Best Thai food in North America, duck fat fries, Luxor, Wicked Spoon Buffet - January 1-2, 2011

Saturday was the first day of the year 2011 and how did we ring it in?  Ate the most expensive take-away food I've ever had and spent the afternoon watching football on TV.  The steaks and side dishes from last night remained delicious, even after nuking them in the microwave.  Babe won 4 out of 6 football bets, so it was a good day.  That evening, we decided to try out Lotus of Siam, supposedly the "best Thai food in North America", as rated by Yelpers.  It was located in a scary strip mall east of the Strip.  The reviews suggested to make reservations for dinner, but I called them at 5pm and they said that I didn't need reservations if I was coming in around opening time.  The restaurant got really full when we left, so definitely make reservations if arriving at peak hours.

Was it really the best Thai food ever?  I've never been to Thailand, so I cannot compare, but the food was pretty good.  The menu was pages and pages long...if I didn't have an idea of what to order based on Yelp reviews, I would have been lost, or needed help from the server.  Babe and I had Thai ice teas to start.  It tasted good, but I could not tell that it was really exceptional.  The dishes came 15 minutes later:  drunken noodles with prawns, green curry with chicken, crispy panang duck.  The green curry was ordered "Thai hot" as Babe likes it that way.  The other dishes were mild so I could eat it and still be able to taste the flavor.

drunken noodles with prawns

crispy panang duck

green curry with chicken, Thai hot!

The drunken dish was very pretty...so pretty that one of the patrons came to our table and asked what it was so they could order it. :)  The prawns were colossal-sized and deep fried so the shells could be eaten.  I normally don't eat the shells, but it was almost unavoidable the way it was prepared, so I went for it.  It wasn't too bad, though I drew the line at eating the prawn tail.  The drunken noodles were delicious, as well as the crispy duck.  I like panang (roasted red) curry and the skin was fried to a pleasant crunch.  There was a lot of meat too.  I decided to try a little bit of the green curry out of curiosity, as I have never had "Thai hot" before.  I put a small dab of the curry on some white rice and had no problem eating it, experiencing a slight tingle.  Then I tried a piece of chicken, no problem there and the heat was bearable.  I then put a slightly larger dollop of sauce on rice and ate it.  No prob...uh oh.  I think I must have eaten a chili seed or oil as suddenly my eyes watered and my mouth went up in flames.  I futilely fanned my mouth with my hand.  My eyes were darting all over the table, searching frantically for relief.  I glanced at the glass of ice water, which was a no-no, as chili oil doesn't mix with water and ends up spreading the heat everywhere.  (something I learned while watching Solitary 2.0)  White rice was available, but it'd wouldn't instantly quaff the heat.  Then I spotted my glass of Thai iced tea, which contained dairy...I only had half a glass left.  I slurped mine down as Babe handed me his glass.  The flames were somewhat abated.  All this time, I was exclaiming to Babe, "Why do you do this to yourself?!?"  "How can you eat this?"  "WHY??!?!"  "I totally can't do Man vs. Food!"  He just laughed at me as he drank spoonfuls of the curry sauce in front of my face.  Before we turned in for the night, we drove over to Aria to get some gelato from J-P and let Babe catch some football at the sports book while I tried my luck at video poker.  No royal flushes tonight.

