Day #1
My trip started off with a brunch bang at CRAFTkitchen by former Le Cirque and Red Rock Resort pastry chef Jaret Blinn.
cronut bites, almond croissant, peach kouign amann
Slightly crispy on edges but might’ve been sitting for a while when I went so the interior was slightly mushy. Still good overall.
Cronut bites might’ve been over fried but Almond croissant is flakey in an unusual but very nice way…like a HK egg tart kinda flaky…good stuff
short rib hash | braised short ribs, smashed potatoes, roasted sweet onions & peppers
Flavorful, tender meat, crispy edges on potato, excellent
churro style waffles | cinnamon sugar, tres leches, caramel sauce
It’s good. Churro texture on the exterior while it’s soft inside since it’s soaked in tres leches before frying. A bit rich if you have more than a single waffle.
CRAFTkitchen
10940 S Eastern Ave
Ste 107
Henderson, NV 89052
Next we had a mid-day snack at EATT in which these two chefs from France, who worked at multiple * kitchens, decided to open up a healthy-ish restaurant in Las Vegas…or something like that…
duck leg | grilled sweet gen lettuce, confit duck leg, heirloom tomatoes, bread chips with lettuce & duck jus, mustard grain dressing
Savory, fresh, ducky, a bit of smoke from the grilled lettuce, EXCELLENT!
praline cream puff with roasted hazelnut and chocolate
Superb!
cappucino pie | shortbread dough, cappuccino ganache, milk chocolate mousse, lemon emulsion, candied lemon zest
Superb!
EATT Gourmet Bistro
7865 W Sahara Ave
Ste 104 & 105
Las Vegas, NV 89117
Dinner at Twist by Pierre Gagnaire at the Waldorf Astoria - Excellent
Twist by Pierre Gagnaire
3752 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas, NV 89158
Day #2 - We weren’t even hungry but we can’t stop now can we?
Nice and hip for a Chinese place
Making hand-pulled noodle
Knife-shaved noodle in action
shang beef noodle | beef broth, braised beef brisket, veggies
Broth is great! Hand pulled noodle might’ve been a touch too soft for my taste. Beef brisket could also be softer but that’s just splitting hair. I really like it.
peking zha-jiang noodle | diced pork, veggies, soybean sauce
Meh.
beef pancake
Meh. Not even close to the ones at Beijing Pie House in Monterey Park that have a crispy exterior and explodes with flavor and soup upon biting in.
Close up shot.
Shang Artisan Noodle
4983 W Flamingo Rd
Ste B
Las Vegas, NV 89103
EATT’s dessert was so good and such a value at $8 a piece, we went back for a post lunch dessert.
praline cream puff with roasted hazelnut and chocolate
Superb!
cappucino pie | shortbread dough, cappuccino ganache, milk chocolate mousse, lemon emulsion, candied lemon zest
Superb!
pistachio cake | layers of almond paste biscuit, crunchy pistachio, pistachio mousse, berry jelly
Good.
EATT Gourmet Bistro
7865 W Sahara Ave
Ste 104 & 105
Las Vegas, NV 89117
Dessert bang bang…
matcha vanilla swirl soft serve
Good but a touch sweet to me.
matcha parfait & match shaved ice
Don’t care for stack-a-thon desserts.
Matcha Cafe Maiko
3400 S Jones Blvd
Ste 3
Las Vegas, NV 89146
My first dinner at the new Flamingo location. I can’t really call it a Vegas trip without dining at Lotus of Siam. 
New location is swanky and no longer hole-in-the-wall.
tod mun plar | deep fried fish-cake mixed with curry paste, cucumber salad with chopped peanut
This one is just a-okay.
nam prik ong [red chili dip] | ground pork, tomatoes, dried spices
Yum.
thum ka noon [pounded & shredded young jack fruit | young jack fruit, ground pork, tomatoes, northern thai spices
Yum.
cripsy duck with panang | thai style red cream curry, cognac
Amazing flavor as always.
garlic prawns | deep fried prawns with shells, garlic sauce, black pepper
Crispy garlicky goodness despite the texture of the meat suffered from being over-fried!
