ruined it for me was when we started to chat with our waiter. We asked him if he has heard of buratta before the big recent hype started. I found him dry and uninterested and he replies with, “well of course, I’m first generation Italian”. Well Ok…I know food as well, but I didn’t like how you came back at me.
On to the next.
We ordered everything at the same time, antipasto, pasta and entrée.
By 10:30pm we still didn’t have our pasta courses. Our reservations were at 9. I was watching our waiter and I noticed he was running between 6 tables. When hubby walked passed the bar to use the restroom, he notices the manager (who he said hi to earlier) casually watching the game at the bar. Really? If you see your guests waiting and your server hustling between tables, maybe you should roll up your suit sleeves and serve a plate..What do you think?
Finally after asking where our food was, our pasta courses came.
Bone Marrow Ravioli- Recommended by Adam the awesome bartender. (Not our waiter who barely spoke to us). Light pillow of pasta filled with soft marrow. This was very good.
Papardelle Bolognese- Thick ribbons of homemade pasta clung together with a thick meaty tomato sauce. Delicious.
 |
| Photo Courtesy of: Yelp user Xtine C. |
Now the hunk of the meal. Again, after thorough research, it was with great anticipation to order their 32oz Bone-in Grilled Rib-eye for two. Even though slightly skeptical, because we had such an amazing steak at Craftsteak and because this was $120 a pop…it better be A-MAZING!
Again, we waited about another 20-30 minutes. The steak was massive and presented on a wood cutting board, before they take it away to carve it for each person.
 |
| Photo Courtesy of :Yelp user Melissa C. |
The steak was undercooked for our liking, having a very cool red center, leaving us to eat around the edges. It was rare, rather than medium to medium-rare, which we would have preferred.
We were so hungry that I didn’t take a photo of the steak, so here is one I found via Yelp user.
And another photo of our leftovers.
You can notice how rare the meat was. It’s unfortunate that they slice the whole steak for you at once, so you are unable to send it back to cook it more. The presentation was beautiful, but meaningless if you need it re-done.
Overall, we probably would not go back to B&B. There are many other Batali restaurants that are fabulous. But this being in the Venetian and especially in Vegas, I am surprised at how mediocre the service was.
People come back not only for the food, but also for the ambiance and the people. We like to “shoot the sh**” so to speak with everyone, so why not indulge us?
Go to Babbo in NY and have an amazing pasta meal and Craftsteak in MGM for the best steak of your life instead!
Bon Appetit and thank you for joining me on our Vegas culinary journey!
Leave a Reply