April 24 -28, 2005.

Stayed at the Venetian. Venezia tower. Concierge level. The best. I'll book the same for our next trip. Great service, beautiful rooms, lots of food and drinks. Loved the property. No reason to leave.

It's all about the food for me. In case there is anyone else out there like me, thought I'd post this. I worked hard on planning this trip. Also kept second guessing myself. All in all, I am sooo glad we did not stay at the Bellagio. My sister did, so we were able to see their room. They spent all their free time at our place. That pretty much says it all.

Okay, to the food...

Bouchon.... 3 pm Oyster bar. Great food and drinks. Service is poor, but we got over it. Thought it was quite entertaining that they did not know that they had a menu. Recommend going. We went at least 3 times. Food and drinks made up for all the rest. We will go back.

Canelloto?? Not sure if I have the name correct. It is located at the end of the Venetian shops, next to Postrio. Exellent service. Italian and megga memorable. This was fantastic! Fried calamari to die for. Mixed salad with fresh parmesan. Cheese ravioli like I've not had anywhere else in the world and Ray had a whole sea bass. You think that's bad? Next we went to a wedding and onto Le Cirque for the wedding reception. Major eating day!

Le Cirque. Not memorable. Felt rushed at every moment. Would not go back. If you must, try their lobster bisque. Now that was memorable!

Roy's. The one in Maui is fantastic. This one has a low attendance for a reason. Good appetizers. Bad fish.

Delmonico's Steakhouse. Worth trying. We showed up at 10 pm without a reservation. Dressed well. All the folks in front of us were turned away. $20 got us a table immediately. Note : our concierge told us that $20 will get you anything in Vegas. So totally unlike perhaps other destinations. She was right about that. I was surprised. We both had filets. We were happy. Like the herb crust. Different.

Joe's. As in South Beach. Located in the Forum Shops at Caesars. Stone crab claws to die for. Why is it that I get them next day aired from Miami to NC and they taste better in Nevada? No need to go back to Miami. Vegas here we come the next time we crave stone crab claws.

Pinot Brasserie. Great french onion soup. That's about it. Service was similar to that in France. Perhaps that is what they were going for.

Walked into Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. It was still closed. The place is fantastic! Ran out of time to go eat/drink there. We'll do it next time. Bought a truck load of souveniers though!

Lastly, on our exit out of the Vegas airport was probably the best burger that we've had in years. Rubys dinner. Wow. Fries and onion rings were good too.


McCormick and Schmicks.. Went for dinner. Have experienced the orgasmic dinners in Seattle. Not so in Vegas. Will not go back.

Side bar.... Shows.... Saw George Carlin. Seen him before. Had front row center. He sucked. Can I say that here? Carol, please change the word it necessary, thanks and sorry. George went to the dark side. Couldn't get off the 100 ways to commit suicide. Funny would have been good. The entire room was silent for 1 hour. We walked out. Went to Delmonico's instead. Our waiter told us George has some problems. George did say he just got out of rehab. Shaking like a leaf in November.

Other shows... the Riviera hotel has Splash. Now that was memorable. Great seats in the second row. Highly recommended.

Loretta