Lotus of Siam
620 E Flamingo Rd
Las Vegas, NV 89119
Day #3
We’ve been craving for some good pastries so we were off to Bouchon for brunch…
financier
These little freebies almond cake by the host were delish.
butter from somewhere & house-made jam
epi bread
Warm, crunchy crust, fluffy interior. Great!
croissant, almond croissant, pain au chocolat, coffee cake
Croissant and pain au chocolat were disppointing since they weren’t flaky like usual. Maybe we shouldn’t have let them sit for 10 mins at the table? But the almond croissant WAS flaky and coffee cake was excellent.
fruit danish, pain au chocolat, blueberry muffin, cheese danish
Too full to try the rest…over-order alert!
pain perdu | brioche french toast with stone fruit & crown maple syrup
Solid but then I’m not really french toast kinda guy so no toast ever really wow me…
croque madame | toasted ham & cheese on brioche, fried egg, sauce mornay, french fries
This is my kinda dish! Great as always in terms of texture and richness. Fries were perfectly fried with great consistency so who cares if they’re from Sysco?
Bouchon
3355 Las Vegas Blvd S
Venezia Tower, 10th floor
Las Vegas, NV 89109
I’m getting way too old to wait multiple hours at the Oyster Bar at the Palace Station, so we opted for the next best thing…
Enter the Oyster Bar at Sunset Station Casino! Similarly priced and plenty of seats with minimal wait!
sourdough rolls
Warm and fluffly. Decent.
charbroiled oysters | garlic butter
Not bad but I was expecting a little more…
oysters from somewhere on earth
Mildly briny, creamy, plump.
pan roast | brandy cream, tomato sauce, shrimp, crab, lobster
Portion is much smaller than the one at Palace Station but this rendition taste very similar to theirs. GREAT!
Oyster Bar
1301 W Sunset Rd
Henderson, NV 89014
We rounded out our day with a post-dinner dessert…
hong kong waffle two ways | original and red bean, peachy earl grey ice cream, fresh strawberry
Egg waffle is very well done. Lights crispy without being doughy. Half the waffle had red bean filling which is interesting but I’m a waffle purist.
zen garden | milky matcha ice cream topped with sweet red bean, matcha cake crumbs, matcha wafer, edible flower, matcha sauce
Not my cup of tea. Great for the 'gram but not for human consumption IMO. As the ice cream melts, the bread progressively gets more soggy. Yuck. Other than that, each individual component is fine on its own.
Patio Dessert & Drinks
5255 S Decatur Blvd
Ste 107
Las Vegas, NV 89118
Day #4
Had some resort credit at Cosmo so might as well use them for lunch and dinner!
Beautiful open layout. We each opted for the 3 course “Lunch Like a Spaniard!” where we get to pick 3 tapas + supplements. It was just a-okay and very inconsistent. I much prefer tapas at Julian Serrano at the Aria. Perhaps I need to try Jaleo for dinner instead?
tichi’s gazpacho | chilled tomato soup with pipiranna, air-bread
A touch salty but addictively refreshing with its blend of tart and sweetness. Air-bread added some much needed texture contrast but I wish there were some brunoise cucumber, bell peppers, and tomatoes in there to add even more texture.
ensalada verde con anchoas | mixed greens with pine nuts, fried capers, anchovies, idiazabal cheese with romesco and garlic dressing
Good.
chicken and rabbit paella
A bit salty but protein were cooked reasonably well. Rice had decent texture but NO socarrat. When I asked the server, he said that the kitchen usually rests the paella over the fire to get the mythical socarrat but sometimes the paella is served before they get there. This is pure BS to me since that means the restaurant is willing to serve an unfinished product?
mini peito de iberico | mini burge with iberico patty and bacon
Can I tell that it’s iberco pig if they didn’t tell me? Nope. Do I care? Nope. It tastes fantastic!
