Mon Ami Gabi - Las Vegas

Our lunch stop while we were in Vegas, this place was a delight. Located on the main level of the Paris hotel and its patio extending onto the strip, this is a nice relaxing place to enjoy a near authentic Parisienne bistro experience. We were seated indoors in near the patio which was a perfect place cause it was still a bit chilly in the February air.

We were served water right away and I was surprised to discover a poor little ant trying to swim for his life in my glass. It was promptly replaced by the server who apologized and I received a fresh glass.

We decided to order a few appetizers and a bowl of their famous french onion soup and have it accompanied by a glass of Pinot Blanc.

Complimentary bread and butter were quickly placed on our table before our food began to arrive in about 15 minutes. The fresh butter was great and the bread still warm.

The first appetizer that arrived was the Chicken Liver Mousse. What a fantastic dish. The pate mousse was delicious and was served with a small side of pickled onions and cucumbers and four pieces of slightly toasted bread. Partially drizzled was a most delicious hot mustard which provided just enough kick to compliment the pate. I was thoroughly impressed and the only thing that could have made it better would have been a few more pieces of bread as the serving size of the mousse was more than enough.

The escargot arrived with a surprisingly appetizing green coloured sauce which was actually the garlic herb butter. The six pieces of escargots had great heat (temperature) and as such was a pleasure to eat. The garlic herb butter was not too rich and added great flavour. I wouldn't go out of my way to order this item but it was good and so if you are in the mood for escargots then I would recommend this.

We ordered a half-order of the muscles and they arrived in good time.The muscles were a good size and the white wine sauce was so good that we were dipping the bread into it to get all the sauce we could in to our stomach. They were fresh and full of flavour.

The onion soup was to die for. Make sure that when you order this, you eat it as soon as it comes to your table as you want the cheese to be all melty and stringy. It was delicious and I would highly recommend this. If there's only one thing that you order, it must be the french onion soup.

All in all, a fantastic place for lunch with good service, great food, and a pseudo-parisienne  experience in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip.

Raku - Las Vegas

5030 Spring Mountain Rd #2
Las Vegas
(702) 367-3511


So there we were, our first night in for the weekend in Vegas and starving. We headed to chinatown from the Rio, reluctant as I've always been the typical tourist that is attached to the strip like a naked stripper is on me, but obviously my reluctance was misplaced. After being ripped off by a local cabby, we found ourselves at an asian inspired strip mall. Every store front was either japanese or chinese and in the corner was Raku, our destination for the evening.

The restaurant, with its low ambient lighting and small room was very intimate. The customary japanese greeting was very much appreciated and we were seated at a well sized table right across from the sushi bar. The server came over, took our drinks and in broken english tried to explain the specials. It is a good thing that most were written on a chalk board that she brought to the table, although it didn't help much that all that was written was the english phonetic spellings of the japanese name of the dish.

We settled on order a variety of tapas that were quite delicious and although I don't remember exactly what the japanese names were, you'll easily be able to find them on the menu should you decide to head there and try it yourself. I've decided to only mention a few that really stuck out in my mind that I think is a must have when dining there. I wish that I had more time and a larger stomach to try more choices, but that may have to wait until the next visit.

We had an order of the Agedashi Tofu which was superb. A must try. It was well seasoned and beyond comparison to what I would find back home in Calgary and might I even say, Vancouver. Along side was the hot version of their tofu, also well accept in my mouth and I think a worthwhile try.

The blue fin tuna was exquisite. A rare food item here in Canada, it was a sashimi that could not be refused. Priced at almost around $20 it was an expensive but delicious treat to try this not so common fish. Presentation was fantastic and only added to the appeal. On the plate were these salted seaweed pieces that added just the right amount of compliment to bring out the flavours.

The Tsukune was a make shift chicken drum stick. It is pretty much ground up chicken with spices added and then re-pressed on to a tongue-depressor like stick. Surprisingly quite delicious even though it reminded me of eating a corn dog at the local fair but with a presentation made for a connoisseur of corn dogs.

Lastly, my favourite item of all, the Kobe beef tendon. Words can not describe the best tendon that I've ever had any where. For those of you who are not a huge fan of soft squishiness in your mouth, I would avoid this dish, but for those of you who can appreciate tendon this is a must have and if anything, the one and only reason to visit Raku a second time. The most tender and well proportioned piece of tendon skewered and grilled. The flavour was perfect with a hint of the grill and simply melted in your mouth. I highly recommend this.

The overall cost of the visit was just over a hundred for two of us including two beers and about 6 tapas. This is a great place and despite being off the strip and in a bit of a shady neighbourhood (which I'm sure it wasn't, it was just my impression) I would definitely recommend a visit. Compared to the strip and its similar offerings, Raku beats them all out by far.

Reservation recommended.

*** disclaimer: I had to borrow these pictures from other places on the internet as I didn't have my camera with me. On a real note though, the experience was genuine as are my opinions and to Raku's commendation, the presentation was identical to the photos above, proving their consistency in quality food.

