Thursday July 12th

The night before, we had agreed to sleep in as long as possible, and have a very lazy day before our last dining reservation. We figured we'd have some sweet treats from Jean Philippe the next morning/afternoon for our brunch, and that's precisely what we did. We finally got out of bed at 1:00 PM. Aria was going to be our stop today.

We venture over the walkway to Aria, and walk past the shops. My wife wanted to stop at some expensive shoe store, and I simply stood outside while dicking around on my phone. We venture past some display showing the dresses famous actresses/singers have worn to recent red carpet events. I was doubtful they were the actual dresses, but I could be wrong (it's happened before).

Blurry trees, with blurry lights.

Meh, I dunno.

Jennifer Lopez? Don't remember.

Don't remember again, and don't care.

Still don't care.....

Aria lobby. Nice.

Towards the casino area.

Sage art display.

I grew up in a city by the same name.

We stroll through the casino, and I show the Boss the high limit room over by the Sky Suites, and Lemon Grass and Blossom restaurants. Before too long we're at Jean Philippe, and the wife certainly takes her time scanning over the delectable and pretty options before her. Quite frankly, I'm not sure why she took so long since she seemed to order one of everything. Not gonna lie....when I heard the final tally, I think I had the wind knocked out of me.

Let the sugar overload begin.

"One of each please."

And yet, we're still not done.

So...many....choices....

Croissants anyone?

Or maybe some brioche?

Muffins?

Holy Hell, woman!!!! On SUGAR?!?!

These are what we started with.

Oh sonofabitch, that's good.

Yeah, you need to try these....

Fake cake displays!

My wife did indeed make us spend over $70 on sweets for our "meal" before dinner tonight. Damn. I knew she was probably ordering a few things, but it certainly added up quickly. Before continuing our walk through Aria, we each try the peanut lollipops. Yeah, just click for a larger picture above if you haven't done so already. It was simply a ball of chocolaty happiness....on a stick... I'll leave it at that.

We continue the stroll through, and land over by the poker room. The wife grabs a quick coffee at the kiosk near by, while I watch a few hands from the rail. From here we head back to the room to take our time getting ready for tonight's dining experience, and sample a few more sugary sweets.

I think my many "subtle" reminders to the Boss about how long we have left until we need to be at the restaurant was growing on her nerves. "One hour until we need to be there..." A little while later "Okay, thirty minutes until we need to be there..." She'd ask "I thought it was thirty minutes until we needed to leave?" Yeah, no.... I'm the planning type and like to know everything's going to go off without a hitch. While she's been getting ready for about ninety minutes, I iron my dress shirt, and put on my freshly dry cleaned pants and say "alright, I'm ready." Her only witty reply is "I hate you" as she continues to put some sort of toxic chemicals in her hair. In an attempt to kill time, I decide to try a luke warm glass of champagne from yesterday. Yeah, that was a bad idea. I won't be doing that again.......

One quick walk over to Bellagio, and we arrive on time at Le Cirque. We're seated and quickly offered a cocktail while we scan through the menu. We both decide to take them up on their offer, and we're given Le Cirque's signature "Veuve Framboise." It's a cocktail mixed with Veuve Clicquot champagne, raspberry liqueur and fresh pureed raspberries. It was a nice drink, but now that I look back at my receipt picture, I don't think it was $27-a-piece good.

We had both pretty much decided we were going to do the full tasting menu, with the Sommelier wine pairings. Each course allowed you to pick between two different options. When our orders were taken, Angela went first, and I simply chose whatever she didn't. Once that was completed, the bread and amuse bouche made their appearances.

The breads were all tasty. The pretzel was my favorite. Other bread offerings included a crusty baguette with bacon, and a rosemary selection. The others, escape me at the moment. The amuse bouche was a cold pea soup, and was fine. Soon after, we were on to the first course.

Angela went with the Alaskan king crab with garlic chips, crispy onions, and a citrus vinaigrette. Also on the plate were red and yellow peppers. My selection was the sea urchin "ice cream" with ginger lemon grass gelee, and fennel puree. I can't recall having tried sea urchin before, so this one was an exciting one for me. It was another cold dish and packed a lot of flavor. It was creamy and silky while the sea urchin had a little bit of depth and texture. It was a winner for me. Ang didn't have any complaints about her crab and thought the peppers went well with the crab itself.

My next course was going to be a foie gras dish on top of white chocolate and raisin brioche with rhubarb. Ang's next choice was going to be the decadent black truffle risotto.

