Elrushbo

David, you know John Curtas?? I never met him ... yet. ← John is a great guy, very friendly and probably the top restaurant critic in Las Vegas. An attorney by trade, he does a regular show called "Food for Thought," on KNPR, the local public radio station. You can catch podcasts of his shows on their website. John also does a lot of food writing. By the way Ling, I'd advise against going to David Burke's new place at The Venetian. John did not give it very good marks in a recent column. In fact, he basically told his readers and listeners to shy away from the place. ← Hmm...wonder what was wrong with David Burke? Oh well, I think I can find somewhere else to eat next time I'm in Vegas. I wanted to like that place

Imho, I'd choose Fleur de Lys because I've heard good things about both, but would prefer the more comfortable surroundings and style of service. You should also add Bradley Ogden to your list. Food is fantastic, relaxed setting, some of the best presentation I have ever seen! Rjwong was at Bradley Ogden recently.

As Chris said, Paris cannot be beat for breakfast buffet. Wonderful pastries! You WILL eat way too much! For lunch, Cravings at Mirage was good. Good selection, and a Tihany designed buffet? Not too many of those! For dinner, I'd go with Wynn or Bellagio. If you're going to go to a buffet, might as well go to a good one, imho why go to a lesser buffet and save $10?? Enjoy yourself!

So you might be going back to Vegas in December? I'm shooting for Febuary, if my home sells before the winter(good chance it will, just made a huge price drop ). Got a two week block of time off in Feb, so keeping my fingers crossed. Your reports were wonderful, great pics and reviews! I'd love to try Alex, might be too much for my group. We usually hit a steakhouse, and we've done Prime and Delmonico, so Stripsteak is high on my list. I also want to try Bradley Ogden...might try to steer my group to them for steak?? Cause I'd really like to try Fleur de Lys, David Burke, B&B...it will be hard to narrow the list. RJ- I have heard good things about David Burke at Venetian, they should be on your list. Boulud gets lots of inconsistent reviews, as does SW...which sucks, cause they had a really good thing going with Eric Klein. For some reason Steve Wynn wanted to mess with the chef (not alowing him to hire his own assistants, etc) of his biggest money making restaurant?!?! SW has by many accounts gone downhill since Klein left. Seablue gets really good reviews at tripadvisor, I might try them cause my brother in law loves fish, especially salmon. Fleur de Lys might also be something for your list, they get consistently good reviews. I guess I'm hoping you'll try the places I want to go so I can narrow my list, so my tips could be a little self-serving! But I really appreciate people like you who write such wonderful reviews, cause I don't get to Vegas as often as I'd like, so I really try to 'make it count' when I go by avoiding restaurants I might be disappointed in. I have yet to have a bad meal in Vegas, thanks mostly to egullet!

Glad you liked Bradley Ogden! As I've mentioned before, the corn&lobster chowder and dessert I had at the bar there were fantastic. Since that, I've been wanting to try Ogden for dinner.

I for one found it refreshing that they got rid of Tre, even if I thought he'd make it to the end. He had a bad night, and too often on Top Chef they've kept someone because they were a favorite, or because they had plenty of good nights before, etc. I was actually suprised by what happened on Top Chef for a change, and that's a good thing.

I'd be willing to bet that Chef Robuchon was happy over all the publicity his restaurant got and that one of his chefs was in the finale.

Enough with the Rachael Ray bashing! Not every single food has to be the most fancy gourmet food possible. She helps people make decent meals they can make quickly and she has a TV personality that some people like. Not everyone is looking to recreate the French Laundry in their kitchen.

Perhaps the most well known is Manny's Steakhouse, located in the Hyatt Regency: http://www.mannyssteakhouse.com/ It's been a number of years since I've eaten there. I recall I had a pretty good meal, and not surprisingly, it was pricey. I remember they had a pretty good wine list too. It follows the typical ala carte menu approach used by Ruth's Chris, Mortons, etc. with the same sorts of side dishes. If my enthusiasm seems a bit tempered, it's not because it isn't a solid restaurant. It is. It's just that I find steakhouses are pretty much the same everywhere you go: good beef, ho-hum sides and not a terribly exciting menu. ← True, which is making me want to try Stripsteak in Vegas, it looks like they have fantastic sides! http://www.michaelmina.net/stripsteak/menus.html Hopefully other steak places will follow suit!

Manny's, definitely.

Man, I'd like to go to Le Atelier on my next Vegas trip...will have to see if I can persuade my group. They'll go for something like the Pasta Tasting menu at B&B, cause that's $75pp, then drinks, if we don't go much over $100pp they're cool. I could use some pointers on how to persuade them to try Le Atelier.

Doc(and others), I don't see Fleur de Lys mentioned much here, but I do see lots of positive comments about it elsewhere. Reason I ask it that on my next trip, I think the sticker shock at Le Atelier might be too much for my wife and her sister and brother in law. I think I'd hard time dragging them there, so I was wondering if Fleur de Lys is ok...but I'd have zero trouble getting them to B&B, David Burke, Michael Mina and Stripsteak.

How was your trip? Where did you end up eating at?

