The Rest of the Trip

Okay..where I left you last was our Room Service meal, which really improved our health and well being :) I spent the rest of the day at the pool while Mr. T did a little bit of work from the room.
We wanted to go out for a nice dinner that night but I was having trouble choosing. I mean every good place in Vegas has a place in NYC!!  Robuchon, Craft, Nobu...I had no idea what to do.

Which is why we ended up at Yellowtail inside our hotel. The omakase on their menu looked fantastic so we decided to try it out. Unfortunately, as I told you in my first trip post, the food was not very good.For an expensive place, I have to say I've had better sushi at Whole Foods! All of the plates had strange combinations which just didn't work and the quality of the food was just a little below average. It seemed like a place that was really trying to find itself but lacked the money to get the high quality produce it needed. Then some things were just downright weird. When the dessert came out it was a chocolate fig custard in a ramekin with a little wrapped up present box next to the dish. Excited I immediately reached for the box to see what was inside. Inside was...nothing!! Apparently it was just part of the plate decoration?? But it was so strange. Why not put something inside? A piece of chocolate? Anything? Who wants an empty wrapped up box with their custard?

Anyway as I said before, the only thing that saved this dinner was our lovely table with a view of the fountains. So here's a picture of us enjoying some champagne and watching as the fountains started to play some Frank Sinatra. Ahhh...



That night we went out and met Catfish again, this time in downtown Las Vegas. It was actually Biker week so the streets were filled with people just partying and enjoying life. It was very fun. We woke up the next morning, played a little AM Blackjack (well I did) and packed up our stuff to drive to San Diego. I took one last walk through the botanical garden in the hotel.



And I stopped off once more at John Phillipe to pick up a little treat.



Mr. T requested something white chocolate and spooky. So this ghost was perfect. Boo!! Scary and tasty!We grabbed our rental from the hotel and headed towards the open road, but we had one more important stop on our way. A place I have always heard about but never experienced before.



Can you see the sign? Know what it is? In-N-Out Burger!!!!!

I was so excited. All of my West coast friends rave about this fast food joint. We ordered some burgers and I grabbed a table out front while Mr. T waited for our food. This place was packed! When I walked outside they were calling number 18 and we were 37. That's always a good sign but I was starving! I practically tackled Mr. T for the food when he finally walked out the door. There are only 3 choices here for food, the double burger, single and cheeseburger. I went for the classic cheese while Mr. T got the Double. Here's a look at our goods.



The verdict? As far as fast food goes this is very very good. The burger was a lean patty but very juicy. It came on a grilled bun with the cheese melted on top and bottom and some kind of thousand island like spread on the bottom.



The bun really helped to make this burger. It had a nice squishy top and crispy middle. It kept the lettuce and tomatoes in check while still allowing the patty to shine through. The fries were the only disappointment. They were crispy but lacking in flavor. Even salt didn't really help them.

Oh well the burgers are good.

I would definitely get In-N-Out burger a LOT if I lived here. We tried out 2 other fast food joints on this trip. Carl's Jr and Jack in the Box. The Jack in the Box burger and decor Both freaked me out a little. The one we went to was kind of dirty so I think that was a big part of it but the clown/scarecrow pictures really bothered me. Carl's Jr was a pretty good burger. It was late at night so I'm sure it wasn't as fresh as our In-N-Out burgers. It was still very good though so I would love to come back and try a fresh one.

Okay.. then we were on to San Diego where we had a great time with Mr. T friends. The first night we went to Karl Strauss and enjoyed some really good Amber beer they brew right there at the restaurant.



It was so good we brought a growler home. And also some really good food like my Shrimp and Goat cheese corn salad.



The rest of our San Diego trip was spent chilling out, listening to his friends band play a great show and watching some football and eating some Wings at D Street Bar. Which by the way had some seriously big meaty wings. It was a great trip and I'm sure we'll make it back to the West Coast soon.

I'm sad it's over but we got the NYC Food & Wine Festival this weekend! That should be fantastic. So until then!

In-N-Out

Karl Strauss