My foie dish simple melted in the mouth. I think the brioche underneath it was the only accompaniment to offer texture. The rhubarb was a nice touch, but didn't stand out in my mind. The Boss's risotto however, was rich and over the top. I will say I sampled a piece of black truffle before she mixed everything together, as I've never tried them before. They do have an earthy/mushroom taste to them, but frankly I don't see what the big deal is. Yes, I know they're expensive to find and harvest as you have to have specially trained pigs or dogs find them under the ground, and they only grow in a particular region of the world. I think the risotto would have been more than capable of standing on its own.

Next up for me would be a seafood bouillabaisse and Angela would be having a chorizo crusted black cod.

The bouillabaisse was certainly not what I expected. It was prettier than normal versions I've had before. It included a clam, and a sliced purple potato. Ang's chorizo crusted cod was on point, and we took turns sampling the dishes put in front of each other. Next up for me would be the Bucatini kobe beef oxtail. Angela would be going with the honey glazed duck selection.

My presentation.

Angela's duck.

Spiced sweet potato.

Cut open.

Dessert menu!

Bottom of the dessert menu.

This course is what I think really started to fill us up. My oxtail was full of flavor, and the sauce was an excellent accompaniment. Ang's duck was savory and for lack of any fru-fru descriptive words - it was just damn good. Soon after, we're given the dessert menu. The Boss decides to go for the chocolate sphere with praline mousse, white chocolate ice cream, and hazelnut caramel while I go for the dragon fruit sorbet.

Dessert wine.

Cheese course.

Bread for the cheese.

Nom-Nom-Nom.

My dragon fruit sorbet presentation.

The Boss' sphere of melting goodness.

Still melting a bit.

Petit fours.

My finished dessert.

Her's is done too.

Another petit four shot.

Me playing with my food.

We both opted for the cheese sampling just before dessert. Le Cirque provided a sheep's milk cheese which was light and salty. My only complaint is that they didn't bring out more without being asked.

I wish I could have gotten a picture of Ang's chocolate sphere in its entirety. It came out as a simple perfect chocolate sphere adorned with a little bit of gold leave on the top. The server then pours some chocolate sauce over the top which then in turn melts the sphere and combines everything together and reveals the awesome contents within. My sorbet was nice, and light but not as much on the sweet side as Ang's. If I was going back tomorrow, her dessert selection would be at the top of my list of things to try next.

Throughout the meal, our server was making small talk, and we came to find out we were seated at table 92. Apparently this is the table most requested by the likes of George Clooney, Brad Pitt and other celebrities mainly due to the view. La-de-da.

Parting gift.

A few truffles.

A free gift to us.

Personally signed by the chef.

Nice touch.

The famous Le Cirque atmosphere.

Straight ahead of me.

Directly behind me.

The final damage.....wow.

Through our talks we were told Le Cirque was recently ranked number three in the world, and number one restaurant in Las Vegas. We were offered a tour of the kitchen on our way out, which we gladly accepted. We shook hands with Gregory Pugin, Le Cirque's head chef. We complimented him and his team on a well done experience for us. He also wished us a happy anniversary.

As we're walking out the door, I turn to our server and embarrassingly ask for his name again. He said "If the service was good, it's Martin. If it wasn't so good, you can call me Maurice." Another gastronomical experience put in the books.

Shortly after leaving, I ask the Boss how she'd feel about getting her favorite Las Vegas drink, the Tennessee Highball from the Baccarat Bar. She states she's too full at the moment, so we take the time to stroll through the Bellagio conservatory and get some updated pictures.

Water ball.

We tried.

Ceiling.

Carousel.

Towards the front.

Fountains.

Bee attack!

Ceiling shot with Aria in the background.

Flowers...everywhere flowers....

Bridge.

Balloons.

Lighthouse.

Flowers leading to the bridge.

Even more flowers.

Overall shot.

Das Boat!

Das Boat close up!

What the hell?

I have that hanging in my living room too.

In the back.

Yet more flowers.

Facing towards the front of Bellagio.

Making my way around...

On the right hand side.

"What are you looking at?"

Waterfall.

Final shot.

I thought their summer display was the most impressive that I've seen in a long time. During our stroll through the conservatory, we actually stopped at Michael Mina and asked if Marcio was still working with them. The hostess confirmed and stated that he doesn't have a table assigned to him at the moment. We asked if we could speak with him and give him compliments from our dinner four years ago. In short order he makes his appearance with a slight "who the fuck are these people" look on his face. We tell him we ate there four years ago, and to this day still talk about the level of service and the overall experience we received compliments of him. We asked if he was still studying to become a sommelier, and made other small talk. In the end, I think it made his day to hear from a previous customer (from four years ago no less). I hope he passes his testing when he decides to go for it.

After walking around and our talk with Marcio, we decide to try the Baccarat Bar and have a drink.

