And here we are once again at the Delano hotel. I don’t know if you remember what happened last time, we wound up at the Mandalay and the largest suite I’ve ever stayed in, 1,705 sq ft in the Horizon Suite. But to be honest, we really wanted to stay away from Mandalay, and hopefully we were going to get a nice room here at the Delano.

We walk up to the desk to check in, and since we drove up during Christmas break, we were able to drive during normal business hours and arrive at the hotel just after 8:00pm. I calmly ask the clerk, Mario, if they had an upgrade available to a junior suite. He tickled the ivories of the keyboard, and came back with a yes! Awesome! But he had to get managerial approval, whatever that means.

When we arrive to the 60th floor, yes 60th floor, we got that feeling once again. Walking towards the room, we see the number is at the end of the hall, and that’s always a good thing. We step inside the room and are greeted with a marble minimalist design marble console. Wow, impressive so far. I turn to my right and I see the door, and now I get happy, a second bathroom! Yay! I don’t know why this thrills me so much, it just does. I love having two bathrooms in a hotel room.

We step through the foyer and we come across, a second foyer? No, more a simple open space with a large mirror leaning against the wall and a chair with the round carpet. It had a very Zen minimalist modern art installation feel to it.  I could just sit here for a good long time.

We step into the living room, and Oh My God! The interior windows have a gold tint to them, so in the evening under the room lights, the whole room is just reflective gold. Huge! A large sectional couch, flat screen TV, separate dining table with new age design chandelier and full bar with Kuerig coffee maker.

We  check out the bedroom and we have to walk all the way across the room to the bedroom. And by “all the way”, I mean all, all… all the way! Past the Zen chair. Past the business desk. Past the second full size couch in the bedroom, and finally to the final resting place. After all the suite is 1,400 square feet so this place is massive!

The bed has the Delano tufted headboard, same design we had in our previous Delano room. I guess this is a Delano theme, cool. We step in past the bed and the hallway closet, yes hallway closet. As close as you’re going to get to walk in closet in Vegas. Hmmm… wait, I’m sure there are walk-in closets in Vegas. Wynn suite?

Anyway, the bathroom is nice: Double sink vanity, large soaking tub, separate water closet (toilet), steam shower! Yes, a steam shower for those mornings when you need to sweat that Tequila out. But then in Vegas, it’s never really morning as its just a rollover from the previous night.

I just love the clean modern design of this suite and effective immediately this is my new favorite suite. Let me take that back, because that suite at The Cosmopolitan, although not as fancy as this suite, it did have that double balcony! And on a beautiful spring or summer day a balcony trumps all. OK now that I think about it this is my second favorite suite but it’s my favourite Mlife suite, how about that!

Oh here we go! Hell’s Kitchen Las Vegas. We finally get to taste some Gordon Ramsay speciality food. Our memories fade back to days of The London and that awesome Beef Wellington. And even more, London held two of my favorite culinary memories: The last time we ate there, we saw and met with Neil deGrasse Tyson, the solar systems most stellar name since Carl Sagan. And then there was the food porn picture incident, where some lady asked the waiter to tell us to stop talking pictures because the flash was bothering her. I mean, yes, its annoying when people do that, using flash in restaurants for Instagram food shots, but we were the only two tables in the place! Whatever!

Anyway, this was Vegas and this was going to be one hell of a party! Wrong! The hostess tries to be as cool and nonchalant as some nightclub hostess. Whatever, you see me you insolent little prick. And then, instead of some cool Vegas waiting area, we’re forced to stand in this lame ass cheesy little roped off line. We could have walked around the lobby…foyer…area in front with a life size video recording of Ramsay saying some weird obnoxious stuff, but it was unclear if our name was being called or if we were waiting in line in the order of arrival. I didn’t want the newcomers to jump us, so we waited in line like the little sheep that we are. Lame.

As we’re being shown to our seats, the kitchen is laid out in huge Red Team Blue Team manner. quite impressive, but unfortunately, that’s the most impressive thing about that space. Just a big hall of a space ala Cheesecake Factory with half the seats removed. And pitchforks. Lot’s of pitchforks. Everywhere pitchforks! I get it already, its Hell’s Kitchen! I know, I just spent purgatory waiting for the place. Oh well, at least when I meet my demise, I’ll be able to look up and say, “I know. I remember this place.”

Good thing though, we are seated in the antechamber, the back room so to speak. At least it’s a little darker, more quiet and you don’t feel like you’re on display. The waiter comes over, finally, and…I don’t know why…but just makes me feel so uncomfortable. Just a real shark-snarkiness about him. I think he or someone must have said something to put me on edge, but either way, I was and he was not making it any better.

