Thursday’s lunch was at another Colicchio restaurant, although one a tidge less fancy than Craftsteak earlier in the week.  After a much longer walk than anticipated, since distances are deceiving on The Strip, we had a lovely lunch at ‘wichcraft – Colicchio’s sandwich joint.

The restaurant is a typical fast food type of place.  You grab your drink, go to the counter and order your food, get a pager, and grab a seat.  I was thrilled that they had cane sugar soda, that in and of itself would take me back to ‘wichcraft again.  

Lance ordered a panini with chicken breast, roasted red pepper, mozzarella and pesto on country bread.  It was delicious and melty, Lance loved it.

On Wednesday evening, Lance and I had the pleasure of dining at Le Cirque in the Bellagio.  Las Vegas is one of the few cities in the US that has Michelin rated restaurants and, while planning our meals for the trip, eating in one was a goal of ours.  We had initially planned to eat at Picasso but, after seeing their menu, it didn’t appeal to us as much as it should have.  We switched our reservation to Le Cirque and there is no question that we made the right choice.  I think it’s safe to say that it was the best meal of my life until now.  

The restaurant itself was on the small side, there were only 19 tables.  One side of the restaurant had windows that looked out over the Bellagio’s fountain display.  The rest of the walls had circus themed artwork, and the ceiling was stylized like a circus tent.

On Wednesday, we wandered over to the Mesa Grill for lunch.  Mesa Grill is one of Bobby Flay’s restaurants and I usually find his food to look very appetizing.  We opted to go there for lunch because none of the dinner items were that amazing sounding that it seemed worthy of dinner.  

I know there is a lot of controversy around Bobby Flay; many people think he’s a bit of a jerk due to his Food TV shows.  I used to feel the same way about him until Throwdown with Bobby Flay started.  My opinion of him did a complete 180 after watching him interact with his sous chefs and watching him through many food battles.  When he wins, he is kind and gracious to his opponent.  When he loses, he’s equally gracious and a good sport about things.  

The Mesa Grill site shows the restaurant fairly well.  The kitchen is open with a huge exhaust system over the grilling area.  

We started our meal with a basket of fresh bread including a blue and yellow corn muffin, two slices of sweet bread with raisins and nuts, and two slices of jalapeno bread.  Sadly, I only thought to take a picture of the corn muffin which had kernels of corn throughout and was great.

Lance and I just got home from spending a few days in Las Vegas.  We opted to indulge in the sin of gluttony while in Sin City, forsaking the other well-known sins.  Lance gifted me with the planning of our meals while on vacation, and it was an amazing foodie experience.  

It all started with a visit to Tom Colicchio’s Craftsteak.  We’ve become enamored with Colicchio, like so many others, thanks to Top Chef.  Craftsteak was the first restaurant to come to mind in my planning so it’s only fair that it was where we dined the first night.  

I apologize in advance for the quality of photos in these restaurant articles.  I’m still figuring out how best to take photographs in restaurants and it’s certainly a learning process!  I still wanted to show all the food, even if the photos weren’t stellar, since the food was all amazing.  

Soon after we were seated, and our servers introduced themselves, bread and butter were delivered to our table.  The bread was in a skillet and brushed with butter in such a way that the top tasted almost like a flakey layer of a croissant.  The bread also had salt sprinkled over the top.