Wine with a "View"

Yup, another restaurant blog post.

Today was a day for pampering. We girls took our time waking up...well I did...mom woke up early as usual... and then headed off to get facials. Microdermabrasion pumpkin enzyme facial. Great for fine lines, acne scars, hyper-pigmentation and getting all the dead skin off and improving cellular turnover. I consider it investing in my future. This was my third time going to my aesthetician and I think I got my mom addicted too.

Then it was off to Whole Foods - a regular "to-do" when we are together. I love the food bar at Whole Foods...you know, along with everything else.

And then pedicures. sigh. I have been waiting on one of these for a while. We got them with hot stone foot massages and paraffin wraps. Oh sweet soft baby feet. I'm ready for pool season now!

And then we headed to one of my favorite places for dinner. View wine and cheese bar in Tivoli Village.

She is now the fifth person I have brought here...and four of these five times I have sat in the exact same seat!

My "spot"

I had a great Pinot Grigio and mom had A Canundrum red blend. Both were delish. But if that is not your style, they have a nice list of wines and a few beers as well.

I don't think you can come here without getting cheese and so we had a 5-cheese platter

 Stay with me now.. I don't remember what they were all called...There was a delicious brie, a soft goat cheese...with something amazing in it, a sharper cows cheese aged in sage [the green one there], a Pepito...sheeps cheese with peppercorns in it... and Coco Cardona, a goat cheese with a cocoa crust [it isn't sweet, but it is my favorite]. They serve it with grapes, bread, honey, and apple butter. and apple slices if you are gluten intolerant... or if you ask.

They have a lot of small plates here so we got two things to share.

Tuna Tartare Tacos

avocado, crisp lettuce, lime creme

These chips were so light and crisp. Not greasy and perfectly salted. The tuna was buttery and not too fishy...and they served it with a slice of lime that I squeezed over all of them that really just made all the flavors pop...yum

We also had

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

brown butter, almond, pumpkin seed

There were also small slices of potato as well. I have had these twice before and every time there is a slightly different twist on them. The first time they were much more caramelized and sweet; this time they were much lighter and fresher. Both delicious, simply different. 

I really love this place when you are just looking for a cozy casual evening. They had a live singer who sang Dido, Adele, and Colbie Caillat so beautifully that my mom thought it was actually Dido over the radio at first. It was a Sunday night so all of the stores in Tivoli were already closed but otherwise I think it is a very cute area to walk around and shop in. 

Read more about "View" here
Menu
New Hot Spot
You'll Long to Linger

Do you have a favorite wine bar or type of wine??

Thyme for SAGE

When I first moved to Las Vegas, I created a notebook of all the restaurants I wanted to go to. And then I never stopped looking at food websites or "best of" or "to do" sites and the list just grew and grew and I basically need to eat somewhere new for every meal for every day in order to cover my list....
but today I can cross another excellent choice off of my "to-do" list.

SAGE at the Aria hotel.

There are so many amazing chefs and amazing restaurants in the hotels, Sage is certainly one of the higher end ones, so to be saved for special occasions, like the momma bear coming to town.

We had already had our martini's at the Stratosphere and so we skipped cocktails and went straight to food.

Before we even began they brought out a tasting of fresh lamb tartar with homemade horseradish mustard and a slice of pickle. Best spoonful of my life.

Starter

 GRILLED SPANISH OCTOPUS  

Sunchoke-Potato Puree/Roasted Beech Mushroom/Toasted Marcona Almond

Since it was just the two of us, they split the starter and gave us each our own prepared plate. It may not look good to you, as seafood often does not. But it was phenomenal. You may be thinking, oh octopus is SO chewy...yah, I thought that too....apparently not when the octopus is made of pure heaven. This was the most tender octopus of my life. I'm scared to say the tenderness of like a hot dog cause that sounds nasty but  it just melted in your mouth. The marcona almonds were so buttery and gorgeous too. The octopus was so fresh and did not have an overwhelming fishy taste to it. I would have eaten an entire plate of this for my entree if I had a choice.