Ah Vegas...

I apologize for the bad formatting, I'm iPhone blogging.

So, another successful trip to Vegas... I think I go to Vegas quite a bit, considering all the other destinations that I could go to.

On this trip, I stayed at the Rio. I had booked a deluxe suite and expected something a bit above average, however I was rather unimpressed. First impressions of the casino floor was promising but slipping a 20 to the front desk clerk didn't help to get me out of a drab room with the worse colours ever chosen for decorations, brown, teal, and pink. If only I could have taken some photos. Suffice it to say that calling it a 70s throw back is an understatement. We were in room 36016 in the masquerade tower. Being off strip was also an inconvenience although it was about a 20 minute walk to Caesars. The poker room was pitiful and the evening go-go dancers were not worth mentioning.

We spent our first evening dining out in Chinatown at a restaurant called Raku, which I'll review in a later blog. We finally got tickets to go see O at te Bellagio which I've been wanting to watch for years.

"O" was almost everything they said it would be. I'm not sure if it was my own over hyped expectations, but it wasn't as good as I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, it was still a great show and in my opinion still worth the money, however I find that Love and Elvis were much better shows, maybe cause I walked in not expecting much.

The following day was spent at the premium north outlets, which seems like a losing bet every time I go cause I seem to walk away with less money in my pocket, albeit more clothing. So I suppose that's a fair trade. We ate at an all you can eat Japanese buffet called Makino which was a great price at $16 per person... I may review that place later as well.

We bought tickets to Peepshow from those half price ticket centers, however after checking out the actual prices, we would have been better just buying te tickets direct from the box office with the $20 off coupon that was include in the Harrahs coupon booklet upon checkin. We would have gotten better seats for a small premium over what we paid.

Somewhere in the weekend, we ate at Mon Ami Gabi at the Paris hotel. This was a good experience which I will blog about separately. I recommend that every one stop here for either lunch or dinner atleast once on a visit to the strip.

A short late night visit to La Cave at the Wynn to try out their tapas was nice, although expensive. For some snack sized items and a glass of wine the bill came to just under $100. It's a great place for ambiance and the only real thing that we got out of it was a view of our server, Miranda, who was a looker.

The trip ended with a trip to Venetian for some quality poker games before returning late night to a freezing Vancouver weather welcome...

Northview Vietnamese Village

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944 65 Ave NE  
Calgary, AB T2E

I'm starving... and so I resorted to order out... or rather, order in. I'm currently enjoying a #36 from Northview Vietnamese Village at the comfort of my desk. 

The nicely packaged order came with the rice vermicelli, charbroiled chicken and spring roll with a good mixture of basil, lettuce, bean sprouts, chopped green onion and peanuts and ofcourse, the mandatory fish sauce that makes it oh-so-good. I'm a little disappointed that the take out bag didn't have any of the signature vietnamese hot sauce, but it did have plenty of the fish sauce.

Flavour was on par with anywhere else you'd get a similar dish and for the price of $10, it's not the most expensive, but it's also not the best deal in the city.

Nothing too special about the take out food, but i did hear that the restaurant itself is quite nice. It's a little hidden in an industrial area of Calgary, so get out your GPS and go find it if you would like to give it a chance. I'd be a returning customer if it wasn't for the one strand of hair I found in my take-out box, For me, I think the take out experience was enough.

lasting impressions...

Well, it is saturday. Nothing too exciting today in my life. At least, nothing that can top my last restaurant review. Been keeping pretty busy lately with work. It is becoming quite enlightening actually. I have chosen to become more involved in the company for which I work, in doing so, I'm being more and more exposed to the lives of some people and will some day be able to affect them directly.

 It kind of reminds me of the days that I used to teach kids how to fly air planes. Not only was the job exciting and the near-death experience unforgettable, but the reward of watching my student earn their wings because of my direct influence was so satisfying. I still remember the name of my flight instructor and I know that my past students still remember mine. Just thinking about is amazing. I can only hope that my career path will once again bring those sorts of feelings again so that I can feel like I have accomplished something for someone else.

 Has anyone else ever had those experiences? Have you found it again?
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Sanafir in Vancouver

Sanafir

1026 Granville street
604 678 1049

Sanifir had great atmosphere, we were seated at a dining bed upstairs in a somewhat more private corner. The dining beds were leather and large enough to easily accommodate up to 6 persons, though with only two, it was quite romantic. Pillows are provided and were definitely needed as it took a little getting used to to position your body correctly while eating.

First course, crab cakes... A little mushy, the curry sauce was very flavorful... Nothing that I was too impressed about.

The braised pork belly was delicious, great flavor and an excellent texture A great amount of fat. There was a delectable crunch that was a perfect combination to the softness of the pork. The avocado mousse was great, but the coolness was not something that was complimenting, it should have been heated as opposed to chilled. The ravioli was a little bland in my opinion, as I think the pork belly was so good it over powered the yam ravioli. Presentation was great...