Buñuelos de bacalao | Salt codfish deep-fried with honey aioli
Crispy shell with a fluffy center but a bit one dimensional in flavor.
butifarra asada | grilled catalan pork sausage, roasted pepper, charred eggplant, whole grain mustard sauce
Sausage was overcooked and dried out but all other elements on the dish were great.
carne asada con escabeche | grilled hanger steak with escabeche
Decently cooked as can be seen on the outer band of doneness. Beefy is strong as can be expected from a hanger steak.
Flan al estilo tradicional de mamá Marisa con espuma de crema catalana | egg custard, “espuma” of orange cream, orange sorbet, orange surpreme, dried orange peel
Highlight of the night. Eggy, creamy, smooth custard. Paired well with several forms of orange goodness.
Jaleo
3708 Las Vegas Blvd S
Level 3
Las Vegas, NV 89109
Another post lunch dessert just a floor down from Jaleo…
Milk Bar by Christina Tosi
crack pie
How should I put this? Is Christina Tosi on crack?! My index finger is fatter than this pie and almost longer length wise. It tastes much like a sugar butter cookie in the form of a pie. For a mere $6.5, rather than getting a box of sugar butter cookies, I got a tiny sliver of pie…
cereal milk soft serve topped with corn flakes
Tastes just like cereal milk as advertised! Unless you really crave cereal milk in the form of ice cream, I suggest that you buy a gallon of milk and a box of cereal instead…
Milk Bar
3708 Las Vegas Blvd S
Level 2, Eastside Tower
Las Vegas, NV 89109
To finish using our resort credits, we opted for a newly opened fried chicken joint on the second floor.
Famous Hattie B’s Hot Chicken out of Nashville. This place was crazy busy with a decent line. As of tonight, this joint garnered an average of 4 stars with 14 reviews on Yelp. I’m convinced that those who wrote glowingly of Hattie B’s had never tasted fried chicken in their life…I kid…but maybe I just caught them on an off night?
hot chicken sandwich with crinkle fries
This is a mess. Soggy bottom bun from the sauce. Fried chicken that resembles grilled chicken with no crisp. I tasted nothing but salt. The only redeeming quality is that the bird wasn’t dry. Dare I say that the fried chicken sandwich at Chick-fil-A is much better?
2 leg/thigh quarters, pimento mac & cheese, southern greens
These birds got plenty of crisp! Cooked well but salty as hell and nowhere near as juicy as my reference, Tokyo Fried Chicken, in Monterey Park. The side of overcooked mac n cheese was a gooey mess while southern greens had a smokey and porky character to counter the bitter greens.
This place is the ONLY hard pass of the trip.
Hattie B’s Hot Chicken
The Cosmopolitan Of Las Vegas
Level 2, Boulevard Tower
Las Vegas, NV 89109
On the way back to LA, we decided to give Peggy Sue’s 50’s Diners a try since we’ve always seen those billboards along the 15 freeway. What do we gotta lose?
Cool props everywhere inside and 50’s music filled the diner!
Hustle and bustle at 9AM in the original main dining room!
We settled ourselves in the third and mostly empty dining room.
Interest story about Peggy Sue and the origin of the restaurant in case you wanna read about it.
Biscuit & Gravy
Thick. Gooey. Peppery. Not a fan of gravy city smoothering the fluffy biscuit.
Mushroom omelet
Standard diner fare. Nothing stood out.
chicken fried steak | tenderized beef steak light seasoned, breaded, cooked to a golden brown served with tasty country gravy, hashbrown, 2 eggs
Scrambled eggs was nicely done. Eggy & buttery. Hashbrown had a good crust. Steak was just okay…well done but not dry.
Back in the days picture inside the restroom.
@PorkyBelly
Peggy Sue’s 50’s Diner
35654 Yermo Rd
Yermo, CA 92398
This concludes my trip guys. Hopefully some FTC’ers might find this report helpful. 