Oh well, so much for the Ramsay swag, the menu is rather plain, typical restaurant. Fish, steak, The Wellington, chicken. We start with the Scallops, and for some reason, I love Scallops. And I say that like, I don’t know why I like them, really not much to them, but I always want them when I see them on a menu. Weird, yep, and it’s actually been awhile since I had a good order of them to make it worthwhile.

Well this time, I got it right. First, there’s five to a plat, so plenty to have. Most of the time, there’s only 2 or 3, but with 5, Nancy lets me have a whole one, so I get 3 plump, tender and flavorful. They have just the perfect consistency, the celery root puree blandness was corrected with a touch of bacon fat flavor. The little scallions on top were gone on the second and third pieces, no need, and too sour to not annoy that subtle bacon taste.

So once the food starts coming out, first on the table was the Mac and Cheese. Truth be told, I’m on a MnC pilgrimage. Trying to feed the perfect, or at least something that comes close to the Truffle MnC we had for our Christmas dinner with friends at The Belvedere in The Peninsula years ago. OMG! That let me know MnC is in fact a grown dish that has been watered down for kids, and not the other way around. And so Gordon hits a high note here with his Gouda heavy noodle-rific wonder. But what drives it home is the crispy prosciutto on top. Yes, packs as much flavor as bacon, but in a lighter, crispier dissolves on your tongue manner. And this time, the scallions play the correct role in providing just a tippy top touch of acid. Heaven!

Finally, the Beef Wellington arrives and the presentation is just wonderful. Light and fluffy is the view with the whip potatoes, and I do mean whipped. Oozing with cream, the potatoes are light and delicate as can be. And then it happens…the first bite. And bam! Turns out I was in hell after all. The crust, light and flaky…on top. Gooey down below…please hold your jokes until the end. the meat was cooked to perfection, the mushroom sweater was perfectly uniform. And the flavor, was…gone. Both of us just stared at one another. Where was the flavor? the Scallops. Perfect. Mac and Cheese. Delicious. Beef Wellington. Check please. But of course we powered through it. I’m not that crazy. But it was just so flat. If you’re a carnivore, nowhere beats Vegas. The steak houses here are insane! One of the few places in the world were if you order Kobe, you get Kobe. But this was bland. Perfectly bland. On well. And with that we head out. Not even wanting to try desert, the MnC did us just fine. I miss that original London Wellington. I know Satan, I know.

In many ways, the New York, New York Hotel and Casino  in Las Vegas represents the true essence of New York: It stands as a gateway to a new world, it’s crowded, and full of Germans and French tourists. C’est bon! 

For many years, New York, New York was the gateway to either Bellagio Hotel if you’re headed north, or Mandalay Bay for those who are southbound. You see, when you’re at either one of those hotels, walking from one to the other, the tram does not cross Tropicana Ave. You can catch a tram from Mandalay Bay to Excalibur, then you have to exit the tram, walk across the bridge to New York, New York and proceed to the Monte Carlo tram stop, or walk directly to Bellagio to enter from the front. And vice versa, once you’ve lost all your money at Bellagio and need to walk back home, because cab fare is out of the question now, to Mandalay Bay, you reverse the trip, and walk through New York, New York to the Excalibur stop. Or you can walk the strip along the outside and take pictures in front of the Statue of Liberty, but one way or another you’ve got to go through New York if you want to get to Europe or Asia. 

I walk through the casino of New York, New York, and I am amused by the kitchy-ness of the Time Square decor. On the outside, as I stated before the Statue of Liberty is there, the buildings are designed as the New York skyline. This is no easy feat when you think how do you build a hotel and make it look like a skyline. Hats off to the architects and engineers, and once again, this is my true passion about Vegas. The engineers that take what seems to be unbounded imagination and bring it to life. The Chrysler building, the Empire State building, the big Hershey sign from Times Square, they are all here, including my favorite, The Coney Island roller coaster. 

After all the years of visiting Las Vegas this is actually our first stay at New York, New York. All the years of walking through the casino, past the lobby, pass by Nine Fine Irishmen, I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised. The rooms are well appointed, spacious, and practical. No fancy-schmancy stuff, just a good solid room to hang out in. And like New York where you walk everywhere, you do have an interesting walk to the rooms. Full of twists and turns like an Agatha Christie novel, this is what is needed on the inside to get the effect of the skyline on the outside. Pretty cool actually. 

