A Quickie in Vegas (with Breakfast at Bouchon and Dinner at Sushi Samba)

Through a series of strange business circumstances I ended up flying from New Orleans to Las Vegas for a quick 24 hours (actually 20 hours to be exact). I had all kinds of plans for maximizing that 20 little hours … very little sleep, a little dining, playing a little craps and blackjack and getting a little bit of shopping done. Most of these plans didn’t materialize because my neck went out on Sunday and I was in terrible pain. So I had to alter my plans to fit my predicament.

I stayed at the Palazzo for the first time. It was fantastic. It’s the new hotel attached to the Venetian. The suites are gorgeous, a little more of a modern feel than the Venetian. I love the remote control that works everything in the room … all the lights and even the window shades and drapes … super cool. They also have great bathroom amenities.

I arrived late Monday night after working at the Convention Center in New Orleans all day. Our flight was delayed by about an hour and I ended up going right to bed.

On Tuesday morning I slept in a little bit and decided to go have a sophisticated breakfast at Bouchon. I love this place. It’s one of Thomas Keller’s (of French Laundry’s fame) restaurants. It’s serves upscale French Bistro fare in a classy environment with lots of wood, glass

and frenchie chalk boards with the daily specials written on them.

I ordered the Boudin Blanc. Boudin Blanc is a soft buttery white sausage and it was served with scrambled eggs, a housemade croissant and buerre noisette (browned butter).

I would have never thought about serving browned butter with scrambled eggs, but it was delicious.

The croissant was fantastic too, as are all of the pastries they serve here.

I will definitely go to Bouchon again. I love the authenticity, artistry and quality of the food and the whole experience. Though I will probably not order the boudin blanc again. It was good, but just not my favorite flavor.

After breakfast I wandered around for a while looking at all of the fabulous Christmas decorations that were going up.

These cute little (or should I say gigantic) bear bodies were made entirely of white poinsettias.

I thought this was a very … ummm … interesting Christmas ‘sculpture’. But it was very pretty.

Bouchon had a lovely traditional tree.

After breakfast I wasn’t good for much with my neck / pain situation. I went across the street to the Fashion Show Mall and got a little bit of shopping done, then I spent the rest of the day at the Canyon Ranch SpaClub Aquavana. I didn’t get a treatment but just relaxed in the hot tubs and saunas.

By now it was getting close to 3:30 in the afternoon, time to shower and get ready for my last meal in Vegas. I decided to try Sushisamba.

I had been there once before with Deb and my Mom and Dad last summer and decided to go for round two this trip. Sushisamba is an ecclectic (to say the least) blend of Japanese, Brazilian and Peruvian cuisine and design.

Sampling small plates is a great way to go here so that’s what I did.

I started off with the Green Bean Tempura served with Black Truffle Aioli. It really was sublime. I love truffles!

Next course, I ordered the Yellowtail Sashimi Tiradato which had yellowtail sashimi, jalapeno slices and a lemongrass sauce.

Then I had one of their house specialty rolls, the Bobo Brazil roll. It had seared kobe beef, avocado, kalware, shiso, red onion and chimichurri sauce. It was an interesting tasty mix of flavors.

Overall I like Sushisamba, but the food feels a little bit too contrived for it to be one of my favorites.

After my early dinner it was time to pack my bags and head back to the airport. Homeward bound! I’m looking forward to my next trip to Vegas when hopefully I’ll feel better and ready to play Vegas style.