But instead, I went with

MAINE DAY BOAT SCALLOPS

Braised Oxtail/Wild Mushrooms/Salted Caramel Reduction

Again. The most tender, perfectly cooked scallops I have ever had. And I am from Florida, so I have had a lot.You can't see the oxtail in the middle of the scallops but...it was so tender and flavorful and paired so incredibly with the scallops. And the sauce. You may be thinking "salted caramel?? sounds like dessert!" but I assure you it was not. It was more of an asian leaning sauce and the caramel just hit right through the acidity of the sauce perfectly. I should have taken notes at dinner of exactly how everything tasted so I could relay this more effectively for you...but alas I did not. 

My mother ordered

COLORADO LAMB SADDLE

Fava Beans/Braised Lamb Shank-Wheatberry Salad/Artichoke 

No picture, unfortunately, but you can kind of see it here

I only had one bite of this, but I can assure you, it was tender and juicy and delicious and everything else it could possibly be.

And then I remembered that Sage was on "Best thing I ever ate" on Food Network for the "Frightully Good" episode, you can read here.

I forgot which kind of Absinthe to get, so we got the classic... and the strongest...at 140 proof

They light a sugar cube on fire over the absinthe in the glass and then pour water over it to turn it a milky green. It tastes of licorice and the people at the table next to us told us they could even smell it! It is a bit of a pricey drink...and obviously strong...so we shared it..

But in case you have't caught my point, this place is amazing. I certainly hope to return at some point and do the Chefs tasting menu [which is a bit more than we were looking to spend tonight]. If you don't believe ME on this, then read a couple other reviews on this gem!!

"20 most important restaurants in Las Vegas"

"50 must eat meals in Las Vegas"

"2012 Where to eat in Las Vegas"

"Sexiest Restaurants"

And here is a link to the menu for you to peruse at your leisure.

Enjoy!!

Let me know if any of you have been to Sage or have a suggestion for another place to try!

Park it here.

So one thing that I kinda complain about with Vegas is that there isn't really a home-y local scene...at least not like in Colorado and Texas and other places. I certainly like View at Tivoli Village and a few other places that you could certainly call "local".  I dont know if you can consider East Fremont St local since there are so many people there for the actual "Fremont Street" but they are certainly carving out their own little space in my heart.

picture courtesy of Park Facebook Page

The latest place to make me fall in love a little bit more was Park. A relatively unassuming place from the outside, right next to Radio City Pizza. I was on my way home from the country day concert I wrote about here and some friends texted me to meet them there...so naturally I did!

I had heard about this place earlier off of another friends facebook and I knew what I just had to try

Breakfast Derby Bloody Mary

This is the Derby Breakfast Club-bacon infused Old Overholt rye whiskey, hickory liquid smoke , crisp bacon, and a pickled hard boiled egg.

Everyone wanted to get their hands on this drink...

They had a fun drink and beer menu as well as what looked like a great food menu. The salad and sweet potato tots I had were very delicious. 

It was just a fun place to chill out with friends. Good music, not too loud, and more importantly, great ambiance

And art...

I would have taken a picture of the creepy little kid - baby pictures in the bathroom...but I didn't think cameras in bathrooms was too kosher... If nothing else, come here and wash your hands to see!

But all in all, I would have to say the evening was

Well said Park. Well said.

Xo

Vegas gone Country

I cannot lie, when I first moved to Vegas (almost) a year ago, country music was not on the top of my list of things I expected to experience. Granted, we have about 3 country bars where one can line dance and two step their way to a good time, but in general...not a whole lot of country!

So that made this weekend all the more special... because the American Country Music Awards were in town!!! There were concerts every day and every night all weekend, starting Friday and ending Monday!!
Now, I only experienced Friday and Saturday, but I am certainly not complaining!!

Friday night was extra special because I had originally been scheduled to work and I ended up getting off way early (so to speak) so I was able to head on down to Fremon St for the first round of free concerts!!

Sunny Sweeney

Joe Nichols

Kip Moore

First up was Sunny Sweeney... who I have to say, I have never heard of...but she was good and fun and this picture isn't zoomed in so you can see how close we were able to get!









