mVegas Baby! Day 3: The Mirage

We Love myVegas!

Tuesday morning we pack up and checkout from Mandalay Bay. Unfortunately, a 10:00 AM checkout followed by a 3:00 PM check in time at The Mirage means we have some time to waste. But this is Las Vegas so there's plenty to do.

The first step is to head north and drop the car in the Mirage parking lot. Then breakfast. The Mirage is more or less across the street from the Venetian and in the Venetian is one of the best French restaurants in Las Vegas: Bouchon.

Bouchon is rather well known for their breakfast offerings so we head across the street and make our way to the restaurant which is located in a sort of out of the way corner of the hotel. We're seated immediately (it's about 9:30 - way early by Las Vegas standards).

Jambon et Oeufs

Beth had the ham and eggs. A thick slice of grilled ham, poached eggs,  pommes lyonaise and toast.

Bouchon French Toast

And that's my french toast - brioche layered with caramelized apples with some lightly sauteed apple slices on top. I had some breakfast sausage as well. After plenty of coffee we're ready to hit the casino.

But wait! What's this?

Cool! They're making some sort of advertisement. We watch various makeup and hair engineers poke at the actress but we can't quite make out what it's actually for. So off to the casino to lose some more money. We play for a couple hours, snag a few "free" Bellinis and actually manage to come out about even. That would soon change - this is destined to be our worst day of the trip.

Eventually 2:00 rolls around and we decide to see if our room is ready. So off it's back to the Mirage. No line thank goodness! But our luck doesn't hold. Not only is our room not ready, but the Tower Suite we'd reserved is not going to happen. Bummer. But heck, it's free and we combine the two reservations so we don't have to move again. I give the clerk my cell number, she gives me the key cards to the as yet unready room and we wander off.

We've got dinner at the Tender Steakhouse in Luxor tonight so a big lunch is out. Not wanting to go far we head over to BLT, the fancy burger place in The Mirage, for an appetizer and a couple adult milk shakes.  Finally about 4:30 I get the text hat our room is ready and up we go. We're both tired and a little cranky from the long wait so we just crash in the room until it's time to head down to Luxor for our myVegas Tender Dinner for Two.

Tender Steakhouse

Tender is a much nicer steakhouse than The Steakhouse at Camelot. hat fact is born out not just in ambiance but also in the more sophisticated menu, better executed sides, and a very, very nice wine list.


Tonight we skip the cocktails in favor of soup to start. Beth has the wild mushroom (right) and I go for the lobster bisque (left). Both are darn good but the lobster get the edge.

Once again we go for two sides this time creamed spinach and "Lyonaise" potatoes. The spinach is excellent, though topping it with cheese doesn't really add anything to the dish. I'm accustomed to a more traditional style of Pommes Lyonaise, but the cheesy gratin is tasty, if a bit heavy.

Instead of another prime rib I chose the more reasonably sized filet. As at Excalibur, the meat is perfectly cooked.

Beth, on the other hand decides to go wild and try the game sampler. It is by far the winner of the four steakhouse entrees we've had: "Nilgai antelope osso buco, axis venison medallion & wild boar loin with farro, fig chutney & huckleberry venison reduction." All are products of Broken Arrow Ranch. Of the three items, the antelope osso bucco was, we felt, the best.

Once again, we retired, overfed by a large margin, to our Tower King at the Mirage.

Day 1
Day 2
Days 4 & 5