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Just a few short days and Ed & I will be lounging around here, at the most fabulous place on earth The Parker Palm Springs! We’ve visited many times, but have never been actual hotel guests – so needless to say, we cannot wait for the most luxurious adult weekend of our lives before Little Miss Ruby arrives. Seriously … check out the photos, or look at one of our past visits to see how fantastic this place is!
Friday can’t come soon enough!
Ed & I braved the crowds and headed out to Las Vegas this Memorial Day weekend. We have to say, a big motivation was all of the great food we’ve been hearing about, and we decided it was time to make the trek. We are pleased to report that it definitely lived up to the hype – we were very impressed. We felt like we barely made a dent in all there is to offer there! Guess that means we’ve got reasons to go back!
MESA GRILL – CAESAR’S
We got right down to business shortly after arriving by hitting up Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill at Caesar’s. Ed & I are big Iron Chef America fans, and we have watched – and salivated, over many dishes we’ve seen Bobby “throwdown” on TV. With his specialty southwestern style cooking, he creates a lot of what our Southern Californian palates crave … bold, spicy flavors and ingredients like chiles, avocados and beans. We were really excited about having lunch at Mesa Grill, and weren’t disappointed.
We began with the Tiger Shrimp + Roasted Garlic Corn Tamale with Corn-Cilantro Sauce. This appetizer tasted just as good as it sounds! We were so eager to gobble it up, that we forgot to take a photo first! Delightful in every way.
The menu all looked so good, that Ed and I opted for the Prix Fixe Lunch. We ordered opposite selections from each other so we could (literally) try it all! Here’s how it all went down:
First Course:
Green Pea + Green Chile Soup
Crispy Serrano Ham + Mint-Cumin Crema
OR
Blue Corn Pancake
Barbecued Duck + Habanero Chile-Star Anise Sauce
Ed chose the Pea Soup, and this was the highlight of his meal. Even I had to admit it was incredible, and I am not usually a fan of Pea soup! How it had so much flavor was beyond me … this dish was a 15 out of 10. Perfection.
I chose the Blue Corn Pancake with duck. It was very bold, and extremely flavorful … but ended up being a little rich for my tastes.
Second Course:
Pulled Pork Sandwich
Chipotle-Molasses BBQ Sauce, Cole Slaw + Bread and Butter Pickles
OR
Grilled Sea Scallops
Blue Corn Tortilla, Avocado Relish + Jalapeno Pesto
Ed chose the Pulled Pork. We’d have to say it was a little light on the chipotle, and a little heavy on the molasses … it was very sweet!
I chose the Scallops, and this was so delicious I don’t even have words! Actually, I do: JALAPENO PESTO. Yes, please!!!
The third course was an espresso flan … we spaced and didn’t get any pictures of that one! All in all, Bobby didn’t let us down. Our lunch was fantastic!
TAO – THE VENETIAN
On Friday night, we visited Tao at The Venetian for one of our favorite cuisines – Asian Fusion. The menu is very inticing, and the decor is incredible! It was extremely dark, and my pics didn’t quite turn out … so I “borrowed” a few from the web:
As you walk in, the entryway is lined with bathtubs filled with rose petals and water … true rose water!
We sat right in front of this super cool wall lined with backlit ancient opium pipes.
The food was amazing … we had a little of everything. Lobster wontons, Yakitori swordfish, asparagus tempura, kung pao chicken and a veggie roll. We’d say that the food was about a 8 out of 10 … but we enjoyed it immensely. The highlight was definitely the Lobster Wontons.
BEIJING NOODLE NO. 9 – CAESAR’S
The next day, we had an awesome lunch at Beijing No. 9, which is easily the highlight of our trip. It had it all … real, authentic chinese food that was fresh and not greasy! The noodles were hand made, the dumplings were hand rolled – it was casual, but stunning, all at the same time.
Hand made shrimp dumplings, and Ed’s chinese beer.
Okay … we went nuts over the decor of this place. We can’t help it, when it comes to a restaurant, the ambiance matters to us – and boy did this place have style. The entrance is lined with goldfish tanks … the walls and ceiling are covered in this lacquered white cutout pattern … and the hostess wears a 60s airline stewardess-type dress that’s orange. It’s AWESOME.
Needless to say, we fell in love with Beijing No. 9.
FIX – BELLAGIO
Last but not least, our final hurrah was at Fix in The Bellagio. Fix is classic American food, done very, very well. We were drawn to look of this place of course, but once we peeked at the menu, we knew we had to dine there! We started off with Pineapple Mojitos, shared a delicious Rock Shrimp and Red Pepper appetizer with amazing chile sauce, and shared that evening’s special – a steak for two. It was awesome … the selection they gave us was cut so that half of it was porterhouse, the other half a filet mignon. With two sauces to choose from (a red wine reduction or white peppercorn), we had lots of options in how we wanted to enjoy our meat! But truth be told, it was prepared so deliciously, we didn’t even use the sauces. It was excellent. But there was absolutely no room for dessert after that one!