The casino is classic Vegas. It has all the bells and whistles, slot machines and card tables. There is a more popular center bar, main floor and a back floor off to the right-hand side as you come down the elevator from the rooms. I really like the walk through the back alleys of New York over to Bleecker Street where the pizza shop stands, then over to Broadway and Greenwich representing the village.

We enjoyed dinner in the village Sunday night at Nine Fine Irishmen. Stepping up to the entrance, hopes were high after that awesome Irish breakfast back in March at the Rí Rá Irish Pub in Mandalay Bay. Would the Irish food superiority would continue? As we all know, if you want the finest cuisine, go Irish! All joking aside, my short rib dinner was wonderful, and it gave me one of my favorite dining features: Alfresco. I was actually relieved at the relative comfort we were able to dine on the front patio of Nine Fine Irishmen. We didn’t feel as if we were on display with thousands of people walking by us. OK, maybe hundreds. They weren’t hovering over us and drooling on our food like in the real streets of New York. It was actually quite nice and gave that outside dining feel to an indoors restaurant. Then again, maybe it was the fact that I was keeping an eye on that slot machine that seem to be playing paying off right across the walkway that made everyone else fade to my peripheral vision. 

Dining options at New York,  New York span the full range of cuisine choices. From Nathan’s hotdogs in the Village Street Eateries to casual at Nine Fine Irishmen, to diner style breakfast at America, to upscale Italian dining at Il Fornaio and fantastic steaks at Gallagher’s. But one of my favorite spots to grab an afternoon bite is just outside of New York, New York, Beerhaus, along the MGM Parkway. The boardwalk of sorts lies between New York, New York and the new Park MGM, which was the old Monte Carlo, and runs from the strip back up to the new T-Mobile arena. And halfway up is Beerhaus, a German inspired brew house that sports great beers and a great indoor/outdoor setting. Sometimes, I just want to get out into the warm sunshine and fresh air of the Las Vegas wilderness.

But to cram all of this into a single hotel, and then add a roller coaster! You had me at “keep our hands inside the car.” Of course, I didn’t, and snuck a little video. Maybe I should’ve just talk to management so I could do a full shoot on the ride, but I think sneaking this adds to the covert excitement of it all. The pool area is quite nice as well, it sits under the roller coaster and looks up at the skyline. Pool side service is good, and it does offer a relatively large amount of shade for those super-hot summer afternoons.   

I have to admit I was a little apprehensive when my wife said let’s stay here. I was imagining tiny New York sized rooms. But since this is one of three or four hotels on the strip we have not stayed, and my bucket list is to stay at every hotel on the Las Vegas strip, I knew at some point we were going to have to pull the trigger. And now, next time I’m at Bellagio, I’m going to look forward to walking back through New York, New York, and will reflect with fond memories. I think I’m going to have to visit that Nine Fine Irishmen for yet another Smithwick’s Irish beer and short ribs. And maybe this time I’ll go ahead and grab some extra cotton candy for the roller coaster ride. Aye, fuhgeddaboudit!

 

Some 20, maybe 25 years ago, I did an all-inclusive vacation in Cozumel, Mexico, and the food was just horrible. Every morning we would wake up, walk past the line at the breakfast buffet and out to the front door to the taco stand outside our hotel. Then we would drink beer all day, get dressed for the evening and walk off the grounds again and go to one of the restaurants in town. Ever since then I’ve never really figured myself as a resortist.

A resortist is someone who spends all their time at the resort. They don’t venture outside the walls, don’t waste time running all over town exploring offerings beyond the confines of their compound. And I’ve heard of people doing this, especially at all-inclusives in Mexico, Jamaica, or other Caribbean destinations. In this sense, I didn’t become a resortist until just this last get-away at Mandalay Bay.   Whereas normally we check into our hotel, enjoy the room, and then the next day, we’re out and about, seeing the sight at other hotels, this time we did things a little different. This may have been aided by the fact that we did not drive and instead flew into Vegas. So without a car, we were less prompted to leave the Mandalay Bay resort. And for good reason. Mandalay Bay is huge, a true resort. All sorts of dining options, casino options, drinking options. You name it, and they have an option for it.

So for one of the first times ever, we stayed, for the most part, entirely within the confines of Mandalay Bay. Friday night we land at McCarran Airport and head over to The ‘Bay. We check in and are feeling a little snacky, so we stopped at the convenience store at the base of the hotel elevators. We pick up a bag of chips and some cookies to enjoy with our bottle of champagne that we picked up at the airport. Comparing prices here, there about the same as what we paid for the airport so we could’ve paid for the whole thing right here. Oh well, we have a quick snack and since it’s still relatively early, 11:00pm, it’s down to the casino tables.

