food: mesa grill las vegas
29 May 2012 1 Comment
in booze & other drinkables, general posts, restaurants & dinning out, travel Tags: booze, las vegas, mexican food, restaurants & dinning out, travel
i have long wanted to try one of bobby flay’s restaurants.
he’s not my favourite chef… his food looks amazing, but there’s just something about his cocky attitude that kinda rubs me the wrong way… but i can’t deny that the man has skills.
mesa grill in caesar’s palace has been at the top of my “i should eat there one time” list for years now.
i’ve had many plans to dine there that have somehow always been shuffled aside… i think its the location. i just never go into caesar’s palace. i’m not sure why, but it just isn’t a place that i hang out.
anyways. because we had a spa appointment booked in caesars for this trip, i thought this would be a perfect opportunity to try out mesa grill at long last.
and eating here for lunch works perfectly because you get the same great quality and cheaper prices. win win.
the first tough decision… the drinks.
i’ve been on a bit of a manhattan kick lately and bobby’s certainly sounded enticing… but in that moment of sobriety, i just couldn’t justify a $22 manhattan.
that being said, i definitely regret not doing it now.
jeremy – if you go there, i’ll give you $22 to drink this for me and report back.
tough decision number two (not really) was when the bread basket hit the table…
since i’ve been off wheat, i have been avoiding the bread basket quite easily… but hot damn, i couldn’t avoid it this time, so i dove right into this little beauty…
its a cornbread muffin with two kinds of cornmeal.
mmmmhmmmm.
it was the first time in the meal that i shook my first with a *damn you bobby flay*
there was also a jalapeno cheese bread that was out of this world and was swiftly consumed by me.
so swiftly, there is no photo.
ohmygodwhitebreadisdelicious
for the real food… we started with a signature bobby flay item, the roasted duck in a blue corn pancake.
oh sweet baby jesus… there are no words.
this little mother fucker is one of the tastiest things i’ve ever eaten.
the duck is smothered in a hoisin kinda sauce and sweet and a little spicy and the pancake is just… ya.
and the sauces are so bobby flay. pureed and seasoned to perfection and yum yum yum.
enter the second *damn you bobby flay*
next up, we had the chopped salad.
i enjoy a good chopped salad and this one fit the bill.
nothing crazy unusual about it, it was just a well done salad full of tasty morsels.
the other thing that we ordered was the ancho glazed salmon.
this wasn’t our first pick, but the waiter told us it was a signature item and very good, so we decided to take his advice.
and boy, we were glad we did.
besides being perfectly seasoned and delicious, it was also cooked to medium perfection.
really, the only way to eat salmon.
*damn you bobby flay* that was some delicious salmon!
after this, we were very full and very happy…
but, then the waiter came with a dessert menu…
okay, seriously. *damn you bobby flay*
we were at a loss… even making a short list of what we wanted was hard.
so we asked for advice.
without a hesitation, the server said “sticky toffee pudding”
done.
seriously? bobby flay, go eff yourself.
this one is not even fair.
the dulce de leche like substance around the plate was made with goat milk and salted, for a sweet, salty tangy sauce.
the cake, like some fucking ridiculous substance that shouldn’t exist in nature.
vanilla bean ice cream. perfect.
in short, a ridiculous end to a ridiculous meal.
okay bobby flay. you win.
food: border grill las vegas
28 May 2012 2 Comments
in booze & other drinkables, food & cooking, restaurants & dinning out, travel Tags: booze, food, las vegas, mexican food, pig, pork
border grill in mandalay bay has been my favourite place to dine in las vegas since my husband (then – boyfriend) stumbled across it on our very first trip to las vegas.
we were walking to the shark reef and saw the cantina and decided on a whim to stop in for a margarita. we started noming on chips and salsa and realized we were kind of hungry, so we ordered tortilla soup.
not just any tortilla soup… the best one i’ve ever had in my life.
and an obsession was born.
this restaurant is owned by Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger who i knew from their cooking show Two Hot Tamales. (side note – remember when the food network used to have actual cooking shows? i miss that)
since then, susan feniger has made appearances on top chef all stars, doing quite well for herself. and its no surprise, her cooking is masterful.