Two Tennessee Highballs.

Dale Chihuly art.

She was at Le Cirque with her boyfriend after us. Shot towards the high limit area.

Another shot. No idea.

Baccarat Bar menu.

Our favorite.

The rest of the page.

Expensive bastards, but pretty good.

Once we've rested our feet for a few moments, we opt to take our drinks with us and head back towards Cosmo. By this point, the Boss is ready to have a quiet evening and get one more decent night of sleep before we have to pack up and leave in the morning. I phone in an order to room service to show up at 6:15. Since I still felt it was a little early, I opted to head downstairs to the casino and see what was going on. As I'm leaving our floor, I noticed two doors with the "do not cross" tape plastered over them. Moments later a bachelorette party got off the elevator and were heading that way. Nice.

I turn to my left and sure enough, the little Gremlin look-a-like is right there, clock and all.

Now this is the third time in a row I've been to Vegas where (as I like to say) he's run into me. I don't seek him out, I don't go looking for him, and frankly I'm not much of a fan. But for whatever reason, the universe seems to be laughing at me by sending him my way when I'm on vacation.

And it doesn't matter what kind of property I'm staying at. The first time was Aria, then on my next visit he was wandering around the El Cortez. Each of those times he was playing at a craps table. This time I just happened to look six feet to my left (and down) and there he was.

If I had the opportunity, I was seriously going to talk to him and say something like "Flav....this is starting to get awkward. I know you live in Vegas and all, but please stop following me around. It doesn't matter what day of the week it is, you always seem to bump into me. Now, check that clock and tell me what does it say? Time to get the hell out of Kevin's face? Yes, that is a correct answer."

Well maybe it wouldn't have gone exactly like that, but you get the idea. I'm frankly getting tired of seeing the former rapper who in the words of Adam Sandler, "looks like a burnt match."

I didn't get the opportunity to have my little talk with him since he had about five or six twenty something guys looking to pose with him. Yuppies.

I continue perusing the Cosmopolitan casino and play a little bit of Pai Gow Poker here and some blackjack there. I had the unfortunate experience of encountering a dealer's A-5 straight and having him educate me that it actually beat my 9-K straight for our high hands. I asked to see the plaque displaying that rule, and sure enough it was there. Despite paying me out initially, he made me cough the money back up.

As I'm wandering around and checking out the action at the various blackjack tables, I see a dude walk out of the elevator hallway with a chimpanzee on his back. The man literally had a monkey on his back. What the hell is going on here?

I again sit down at a Pai Gow poker table, and about my sixth or seventh hand in, I hear a god damn mariachi band playing as they're walking through the casino. We're talking trumpets, guitars and all. I turn to my left to check out the action, and I see what I can only assume was a host or concierge of some sort leading the pack. She had on a fake cheesy (yet awesome) mustache which looked totally out of place with her Cosmopolitan attire. The band themselves were dressed to the nines. I couldn't tell if they were accompanying someone notable or if it was just someone having fun making a grand entrance. I asked the dealer and pit boss if they knew anything about it, and they were as dumbfounded as I.

After losing my buy in, I wander the 2nd floor of Cosmopolitan and decide to check out the pizza shop. It of course was packed, but I figured I didn't have anywhere else to go. After about ten minutes in line, I opted to bail on that option, and went back to the room. Instead, I dug into some of our sweets from earlier. Probably not the healthiest way to go to sleep, but what the hell.

Party girls room.

Er, rooms.

What....the.....hell.....?

Yeah, no idea.

Late night pizza shop line.

Toppings as a pie was being made.

One of the cooks.

Pies and pie slices.

One more shot.

At this point, I crashed, but for the sake of saving a few clicks, I'll continue the next day's report here.

It was Friday July 13th, and the alarm goes off promptly at 6:00 AM. At 6:01 there's a knock on the door with the polite "room service" spoken afterwards. I had asked that they deliver breakfast at 6:15, but hey...whatever.

The food was fine, but damn it was expensive. She just wanted two hard boiled eggs and a bowl of mixed fruit. I went with the eggs benedict and hash browns. We split a pot of coffee. Each of her eggs...$5..... Really? No mark up there (insert eyes rolling here). I think all in all after the automatic gratuity and "delivery charge" (aka additional profit) it was $63. Damn....

We wolf down breakfast and finish packing. Presidential Limo was already waiting for us when we made our way downstairs and the trip to the airport and the flight home was uneventful. Oh yeah....the best part? My wife forgot the Jean Philippe bag in our room which contained about half of the sweet treats we bought the day before. We were going to carry them on the plane, but not today. Sonofabitch.....