The scallop was quite tender as the roasted walnuts were a nice compliment. I wasn't a huge fan to the quinoa, and the one spot prawn which was artfully decorated to look like a spring roll was disappointing as it was cold. I'm sure it would have been satisfying had it been hot.

The marshmallow was too sweet and had nothing special about it. The gelee trio basil was fantastic. It was both refreshing and was like kissing a flower. No sugars to artificially sweeten it, it was a welcome change to my palate. The strawberry was great... It had this white chocolate ball on top that was filled with a fruit juice center; it was a great compliment to the strawberry. Finally the puffed rice chocolate bar was just too sweet.

Oh, and the lamb chops were phenomenal, tender, moist, and delicious, definitely a highlight!

Overall it was a very satisfying experience. The tapas were great and the desserts certainly left a lasting impression. As a tasting menu, it did well as the service in the restaurant was acceptable. Servers were prompt and knowledgeable about the food and provided timely attention.

Would I do it again, probably not as a regular occurrence, but it's definitely worth trying atleast once. Great job Sanifir.

Valentines...

Some aren't a huge fan, others treat this day so sacred it is more important than the birth of Christ; me, I prefer to think of this day as an appreciation of love, a celebration of the good, a remembrance of that fuzzy feeling, a thankfulness for those in our lives that provide that feeling.

To all you who have let love touch you, hurt you, and make you who you are today, happy valentines!

My life is a patent...

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My buddy Kyle introduced me to this video that's on youtube and what a great introduction it was. So enlightening was the video that I figured that I would write a little something about it. It's an expression of the oppression that the corporate world has imposed on the cultural expressions and arts of the world. I know that I'm the type of person who usually says that it is "money that makes the world go 'round", but in this case of artful expression and freedom of speech, I can say that the corporate world has really gone too far. This documentary is not only enlightening, but it is motivational in a way that makes me want to travel the world even more. If we were to give way to the gluttony of extremist copyrighted world, what kind of person could be possibly be? Every influence in our life would have an infringement stamp, every thing that we learn and use in our daily lives would cost us ten fold. We would have to sell our souls just to say the words " That's hot ", because some blonde some where patented that saying...

There is one thing that I can say though, I am glad that I live in Canada. Where the oppression has not yet taken a complete foothold. Be sure to express your concerns to our government to continue to let the people of the world grow...

**Sorry, I tried to embed the video, but it's not quite working out. There's 9 parts in total, definitely worth the time***


http://youtu.be/zdwN6rRU0Xk

Chowz

stress... it's healthy right?

Ah yes... the almighty stress.. isn't it great. I knew there was a reason that I put up with the filthiest habit on earth. Nicotine is my saviour. What's the saying again?

When the going gets tough, the tough get smokin' ?


LOL.

Yes, healthy stress is a great way to keep on my toes. Despite my trials and tribulations, I think that I actually crave a healthy dose of stress daily with the occasional BAM!! thrown in there. If I didn't have that, I'd probably find some liquid form of it that I could inject into my body.

Alright, now... let's keep this show on the road... BAM!!

Ahhh... Poker addicts... Thank God...

Yes... They are addicts... as hooked as Colonel Sanders is on chicken... as fat people on big macs and diet cokes... And I? Well... At about the same level ... A passion for the high is what holds me there... But in all honesty, I'm thankful for you all because without you I'd be without a source of income to fund my own shameful habits... Thank god for you all...

sick... at work?

Seriously... if you're sick, stay home!

Alright... so I realize that it's everyone's best intention to do a good job in life. So, what's the natural thing that people do when they get sick? Well, forget staying in bed and frolicking in your own germ infested blanket, let's go to work, prove your dedication and loyalty, and share your new found micro-sized friends with everyone. That's the right thing to do right?

Seriously.. this is ridiculous. Any sane person who actually cared about their workplace and the health of their co-workers would sacrifice themselves by drowning in their own mucus in the privacy of their viral infested home. Coming to work sick has got to be the most anti-productive action one can take. Not only are you a useless, pathetic, germ spreading baffoon, but you're also -- wait a minute, I already said "useless" and "baffoon"...

GTFO !! And take your germs with you!!!

Word with friends...

Is a passing fad. Recently, a friend of mine just acquired an iPhone. He's an android convert and has finally had his eyes opened. His new addiction? Well, as the title clearly says: words with friends. I admit that I was addicted to this game in the past, not to the point of being forcibly removed from an aircraft, however just enough that it aided to my ongoing sleep deprivation.

Now that I'm back in the game, it's almost nostalgic to play, like as if I was playing some 8-bit Nintendo game from the 90's. However this fad was in and out in a matter of weeks... I remember my Nintendo lasted years...

I guess in this day and age we are all a little ADD...

the beginning

well... the beginning... of what i don't know... but what the hey, this seems to be the in thing right now is blogging right? plus, i doubt i have anybody anywhere that's actually going to read this, and really, how often am i going to remember to write stuff here. Anyways, here's to trying to start a blog, let's see how long this will last...