the restaurant itself has two lovely outdoor areas. one upstairs that is covered and i’ve dined in a few times, and also the downstairs outdoor patio that housed my wedding reception. outdoor areas for dining are a rarity in vegas, so i always make note of them for my lists, as i love al fresco dining.
this is where we had lunch on my latest visit… the downstairs outdoors…
as if the regular menu choices don’t cause me enough distress with all the yummy options, their specials menu gets offered to me.
oh my… what to do…
well, obviously the pineapple strawberry sangria needs to get in my mouth.
my mom went with the patron silver margarita, and said she preferred the one at hussong’s because it was simple. of course, she ordered one with blood orange and other stuff, so its obviously not comparing apples to apples.
while we were waiting for lunch, we enjoyed the chips and salsa… i love their salsa. all 3 of them.
they haven’t changed the recipes in years and i love them for it. its perfect. not to be messed with.
for the meal, we both decided on tacos, since it was lunch time and we were hungry, but not starved and wanted something kind of light since we were headed back to the pool.
i went with the carnitas with no onions. because it was supposed to have guacamole on it which contained onions, they just put avocado slices on it for me. which worked perfectly.
you have the option of pinto beans or black beans and i went pinto.
my tacos were delicious and the pork cooked to perfection, although they were a little greasy. they could have been drained a little better before going on the tortillas.
but in terms of flavour, preperation, tenderness, ect, top notch.
my mom went with the shrimp creole tacos and they were WOW.
she had black beans, also good, but i still stand by my pinto bean decision.
my mom’s shrimp was cooked to perfection and the slaw on top was crunchy and provided a great contrast for the rest of the taco.
we agreed that these were the superior choice between mine and hers.
stuffed to the brim, we headed back to pool for a lay down.
thanks for yet another amazing meal border grill. i’ll see you next time.
cheers!
food & travel: hussong’s cantina las vegas
28 May 2012 2 Comments
in booze & other drinkables, food & cooking, restaurants & dinning out, travel Tags: booze, las vegas, mexican food, restaurants & dinning out
i am a fiend for mexican food.
and all the awesome mexican and mexican inspired food is one of my favourite parts of traveling to the usa.
hussong’s cantina is a place that we stumbled upon a few years ago and wandered into for a margarita.
it turned out to be the best margarita i’ve ever had, and thus, a love was born.
the food is also not so shabby, although it does lean toward the american penchant for fat & deep fried more than for true mexican style preparations, but hey, there’s a time and a place for everything.
lets start with the margaritas.
this place boasts being the creator of the margarita. their wikipedia says:
Hussong’s is reputedly the place where the Margarita was created—back in October, 1941 by bartender Don Carlos Orozco. He concocted the perfect mixture of equal parts tequila, Damiana (Cointreau is used now) and lime, served over ice in a salt-rimmed glass for Margarita Henkel, daughter of the German Ambassador to Mexico.
now, the las vegas location is not the original, obviously, but they still make a damn fine classic margarita.
for those poor souls that don’t know… a margarita is not a slushy sugar drink.
its a salty-sour-punch-you-in-the-face drink.
and this… will punch you in the face.
i like my margaritas with no salt and a sidecar of grand marnier to make a float on top.
and yes, this is a PINT of margaritas that was served to me.
< insert heavenly music here >
this is commonly called a cadillac margarita. and its my favourite.
the beautiful and special thing about this place is that the bartender stands at the bar and squeezes the limes right into your glass. there’s no bottled lime juice in this piece. it’s fresh and simple and it makes a world of difference in the finished product.
we were served chips and 2 kinds of salsa at the table and tried not to stuff our faces too much, but it was damn fine salsa… but what i really wanted was the shrimp stuffed avocado.
ya, this definitely falls into the american style food… but wow is it ever something.
waaaaay too rich for a single human, but wonderful to share with a few people.