Next was Joe Nichols...and let me tell you how he took me straight back to high school. As cliche as it may sound, I absolutely remember many a night driving home from swim practice in my truck with my windows down blaring "Impossible" or "She only smokes when she drinks." ...I thought Joe was just sooo cute. Well,  I have to say he has aged well!!






We popped over to Kip Moore next. You may know his songs "Somethin' bout a truck" or "Hey pretty girl." He was also a lot of fun to listen to. But by now it was getting uncomfortably crowded and we decided to skip out on Gary Allen in order to head home for our next day of festivities!!








Saturday was "Party for a Cause" and we were even more lucky because the tickets were free! Country music loves their military!! The concert also included a presentation of charitable donations to the military-inspired non-profit organizations Wounded Warrior Project®, Folds of Honor and Nellis Air Force Base Youth Education Programs which was pretty awesome.

We got there about 10:15am loaded up with water bottles and Monster energy drinks, ready to go!! The expo was first and we saw some very shiny belts and very expensive boots and then were ready at 11 sharp to beeline for a spot.

We laid out two towels in the middle of everyone else in the front and just sat down, ready to wait it out until all the concerts started! The line-up was Dustin Lynch, Love and Theft, Kix Brooks [half of Brooks and Dunn], Lee Brice (I caught his guitar pick), Hunter Hayes, Eli Young Band, and Dierks Bentley (with surprise performance by Sheryl Crow!)

Dustin Lynch

 Dustin Lynch and Love and Theft were great to listen to, and easy to look at . Each performance lasted about 40-45 minutes or so with about 30 minutes to set up for the next artist in between. We would stand up for the concert and then sit down in between each set to save our feet and our legs.
It worked out really well because we kept a nice area of personal space and we eventually got a group of women who became protective of us and our towels. They benefited from us being there because they always kept their spots as well and they weren't crowded because no one else would step on the beach towels! It was brilliant!

Love and Theft

Love and Theft were almost like alt rock meets country, they way they looked, their guitars, their attitudes and what not. You may know their songs "Girls love to shake it" and "Girls look hot in trucks" ..I happen to agree with both....

Kix Brooks

Watching Brooks reminded me of my Momma and listening to Brooks and Dunn and Garth Brooks and Reba with her growing up. He still has it too! Although, I could have done without him spraying his water on us!

And then there was this kid. Hunter Hayes. You may know "Wanted" and "Somebody's heartbreak" by him. Great singer, great performer, great on the guitar (in spite of looking like he was sucking on a sour warhead whenever he focused...) but he brings with him a large group of annoying teenage girls. Oh I'm sorry sweety that I have been here since 10 am and have no patience for your nonsense at 5pm. They kept putting up those silly signs and blocking everyone's view. So I did what was only right and threw empty water bottles at them until they respectfully removed the sign....

Dierks Bentley

And then there was this gorgeous man. Dierks Bentley. Seriously. How does any man make a white t-shirt and jeans look as sexy as this. I've never wanted to be a groupie more in my life.
I am so jealous of the lucky girl who he gave his guitar to. Ugh. But other than that, he was amazing to watch and I would certainly pay to see him again!!

And then he goes and brings out Sheryl Crow!! How cool was that!! She looks incredible for being 51. I hope I look that great (although, maybe a tad larger than her...someone get that lady some fried chicken...). So the concert series ended up around 945pm or so...definitely a solid day of music. And thanks to generous sun screen application, not a sun burn or tan line in sight!!
And then, believe it or not, I went back to Fremont St to meet up with friends! but more on that in a different post. I missed most of the music that night in exchange of a nice drink and a comfy chair.
I ended up at the MGM tonight with some friends [where the American Country Music Awards were actually held this afternoon] but unfortunately I did not get swept up by some sexy country celebrity or even meet a nice cowboy. Maybe next year. ;-)


But honestly, I did not see a single performance that I would not have been willing to pay. They all sounded as incredible in person as they do on their albums. It is ALL REAL here folks!!
xo
Kali