The next morning  we wake up and head down to The Beach. This is one thing I truly love about Mandalay Bay, The Beach is one of three pools and the Mandalay Bay resort for folio. It’s an actual beach, a couple of million cubic feet of sand imported from Southern California to give a true beach feeling around a man-made lake with a wave generator. We hang out, cabana girl comes over, we order some beers, some Hamburger sliders and fries. That should hold us until evening.

For dinner we get dressed up head down once again to try our luck. We spend a few hours trying to find a hot slot machine, but it eludes us. Nancy is in the mood for Chinese food so we had upstairs with wander over to the Luxor Casino, which is connected to Mandalay Bay, and head to Chopstix, Asian fair on the second level. The restaurant is quiet, but I do like the fact that it is open to the walkway in the Luxor. This gives both a little alfresco feeling and a chance to watch people milling about. The food is just average is good for Chinese, but it gets the job done.

For breakfast Saturday morning, we head downstairs and Nancy wants to take a look at the offerings in the Mandalay Shops between Mandalay and Luxor. They have everything along the walkway: Burger Bar for fantastic burgers by Hubert Keller; Hussong’s Cantina for Mexican memories best forgotten (remember that time in Mexico and we were do shots and…); Boiler Room by Rick Moonen for classic comfort food; but we’re in the mood for breakfast, so I’m thinking the luck of the Irish be with us, and we stop at Ri Ra for breakfast. What could be better prior to heading out to Exotics Racing for one in the McLaren, then a good Irish breakfast with a nice cold Smithwick‘s? I order the Benedict, and it is perfect. Nancy has a Salmon Bagel, and she’s in heaven with it as well. The guys next to us order the Irish Bangers, and they can’t stop high-fiving each other as to how good their food is. That’s a good sign, looks like it’s a thumbs up.

After a hard day of racing, we make a stop back at the Cosmopolitan, and spend a couple of hours trying to find a hot slot machine. And we do! But of course as soon as it pays off, we feed the hungry little monster a good chunk of our winnings, so we decide it’s best to leave and head back to Mandalay Bay for dinner tonight before we lose it all.

For dinner Saturday night it’s Red Square, the Russian vodka ice bar that has a pretty tasty restaurant behind it. Where we sit down and are immediately greeted by the servers. I order nice the big tasty Gorba Chop, (a pork chop named after Gorbachov, get it?) and Nancy has the sirloin. Unfortunately, when the Gorba comes out and it seems to have spent a little too much time in the brine. The salt was too much for me and I had to send it back. The waiter graciously takes the plate and I order the SVO Chicken. The chicken comes up and it is quite tasty and a good replacement for the Gorba Chop. Nancy’s sirloin is just perfect, very tasty, and I’m kicking myself as to why I just didn’t order that. But when we go out dining, we always like to try different things, and this was Nancy’s turn to have steak since Lent was over!

It’s Sunday already, time to head home, but we figure one last meal before heading out for flight later in the afternoon. We decide to walk over to the Four Seasons and try the breakfast buffet at Veranda. The Veranda is advertised as the Italian restaurant offering, but since several people recommended it, we decide to see what it’s like for breakfast. After we walk in, we grab our plates, and are met with a disappointing array of heat lamps and chafing dishes. This is not the buffet I was expecting for $39 a person. There aren’t many times when I am truly disappointed by food offerings, but this actually was one of them. The food was very disappointing, although the restaurant itself is beautiful and the service is awesome. Very attentive in serving our Mimosa‘s. They just kind a left off the fact that they actually charge for the Mimosa‘s, not included in the $39 price tag. I tried the cute little skillets of Corned Beef Hash, and a little Chilaquiles, but  they look much better than they taste. This was unfortunately heat lamp food that comes across dry and flavorless. The one saving grace was the fact that they do have a omelette bar, but limited on the options. I do nothing more than order a Denver omelette: diced ham, onions, bell peppers, mushrooms and cheese. No crab, lobster, caviar, or any of the kitschy stuff that make Las Vegas buffets so spectacular. Oh well we had a great time every where else.

Before leaving we step outside to the Four Seasons pool, and bask in the sunshine. I look to Nancy and I realize this is our first trip being resortist. We spent pretty much 90% of our time in one resort location. And to be honest I rather enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to returning your June and being the resort is at the Aria Resort and Casino. They have such great offerings as Julian Serrano tapas, Javier’s for Mexican, Lemongrass for Asian, Carbone for italian, Bardot for French…oh my! And that’s not even including next-door at Crystal’s, where there’s Mastro’s Ocean Club, Wolfgang Puck has 2 locations, The Pub and much more. But that’s the point, as a resortist, I’m staying put in the Aria and enjoying everything within the confines of my castle.