it is a half avocado, stuffed with a shrimp and cheese mixture, breaded and deep fried. its served on a lovely salad with tomatoes, bacon and hominy around the outside.
and friends, it is GOOD.
we only made it about 2/3 of the way through it, but ate up all the salad. the dressing is really nice on it, i wish i knew how they made it.
we shared this and also got an order of the chicken tacos to split. mine, without onions, of course.
the chicken was nicely seasoned and i love fresh cilantro, but i must say that these lacked a sauce. i used the dish of salsa on the table and it rounded it out nicely.
the beans and rice, while nothing special, were tasty. and i totally dipped my chips into them.
hussong’s also has a restaurant.com gift certificate for them, so we saved $25 on our meal and walked out for about $20. bargain! this place is rad because the gift certificate is also good on the liquor. so you could just come here with a GC and get margaritas. hooray!
travel: las vegas – trip number 8
28 May 2012 1 Comment
in booze & other drinkables, restaurants & dinning out, travel Tags: booze, drinks, food, las vegas, photography, the fine things in life, travel
on saturday i returned from my 8th trip to fabulous las vegas.
and dare i say, i think it was my most successful one yet.
we flew with westjet… for a few reasons.
flight time was the main one. we left at 10:15am which really makes the most of your first day there. and coming home, there’s a 1:45pm flight which meshes nicely with hotel check out time.
second, westjet includes a checked bag, which i appreciate because it equals saving at least $50 in bag fees.
and lastly, the overall price of the flight to begin with was the best.
so westjet won for this one.
the flight itself was pretty uneventful… which is how i like my flights.
my mom and i had a spare seat in our row, so i sat in the window and enjoyed the view and she sat aisle and we had the middle seat free. wonderful.
the one place where westjet really falls down is their in-flight entertainment. air canada definitely wins for that. but, its a short flight and i amused myself with my ipad and vodka.
we arrived and grabbed our bags and hopped into a taxi to mandalay bay.
upon arriving, there was a line up to check in of about 25-30 minutes, but it was well organized and there was a guy passing out bottles of water, which was nice.
the front desk lady gave us a high floor with a great view of the pool and we were off to the 30th floor.
one thing that i really liked about our view was that it was easy to keep tabs on how full the pool was and if it was worth trying to get chairs in which location.
this trip was largely focused on checking some chef’s restaurants off my to-do list.
and i’m pleased to say that i accomplished 3 that have long been residents of said list. i’m doing a blog post for each restaurant, so more to come on that. and if you’re on facebook, i did save most of my food pictures for the blog, so there will be new content.
the big success on this trip was the gambling.
not only did we ACTUALLY WIN on the slots… but we won a LOT. well, considering we were playing penny slots – its all relative. when your spins are $0.80 each and you hit $300, it’s a big payoff.
for the first 2 days we were in vegas, we could not lose. we were literally sitting down at machines, playing for 30 seconds and hitting $200 wins. we won at the luxor, tropicana, new york new york and a little at mandalay bay.
total, we won about $1300. but once you factor in the losses, we figure we were up about $1000.
this is amazing to me. in all my years going to vegas, i have NEVER won more than about $70 on a machine. we were so excited at all this, it was hard to absorb. we just could not lose. man, gambling is fun when you’re winning.
so because of this, we decided to up the ante on the trip.
we spent a day at Qua Spa at Caesars Palace which was absolutely out of this world. The baths were incredible and i had a 50 minute body polish and a 50 minute sweedish massage that were delightful. we spent a total of 5 hours there and we were hard pressed to leave. i’ll be back there for sure.
we also check out a show – Zumanity at NYNY.
ummm… so not what i was expecting. i knew it was “sensual”, but i didn’t expect it to be so overtly sexual. it was great and i definitely recommend it, but it maybe wasn’t the best pick to see with my mother, haha. don’t get me wrong, she enjoyed it too, but when the “mistress of the evening” is suggesting that you take your date home to the hotel and fuck their brains out, its possible you didn’t bring the right date if you’re there with your mom.
but yes, excellent show and wow, does cirque ever do an incredible job of making the most insane feats look effortless. absolutely stunning.