All in all, we’d say we are now completely satiated – this was hedonism at it finest, folks!
Ed’s loved the little Smart car that’s been available in Europe for years and has been extremely excited about the Smart finally coming to the US soon. Anyways, the day draws nearer and they’ve set up a temporary space in Venice that showcases the car in this amazing modern house on Abbot Kinney. We don’t know what blew us away more…the house or the car!
The Smart House is located at 1319 Abbot-Kinney. It’s three stories, very modern and very open. There was a Smart downstairs (and ones you could actually drive out in back…more on that later). We were both dying over the honeycomb screen and chairs.
The next two floors included the main living room and kitchen, as well as additional chill areas. All in white!
And finally, the best looking espresso machine ever…
The space is being used as a Smart art gallery as well. Lots of cool and witty pieces, mostly Smart related.
However – on to the car itself. It’s tiny and meant for really congested urban areas. You see them everywhere in European cities. It’s no “toy” car though…Smart is a sub-brand of Mercedes-Benz and is meant to survive crashes as well as any normal-sized car. Anyways, it was smart (knee slapper, we know) to locate this temporary Smart space in Venice on Abbot Kinney…one of the most congested and hip areas of LA.
The Smart is not only efficient (averages well over 40mpg), but it’s a very fashionable and stylish little piece, with body panels that are removable should you want to change colors on a whim. And inside, you’re met with cool shapes and fabric patterns, and it’s huge given the tiny exterior. Basically, this is a car as a fashion accessory as much as it’s a mode of transportation.
Driving it shows it’s a real car…it doesn’t feel unsafe and in fact feels particularly solid. Here’s Ed about to take it for a spin.
Anyways, we hope this car does well. We like everything the car stands for – the efficiency, frugality, and high style. Heck, it’s the only car that has a permanent place in MoMA’s collection for its design! And props to the Smart House too – the presentation of it all totally successfully communicated the Smart “lifestyle”. For more modern greatness, see the pics here.
And, another draw is you might even have a celebrity sighting while you’re there like we did…Jessica Biel was there today checking out the Smart House with a few sidekicks. Go check it out!
It’s tough to try and explain Miami, so we’ll just save that for another entry! All we know is we definitely haven’t ever experienced a city like this before! Everything here is beautiful – whether it’s a poolside view, a person serving you a drink, or a building in general, it’s got style. We are very impressed.
On Day One, we are holding fast to our goal, and that is chillin’. At a place like The Standard, they make it pretty easy! There are places to chill all over the place! We liked the little wicker beds you could lie out on in the green grass:
And the hanging chairs you can relax in:
But our favorite part was just being out at the most gorgeous pool we’ve ever seen!
The pool is awesome! When you look out on it, the line between where the pool stops and the bay begins is nearly impossible to discern. And, you look up above you and there are the hugest clouds all around you, just like this:
It truly is an adult playground.
Of course, this wonderful setting called for a cocktail! We headed on over to the cafe and took a seat bayside to enjoy more of the view:
Pink Chairs!
After the cocktails, we snuck in a little more time by the pool:
And tried to be as cool as everyone else in Miami:
Now we have to go get pretty for a very swanky Dinner at Blue Door – more later on that one for sure!
We can hardly believe it, but our 1-year wedding anniversary is approaching! We’ve been long considering where we’ll go to celebrate. We’ve talked a lot about exploring the good ol’ USA a bit before we go international again. Afterall, Ed flies to Korea every month, so he’s over the plane rides. Carrie just started a new job in May, so she hasn’t got much vacation time. And we both agreed that there’s a lot of this country we haven’t seen yet. So, we’re tryin’ to hit up all the major U.S. cities (we consider ourselves city folk – sure, we like the outdoors and all, but after about 2 hours we start gettin’ fidgety). The quandary is that we both have pretty high-octane jobs these days, so we wanna be able to relax on our vacation too. So we came up with a different, yet interesting destination: Miami.
Miami is a pretty major U.S. city – it’s tropical, but it’s got city life to it as well. But the real clincher was that there is a Standard Hotel location there, and that pretty much sealed the deal. We can relax and chill in modernity during the day, and enjoy some delicious cuban food and mojitos at night. There’s a lot of mid-century modern architecture in Miami too…and even a modern museum. Sounds like just the right place for the two of us.
Back to The Standard though…this is what we have to look forward to:
Can you believe that pool? Yep, that would be the ocean right in front!
The rooms and restaurant don’t look so bad either!
Check it out! The Standard
We just booked our tickets this week, and we can’t wait! October can’t come soon enough. You better believe we’ll be journalling all along during our trip! Stay tuned…