To kick off the 2018 Chris and Nancy World Tour, we are heading to Vegas after receiving an invite from Mandalay Bay. Our first mistake, we are flying. Flying American Airlines. This means carry-on luggage, which restricts the amount of clothing options, so no Mega Packing. And as if this isn’t enough, our group is called to board, and we are stopped as the last of the the carry-ons, so they make us check our bags. And of course, we get on the plane and look at all the storage space we have, or would have had for our bags! Plus, if I wanted to check my bags, I could have at least packed a suit and more clothing options in case a dinner with Wayne Newton breaks out. Hopefully, the weather will turn out nice for early March and we will get some much needed pool time.

We get to Mandalay Bay to check in and I ask the clerk if any upgrades are available? The clerk responds that they are 90% capacity, March Madness starting and all, but they do have a junior suite available for just a mere $30 a night add-on. $30… let’s do it! After that stay at the Cosmopolitan, I’m all about seeing how the other side lives. We get up to the junior suite and if this is how the other side lives, stay on the other side. The clerk told us the room will be more quiet, because the previous room was an adjoining room, and that the junior suite has a very large bathtub. We thought that would be nice, but upon entry to the room, we see that the tub simply takes up half of the available space in the bathroom, therefore, making it a smaller bathroom, and…wait for it…yes, there is an adjoining door for this room. What? Well, it seems that all Mandalay Bay rooms are adjoining rooms.

Adjoining rooms are great when you’re with your family or friends, but when it’s little kids next door up and screaming at 7am, or party kids coming back to the room at 7am, not so cool if you’re a light sleeper like me.

The next morning, Nancy turns on the TV and a questionnaire pops up asking, “Are you happy with your room?” Nancy responds down thumbs down, and with that, we head to the pool. Today is going to be a wonderful 77°, but dropping 5° or so the next day, so let’s get our sunshine while it’s here. Perfect beach weather, and that’s one of my favorite aspects of Mandalay Bay, The Beach. Fun in the sun on the sand in the middle of the desert. On the way to The Beach, we get a call from customer service, a really nice woman, who offers us an upgrade to the executive suite. Executive suite! Oh yeah this is how we roll baby. Vegas baby Vegas!

We get up to the “executive suite”,  and it’s a beautiful room. Same sleeping arrangement, but with an extra space for an glass-topped executive desk and high-back chair, and an extra alcove area of about 200 ft.², enough for a full-size couch, two end tables and two chairs. What makes a really cool is that the space has a large floor-to-ceiling window looking up the strip. Daytime, the view is nice, but nighttime the view was awesome! The lights and colors of the strip starting with the golden Luxor, the color accents of the white Excalibur and Tropicana, the green of the MGM, and so on until you stretch all the way up through the blue balloon of Paris casino, it’s all is pretty cool. And just when we thought that view was nice, we head up to the Foundation Room on the 54th floor, and the view there is pretty spectacular. All this only made me wish I took the opportunity to do some Mega Packing so I could have my suit ready for this view. The polo shirt did not do it justice.

Waking up the next morning, I find the one fault, don’t I always, is that the building support takes up half the window space within the view from the actual room area. It would be nice if you could lie in bed and look out over the strip like this. But then, getting out of bed and sitting on the couch for the view is a nice alternative. But this also means that the room, even in daytime is still dark enough that you have to turn on the room lights. The entry foyer has only have one light so the entry is still kind of dark. And the room still has an adjoining door to the room next to it. So yes, when the college guys come home at three in the morning and are high-fiving each other for an awesome night, you get to live every moment along with them. And amazingly enough you get to hear them at eight in the morning get up to go grab coffee. Damn college kids, doesn’t anybody stay out until 6am and then sleep until noon anymore?

Overall the room is pretty awesome and we’re really enjoying it. We do like Mandalay Bay for it’s enormous size which has a variety of activities. Tonight‘s dinner is going to be at Red Square, and we realize that next time we stay here, or the Delano, we’re not gonna leave the building. Mandalay Bay has 16 restaurant inside the hotel! And that’s not including Charlie Palmer steakhouse over in the Four Seasons hotel, or spots like Ri Ra, I highly recommend the Irish Eggs Benedict for breakfast or the Lobster Burger at Burger Bar that are upstairs in the Mandalay Shops connecting it to the Luxor. Next time, it’s sit back and relax, and just enjoy the resort rather than casino hop all day long.