besides that, it was food, gambling and pool time…
i did a lot of this:
…and this…
…and definitely a lot of this…
ah drinking in vegas… free in the right places, and totally effed when you pay for it.
that irony never gets old for me.
so there you have it kids!
my totally awesome 4 nights in fabulous las vegas!
upcoming posts include:
- Mary Sue Milliken & Susan Feniger’s Border Grill
- Charlie Palmer’s Aureole
- Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill
- Rick Moonen’s RM Seafood
- Hussong’s Cantina in Mandalay Place
drinks: whiskey sour
25 Apr 2012 1 Comment
in booze & other drinkables Tags: bartending, booze, the fine things in life, whiskey
my husband has taken to perfecting classic cocktails… it’s really quite breathtaking.
now that he has the old fashioned down pat…
and the manhattan is pretty solid as well…
now he’s tackling the whiskey sour.
and i dare say he’s mastered it.
he even makes his own simple syrup and has proper garnish for each drink.
he’s found his inner bartender.
one of the things we’ve been enjoying greatly is our new ice cube tray that makes perfectly square cubes. it may seem a little gimmicky and frivolous, but they sure do look sharp.
and they melt perfectly in a whiskey drink.
so they were well worth it.
another thing we’ve been loving in our bar kitchen is these bad boys…
now, i’m a massive fan…
my husband finds them repulsive, but most classic cocktails require them, so he uses them.
and then i fish out his whiskey soaked cherries and happily nom them down.
anyways… here is the recipe…
simple and classic.
enjoy.
tyler’s perfect whiskey sour
- 1.5 oz whiskey (we use makers mark)
- .5 oz rich simple syrup
- .75 oz lemon juice
- 1 egg white
- mix all ingredients in a martini shaker and dry shake. (that means no ice)
- add ice to the martini shaker
- shake again vigorously for at least a minute until egg whites get nice and frothy
- strain into glass with fresh ice
- garnish with maraschino cherry
and now just for fun… a montage. 
drinks: mon ami rascal
06 Feb 2012 3 Comments
in booze & other drinkables Tags: booze, wine
tried a new wine tonight. mon ami rascal.
what can i say… it’s red, french and pretty affordable.
picked it up for $11.99 at the beer & wine store that is super tits awesome by moonbeam’s house.
i know its monday, but i had a tough day. i deserve wine dammit.
but this liquor store has a section of top picks below $10 and top picks below $15.
and since i’m broke, but not cheap… i went for the top picks below $15 and grabbed this little guy.
it’s not like ridiculously awesome, but for the price point and once you run it through the aerator, it’s really quite tasty.
perfect choice for a monday night.
you know… when you need a glass of wine, but don’t want to open a $20 bottle.
that’s this guy.
plus, the cap made me laugh a little. so that’s gotta be worth a couple bucks.
love letters to hawaii: a liquid post
25 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in booze & other drinkables, travel Tags: booze, drinks, hawaii, maui, travel, waikiki
in less than 3 weeks, i will be in hawaii. a place, to me, of pure bliss.
i am set to spend my longest ever vacation there… 15 nights. to be split 3 in honolulu and 12 in maui. i’m so excited. it’s been just over a year since i was in hawaii last, but before that it had been about 12 years. and i’ve never been to maui. it’s funny, because at work i sell a LOT of maui, and i’ve basically just been faking my way through it based on my knowledge from other islands. but no more. when i return from this trip, i will be WELL versed.
i get asked a lot about my favourite destinations and hawaii is always high up on the list. to me, it’s perfection. it’s easy to get to – direct flights to 3 islands from YVR, it’s safe and easy to visit on account of being in the usa, it’s cheap comparatively – sure there’s no all inclusive packages, but the booze is dirt cheap in america and almost every hotel room has a kitchenette and lastly, it’s just so fucking stunning. the beach and the ocean are incredible, the people & culture rich and intriguing. there’s volcanoes, rainforest, beaches, hikes, waterfalls… everything you could ever want.
i love hawaii. give me hawaii over mexico any day of the week.
