Dining out with the Brits

My British friends, Jan and Maurice, along with Maurice's cousin Ann, are in town for a week. Jan and Maurice are part of the British crowd in Florida but we usually only overlap one or two days a year, so it's been great having them in town to spend an extended time with. On Thursday, the four of us had dinner at Rick Moonen's RM Seafood in Mandalay Bay. I had the Everything Crusted Tuna, which was perfectly rare and encrusted in black and white sesame seeds. It was irritating that they wouldn't let me swap out the rice that it came with for anything other than a starch, so I ordered a side of sautéed spinach, which had the perfect amount of thinly sliced garlic. The restaurant has a higher-end upstairs section, but we ate downstairs, where I thought the menu was slightly overpriced for the rowdy college basketball atmosphere. But, the food was delicious.

On Friday, we wanted a nice meal out for the four of us plus Brad, so we went to Canaletto at the Venetian. This is an Italian restaurant overlooking St. Mark's Square in the Grand Canal Shoppes. The prices were very reasonable and the food was delicious. I had beef tenderloin with polenta, sautéed spinach, Gorgonzola sauce, and crispy fried leeks, accompanied by a great Chianti. For dessert I had tiramisu, of course. Aside from being next to the open kitchen, which was a bit loud, it was a great meal in a great atmosphere.

Fourth of July

My college roommate, Jamie, and her boyfriend, Robby, came to town during the Fourth of July holiday. I met up with them on July 3rd for dinner at Margaritaville at the Flamingo. I love Jimmy Buffett, so this is one of my favorite places to eat in town. We had a great table overlooking the Strip, and I enjoyed two Ruby Red Ritas (margaritas with chambord) with my fish sandwich.

After dinner, we started wandering around the Strip. We stopped in at Bill's Gambling Hall and Saloon (formerly, Barbary Coast) for the advertised $1 margaritas. We then walked over to the Bellagio to watch the fountains.
After watching the fountains and walking around inside, we headed over to Planet Hollywood for a last drink. I stuck with tequila and ordered some awful combination of tequila and pineapple. PH is really hip now that it's been renovated, and I enjoy hanging out there.

On the 4th of July, we headed back to the Strip for a round of casino golf. I heard about this on the Living in Las Vegas Podcast, and I thought it would be a great tourist activity. Each casino is a hole, and you set aside a certain amount of money with which to gamble at each casino. At each casino, while you're gambling, you get a free drink. We started at New York New York, then went down to Mandalay Bay and came back through Luxor and Excalibur. After four holes, we called it a round (we were shooting for 9, but it was hot and we were tired) and headed home to grill out.

After dinner, we went outside to watch fireworks. My backyard overlooks the valley towards the southeast, so I figured we would have the perfect view of the downtown Henderson fireworks. We never actually saw that show, and I read online that it was pretty pathetic. However, we were able to see fireworks in every direction being set off at people's houses. From our front yard, we could see at least three sets being set off in our neighborhood. These fireworks were as big and colorful as those in the professional shows. Apparently, the fireworks laws in Nevada are much looser than they are back east.