Nobu Las Vegas:

My Dad went to Nobu in Las Vegas last night. Nobu has become more famous in the last 15 years for its name dropping in rap songs then it’s food. Apparently, the food is still pretty good because my Dad had this to say,

The sauce on the filet was a Cabernet reduction with sea urchin.

Oh wow.

Had a rich sweetness that is hard to explain.

The seabass had a cabbage base with truffles.

Super aromatic when we opened the parchment.

I guess money can buy flavor. I poured the left over sauce onto my plate and slurped it when no one was looking

The Mediterranean section at Treasure Island’s The Buffet included hummus, lavash sandwiches, dolmas. Dolmas are not supposed to resemble a plate of steamed mussels. 

I don’t even know where to begin.

The cashier at Treasure Island’s The Buffet was actually named Bertha.

The Buffet at Treasure Island:

The last morning of Alex’s bachelor weekend in Las Vegas the whole gang went to Treasure Island’s Buffet . The last time I was in Vegas was when Miles Simon and Mike Bibby won the college basketball national championship. The Treasure Island at this time had the pirate show out front and I remember the buffet being bad. Since then they have dropped the pirate show, changed their name to TI, and the food has not improved. 

The decision to go to The Buffet was made because some members of our group had a discount coupon. I strongly objected in my head, but didn’t feel it was my place to vocalize those objections. I didn’t want to take on 15 plus people, especially if they were getting a discount. So I dove in head first like Nick Pappagiorgio at the craps table in Vegas Vacation. I punished that buffet until it punished me back. 

The pictures speak for themselves. They served worse than mall food court renditions of “ethnic” food from around the world. The “orange chicken” seemed to be everyone’s favorite. For some reason I went back five times for more food. I couldn’t stop. I think I felt compelled to get my thirty dollars worth. 

When it was all said and done I walked to the 15 passenger van in 110 degree heat feeling like I needed to have c section to save me from the mass of food in my stomach. The eight hour car ride back to Los Angeles allowed me plenty of time to listen to my stomach digest the meal. Most everyone in the group agreed the food was disgusting.

Buffets are a dicey game because there selling point is quantity. Quantity often means compromising quality. Vegas is a dicey game because it too sells quantity. In a town where quantity trumps quality every day I think you would be hard pressed to find a good buffet in Vegas unless you were shelling out serious bucks. I won’t be doing that unless someone else is picking up the tab. I also will now speak up before 15 people, including myself, are about to make a bad decision.

Burger Bar at Mandalay Bay:

I made a trip to Las Vegas recently. When I did research about food in Vegas most results were about four star restaurants from famous chef’s. I was more of a guppy than a whale on this trip so I ended up at the Burger Bar in Mandalay Bay on my first night. Burger Bar is the brain child of the other Keller, Hubert Keller, chef of San Francisco’s Fleur De Lys. It’s billed on their website as “the ultimate burger experience”. That statement holds about as much weight as the note in Keller’s personal section on Wikipedia that says, “Keller is also an accomplished DJ.”

Ian’s burger came with Swiss Cheese on Ciabatta, I got buttermilk zucchini fries with ranch, and Drew got bacon cheeseburger sliders. None of the burgers were remarkably good. The food filled up our stomach’s, but none of us will be returning to Burger Bar if we ever return to Vegas. If you are eating in casinos you can’t expect much food wise. They are shopping malls with food courts and crap tables. At least our waitress was cool.