if you’ve ever wanted to see my face when i’m truly happy… this is it:
beachfront in hawaii, local beer in hand, sunkissed and utterly relaxed.
i’m normally not much for the sugary drinks, but when in hawaii, well, it just seems wrong if you’re not enjoying the occasional mai tai.
pretty much every single place will make one, some places are (obviously) vastly better than others. our hotel (outrigger reef on the beach) had a great place called the shorebird that we frequented. the mai tais weren’t the best ever, but they were cheap (especially during happy hour) and definitely went down smooth.
now that one is a little heavy on the grenadine… but it was still tasty. also the pic is a little coloured, but you get the idea.
i had a few other delicious beverages while i was there…
ooh look! another mai tai! shocking! i actually believe this is my first one upon landing. i’m not even sure we brought our bags to our room first, lol.
and of course, every trip starts with plane vodka
hey, don’t judge… it’s a LONG flight! …and i get thirsty…
…and sometimes you have to have a local beer on your hotel patio while overlooking the ocean. because life is rough, yo.
these next ones were my favourite drinks of the trip. on the lanai at the royal hawaiian, overlooking waikiki beach.
mine is the blendy basil drink – the chi, and my mom’s is the royal mai tai, made properly. i snapped a pic of the menu because every drink sounded like heaven.
…and of course there’s a beer at the airport at the kona brewing company brewpub.
*sigh*
alright hawaii, i’ll see your sexy self in 19 days.
pumpkin beer tasting
05 Oct 2011 1 Comment
in adventures with moonbeam bouvier, booze & other drinkables Tags: beer, booze, seasonal beer, vancouver
hey. do you know what’s *awesome*?
PUMPKIN BEER!
when done correctly.
a disappointing pumpkin beer can be a downright disgusting experience.
so, in order to save you from the aches & pains of sub-par beers, moonbeam and i took one for the team and tried all the pumpkin beers that we could get our hands on. (and by *we*, i mean her. because i’m more of an ideas drinking girl)
so, here was our final collection on friday night…
beautiful, isn’t it?
now, it came to our attention later that those whores at phillips also make a pumpkin beer, but we could not find it. and since pretty much everything phillips brews is like unicorn cum in your mouth (that’s good, i think), i can only imagine it’s a pretty magical experience.
sorry. back to business.
we decided to start with the st ambroise – the great pumpkin ale. it was… pretty freaking great. nice amount of spice to it and a decently strong pumpkin flavour. this beer doesn’t fare so well on beer advocate, but we quite liked it. and just to be sure, we drank 2 bottles. i enjoyed that it was a little more cinnamon & ginger and a little less clove. the clove thing is so hit or miss with pumpkin beers. too much and it’s just gross, but you have to have it in there.
next up was the granville island – pumpkin beer. no clever witty names, just a straight up beer. now, i am a huge fan of GI, but this one was a bit of a disappointment. the pumpkin flavours were weak at best to me, in fact, if you gave me this beer blindfolded and asked me to describe it, i definitely would not use the word pumpkin. but it was a tasty little beer and i enjoyed it overall… but not pumpkiny. i got earthy, a little spice… and… GI beer. not so much on the pumpkin.
number 3 was fernie brewery – pumpkin head brown ale. tasty, definitely… and i love a brown ale, so i was excited about this. it was a delight, but again, not heavy on the pumpkin taste. it did have a nice mouth feel and went down really quickly. i would buy it again.
last but not least was the howe sound – pumpkineater. the thing i like most about this beer? the size. and the swing top bottle. because sometimes you don’t drink it all at once. or so i’ve heard… weird, i know. anyways, this beer was also on the darker side, which again, works for me. it’s also billed as a “strong beer” so it’s around the 8% alcohol mark. we found this one to have a nice spice & pumpkin flavour and for a strong beer, it was nice and smooth.
at this point the “notes” kind of start to slide… it’s hard to remember what the first beer tasted like… but we’re pretty sure we liked it best. so we had to drink the last 2 bottles of it to be sure.
and we were. the st ambroise won for us.
