Vegas Eats: A Few Nibbles...

by Erin

While our meal at Michael Mina was a definite culinary highlight of our trip to Las Vegas, we had a few tasty bites throughout the weekend that we couldn't go without sharing with you, Dear Reader.

'Wichcraft

The first to share was our first meal of the whole trip, at 'Wichcraft, Chef Tom Colicchio's sandwich place. Xani and I arrived in Vegas starving and ready to go to Chef Keller's Bouchon, but alas, they were not open for lunch! So, we started wandering through our hotel (the MGM Grand) and came across 'Wichcraft - a miracle! We've each been to a different restaurant of Chef Colicchio (I went to CraftBar in NYC; Xani went to Craft in LA), and we had wanted to try out his more casual place.

We got two sandwiches to share (obvi): The Slow-Roasted Pork sandwich, with red cabbage, jalapenos, and mustard, on ciabatta, and the Grilled Gruyere sandwich, with caramelized onions on rye bread.

Would you like some pork wth your jalapenos?

Aw yeah...now that's a grilled cheese

Both sandwiches were good, though we were starving so I think that made them taste a bit better! The pork had good flavor, but the mustard was a pretty powerful flavor as well. Also unique about that sandwich: the GIGANTIC slices of raw jalapeno! Um, what?! Are you trying to kill us, Tom??

The grilled cheese was very nice as well - delicate flavors from the cheese and the onions, and the nice and unusual addition of the rye bread.

Xani ponders which one is her favorite

Along with our sandwiches, we got some awesome chips! They had a lot of interesting flavors, and we chose Salt & Pepper, and Spicy Thai. Both were great - I love a good chip. The Thai ones were SUPER spicy but we gobbled them right up.

Clearly I loved the chips

Raffles - Home of the Dessert Burger

Later on our first day, we met up with many cousins and the Birthday Boy, Uncle Sheldon, at a restaurant called Raffles in Mandalay Bay. They were having lunch but we of course had already eaten. We had not had, however, any sweets, and we spotted a very interesting dessert on the way in: a dessert burger!

We were so curious we couldn't resist ordering it. We discovered that the bun was poundcake with sesame seeds, the "burger patty" was a chocolate ganache with a hazelnut crunch on the inside, the "cheese" was an apricot gel of some sort. The "ketchup" was a seedless raspberry jam, and the "fries" were little bits of puff pastry covered in sugar! So cute. It was a fun treat and the kids and adults were equally amused by our choice.

Chicken and Waffles

One morning we met BCD Mom and Dad for breakfast at the MGM, and the menu had Chicken and Waffles as an option. (Sidebar: don't you think it would be fun to have two dogs and name them Chicken and Waffles??) I have always wanted to try this unusual Southern combo, and once I saw the guy on Man v. Food (my new favorite food show) get some, I had been craving it. So, we got it! It was a malted waffle, covered with a fried chicken breast, covered with white gravy, and oh yeah, a fried egg - oy! Luckily we chose to split this gigantic breakfast, and we still couldn't finish it! It was pretty good, and now that I have a taste for it, I want the real thing from some sort of southern establishment. Maybe when I am in Atlanta in June...

In addition to these eating adventures, we had a lovely meal in Henderson, NV with the family for Sheldon's birthday bash! It was great to see everyone since we are located literally all around the world, and therefore do not get together very often at all. We're so glad we were able to celebrate Sheldon's birthday all together. Happy birthday, Shelley! We love you!

One candle for every 10 years!

Happy birthday, Uncle Shelley!

Love,

Erin & Xani