Hey, remember how I (casually) mentioned last week that the wife and I had recently returned from a quick little trip to Las Vegas? Huh? Remember that? Good. Now, remember how I also told you kids that I'd soon give a recap of said trip? Well, in truth, I never actually PROMISED you a recap (or a Goddamn rose garden either, so quit askin' for one). However, since I am a kind and benevolent recap-master, I shall now do my level best to type up some facts about that recent Vegas trip and share them with you...Ready? Good. Here we go...

Sure, we COULD'VE driven...But It Would've Cost More...
You know, it used to be easy to determine the best way to save money on a trip somewhere...If you had money to spend, you flew...If you wanted to save money, you drove...Now, though, with gas prices flirting with NOT ONLY disaster, but $3.00 plus per gallon, it's actually more economical to fly to Las Vegas than it is to drive. To offset the horrible costs of things, though, a fun little fact about visiting Sin City in the dead heat of July is that MOST airlines will give you smokin' deals (no burning flesh pun intended) just to get you there...Usually, when we head to Vegas (dead heat of summer or no), we fly on a particularly shitty crap crap shit airline called Allegiant Air when we visit Las Vegas ONLY BECAUSE they fly direct from the Colorado Springs Airport to McCarran and because they're usually cheapest...

Note that I said "USUALLY"...

This time around, the best deals which I could find were on Southwest and on Frontier respectively, neither of which fly out of my aforementioned hometown airport. However, even taking into account the cost of gas to and from the Denver International Airport ("conveniently" located like...30 miles EAST of Denver) and long-term parking for what would amount to 4 days, it was STILL cheaper to fly from Denver than it was from the Springs. On top of that, when I took into account the fact that Allegiant has degraded from a traditional "low-cost" airline to nothing more than a horribly awful "no-service" airline, I thought it best that I should officially begin my boycott of said airline with this trip. My parents had flown Frontier before and hold it in high regard and, since the airline's hub IS Denver, I thought it might be the best way to go...For once, I chose correctly. The airline is efficient, the people are friendly, the planes are (relatively) clean and they don't totally skimp on in-flight services. There's even a smallish television which offers Direct TV service (for an additional fee) for every passenger...Regardless, to make an already long section short, Frontier most likely will be the airline that the wife and I will fly from here on out...I would recommend it to anyone looking to save a buck or two on airfare...

You Let The STUDENTS Cook Your Food!?..
Let's be frank...As you kids should know, if you've read my past Vegas recaps, I go to Las Vegas primarily to "eat food." With that said, the first establishment which we enjoyed during our recent visit was Cafe Bleu, the student-run restaurant which is part of Le Cordon Bleu Schools, a culinary academy which (I assume) turns out high-quality chefs and chefstresses at a mind boggling pace. Enjoying the cuisine at Cafe Bleu were myself, my wife, my buddy Andy, Andy's wife Andrea, Heather's sister Shannon and Big Al, Shannon's fiancee...The idea to eat at the place was originally hatched by Andrea, I believe, and as it turned out, it was a pretty good idea. If there was a "downside" to the experience, it would likely be that the menu was on the side of "limited" and, because it is kind of one of those "French" type cooking schools, the portions were on the side of "small." With that said, though, I enjoyed my meal very much and felt that the service and such was close to top-notch. In brief, if you're in Vegas and you're looking for an enjoyable dining experience paired with a decent value, you should check out Cafe Bleu. From what we were led to believe, a new class takes over the place every 6 weeks and writes it's own menu so variety shouldn't suffer. The only downside to that would be that, if you find something you really enjoy at Cafe Bleu, it could conceivably be off the menu once the new group of students takes over...Regardless, I give Cafe Bleu a robust B+...

Forty Bucks Gets You...Let's See...Right, ONE Burger...
One of the places which I had enjoyed during a previous Vegas vacation (you know, the one where my wife and her sister went to Florida to see their mom) was the Burger Bar, located in Mandalay Place between the Luxor and Mandalay Bay. I had been looking forward to introducing Heather to the succulent delights which this establishment offers since I first visited it. Subsequently, the wife and I set aside lunchtime on the Saturday we were there specifically to eat at the Burger Bar. To tell the truth, I knew exactly what I wanted before we got there: Kobe beef, rare, topped with pan-seared foie gras, bleu cheese and horseradish served on a ciabatta bun. The wife, after some debate, chose the Angus beef, medium rare with jalapenos and...well, some other stuff, also on ciabatta. For her side, she ordered zucchini fries and I ended up with sweet potato fries. Now, not that I NEED constant positive reinforcement, but I found it reassuring that, when I ordered my kobe burger "rare," the waiter's face lit up and he proudly exclaimed "good man!" You see, "rare" is apparently the only way to enjoy a fine beef such as Kobe. My burger, when it came out, was exquisite...The kobe was tender and flavorful, the foie gras was buttery and the bleu cheese, which was melting between the two, added a wonderful contrast...The whole thing was so tender, in fact, that if it weren't for the firmness of the ciabatta bun, it would've been a lot like eating a cloud...A very very tasty, meaty cloud, but a cloud none the less...The wife's burger, by contrast, was very "bright and summery" where mine was kind of "dark and sharp and bold." The angus was damn near perfect at medium rare and the mozzarella, jalapenos, lettuce, tomato and onion all combined to create a surprisingly light and flavorful burger. Her side of zucchini fries was very enjoyable, as was my side of sweet potato fries...The bill came to 60-some-bucks for the two of us but, dammit, sometimes you just have to splurge to get what you want...As always, I give the Burger Bar an enthusiastic A- (only because they didn't have the same specialty drink on the menu as the last time I was there. I suspect that's "seasonal," so I'll have to check back again in the fall)...

So I figure that's just about enough rambling for one day's post...Join me again soon! I'll fill you in on the couple of shows which we saw and some of the OTHER awesome places we were fortunate enough to eat at...Thanks for stopping by, you all have a fine Monday now...

Labels: get outta town, I eat food