Wasn't the case in season 2. Tre seems, at least for now, to be combining the good food with less drama, so in the way he reminds me of Harold, he's my guy.Howie and Hung are the season's asshats, clearly they can cook, but as far as winning this "contest," I think they are fatally flawed. Howie's getting more of the bad guy edit (he contributes so much to that!) and Hung is the new Marcel/Stephen, the arrogant ass, not without skills, but without a chance of going all the way. Although he is entertaining, what with his Hung-style responses to criticisms of his food. ← I think if most everyone else had flopped as many chalenges as Hung, they'd have been kicked off. I really can't tell who is going to win. Any of the guys left could pull it off. I think there's more talent this season...by that I mean Michael lasted quite a while in season 2 and was waaaaay out of his league, but Clay was kicked off first in season 3, and I see the two as a bit similar.

I think Howie might pull a Taylor Hicks. I can see him getting along with others better...but I don't think he really did anything all that wrong this week. Sara was pissy before she ever started the challenge and was just looking for a scapegoat, hoping her crying would sway judges. I think this week was all about one team having a better salesman "to keep the party going" had that salesman been on the other team, we could have seen them win. In the end, it's about who is the Top Chef, not top personality or top P.O.A. I hope the producers get that.

Maybe, maybe not. But just as gummy bears and steak don't go together, either do high heels and professional cooking. CJ alluded to prof soccer and team spirit and coaching at one point. If you take part of any team and hang them with a brick around their neck there's going to be an additional challenge to be overcome, both physical and emotional. I seriously believe that regardless of Howie's previous showings he would have topped over the edge in terms of attitude and performance if indeed he'd been wearing the high heels that night. He would have been the volcano that finally blew. And he would be the one gone. So far he's been a low-level stressor, a negative energy that has had to be overcome by the others time and time again. This is supremely non-professional and does not belong as part of being called "chef". The contestants overall have shown lots of interesting lapses of knowledge and they've taken some jumps that didn't work. But none of them have given off the smell of bully as Howie has. He should not be rewarded for this. And I can not believe that I am so involved in this TV show. ← I think Howie has a shot to win the show if the stress doesn't get to him. He has turned out some great food, I just think the way the show works isn't all that suited for him, but the thing with the scorched berries looked awesome and displayed a fundamental understanding of what is good and what works. I think for some chefs the format of the show is stressful and doesn't let them shine. I'd bet that if they had unlimited budget and plenty of time, like in the Season 2 finale, Howie would make some of, if not the best food in the group. I don't think either woman has a shot at winning, but Casey will be kept on for a while for her looks and so as to not totally alienate female viewers.

I don't know about a "disadvantage" for the women...there's only one woman on that show that's doing well at all. Last week they should have fired what's her name because she did a terrible job and hasn't added to anything the whole time, but since so many of the women had already been cut, I think it was a network decision. Sara has been a non stop whiner. She might be a good chef in a controlled enviroment, but for these challenges she's too slow. Hung reminds me of Marcel, but Hung is far more conceited. Hung thought that the idiots should just like what he made and they're stupid if they don't. It's ice cream!! Make something that tastes good! Do you put gummy bears on steak? No! Why? Because they don't go with steak! I think Hung would have been canned a while ago but is kept on because of his talent displayed in his career.

Fiamma at MGM was very good, but after seeing the thread here about B&B ristorante, I'd take the cab ride over to Venetian, wow!! That food just looks good! Nobhill at MGM is good, cool atmosphere...whatever you do, you MUST at least stop at the bar at Nobhill and have a Mojito! Best mixed drink I've ever had! Mandalay is very close-across the street over bridges to Excalibur then hop the tram to Mandalay. I've heard many good things about Fleur De Lys.

I hope you get better soon, take the time off and focus on getting well.

I'm in this time! I wasn't able to go last year or when the gathering was in Ann Arbor, unfortunately. This will be a blast, for sure! Just to be around a bunch of foodies for a weekend, appreciating all kinds of food and nice restaurants and cooking together. I'm looking forward to it! I was wondering about a place to stay...in past gatherings, have people gotten a block of hotel rooms? I for one would love to have maybe the Thursday dinner or Fri at Avenues, Moto, or Alinea. All three chefs have been involved in this forum, maybe we can work something out where we can tour the kitchen, get a special dinner, etc? Whatever is decided, I'll eat whatever is put in front of me and will thoroughly enjoy the gathering.

Maybe we can make a deal with a hotel that would include guest rooms and the use of a hotel kitchen, too. =R= ← If I get enough advance notice, I'll be able to make it. I'd like to come, sounds like a blast. I think Avenues should be considered for dinner, it was phenomenal! Maybe the Red Room at Moto? I'd be game for whatever.

Bottom line, she gave the restaurant a three-star rating. That's impressive. Well, she was impressed with the sommeliers there. They know their stuff. With so many other restaurants in Las Vegas that I haven't tried yet, I'm wondering whether I should "bump" B & B to the top of the list?? ← I'd put them on your list, what a gorgeous restaurant and equally pretty food! The reviews I've seen of B&B have been all positive. What other restaurants in Vegas are on your "to do" list? I know I can benefit from your experience in fine dining, which is certainly greater than mine. Also, do you have a favorite steakhouse in Vegas? My party and I usually do one steak place and one other fine dining restaurant in Vegas. We've done Prime and Delmonico and we tend to try new places each time, I'm leaning towards Stripsteak.

Avenues is stunning, a memorable experience! Chef Bowles is as personable as people get. You can tell he loves what he does. Avenues is like fine art, you're really seeing a top chef at the top of his game.

Did you ask them why they instituted the ban to begin with?