We checked out of the Signature the next day...to lower the total cost of lodging, we decided to spend Sunday night at the Luxor for $42.  I had never stayed in the pyramid before so I was looking forward to it.  Check-in was at 3pm, so we drove over to Aria looking for food.  We ended up taking the tram to Bellagio in search of yummy fries, but Babe reminded me that we had passed a restaurant during our tour of the Cosmopolitan hotel on New Year's Eve that offered duck fat fries.  The fastest way to get there was to walk out the front of the Bellagio and the Cosmo would be to the right.  The restaurant was on the second floor, called Holstein's, and was a trendy burger joint.  On the way there, we saw a crowd of people in front of a Chinese/Mexican restaurant called China Poblano that seemed closed off to the public.  There were bodyguards surrounding a couple whom we could only see the backs of their heads: the gentleman had short dark hair and the lady had layered long blonde hair.  We didn't know who it was until someone screamed out "Seattle wants him back!" and Babe figured out it was the back of A-Rod's head, and the lady must have been Cameron Diaz.  I don't know if I could handle being famous, having people gawking at you, not being able to eat in peace.  I suppose if I was paid millions of dollars, I could possibly overlook that. ;)  Fortunately, no one recognized us as "rock stars" and we were able to make it to the front entrance of Holstein's without detection.  I didn't want to wait 20 minutes for a table, so we sat at the bar and ordered a pail of duck fat fries and a black and white milkshake.  The fries sounded better than they tasted, but the milkshake was to die for.  The milk tasted so good, full of flavor, and probably full fat!  The chocolate covered mini "crunch" balls sprinkled on top were a nice touch.  The tin was included too! :)  Patrons would walk up to the bar and order milkshakes to go.  I would probably do the same next time I'm around.

We headed back to the car, passing by the Bellagio Conservatory.  It was in a state of disassembly.  I had never been there on a day where they were changing up the decorations.  Here is what it looked like when we were there mid-December:

And now it was being taken apart (poor naked polar bear):

Machinery and trucks were being driven in through the walkway from the Spa Tower to the Conservatory.  I had no idea that big trucks could make it through there.

We checked into the Luxor.  Unfortunately, no pyramid rooms were available, so we were upgraded to the Tower Deluxe Room.  If this was a better room, then the pyramid rooms must really be basic.

who uses bedspreads anymore?

For dinner, Babe reminded me that the Cosmopolitan offered a buffet called the Wicked Spoon Buffet.  It hadn't even crossed my mind to try that buffet, even though we had passed it a couple of times while taking a "scenic tour" around the hotel.  He truly knows food is near and dear to my heart. :)  Especially when he looked it up on Yelp and told me that the buffet was tapas-style.  Cute little portions of food plated in tiny saucepans, baskets, and bowls?  Chocolate covered strawberries?  Count me in!  We drove over to the Cosmopolitan.  The parking lot was underground, so it was spooky to drive down several levels (and hoping there wasn't going to be an earthquake).  The garage was separated into a west and east side, and we knew the buffet was on the west end.  It was 5:30pm, so there wasn't anyone in line, yet the buffet was two-thirds full.  $27 per person wasn't too bad.  Wicked Spoon has now become my favorite buffet in Vegas.  Even though the buffet doesn't offer pounds of crab legs or oysters, you will see why.

We didn't want to fill up on juice or alcohol, so we had water and tea.  The bottled water was "Aquahealth" brand.  The tea was very fragrant too.

There were very few "food service" trays where you scooped your own food (like mashed potatoes); most of the time, the food was served in small plates or small portions.  This was great as the presentation looked better and you didn't have to touch too many serving spoons.  Babe and I found that even these smaller portioned servings were too much and we ended up eating most of them "family style", which confused our server, who kept trying to pick up the dishes in the middle of the table, thinking we discarded them since they weren't on our main plates.

salads were all portioned out

reminded me of the bread cart at Joel Robuchon

cute little saucepans of food

the sign said "fries with eyes": fried smelt with dipping sauces, along with gyros and charcuterie

braised short rib, lobster pasta, shrimp cocktail, and bone marrow(!)

shrimp dumpling, xiaolongbao, CA roll, lamb baby back ribs

lots of gelato!

I could eat $27 worth of fresh berries

and huge chocolate covered strawberries, dipped in cookies and candies

mini candy apples

fudge towers and chocolate bark

there were trays of different trifles

gold leaf chocolate chip cookies, fresh berries, gigantic chocolate covered strawberries, and mint chip gelato

There was so much other food, and proteins like prime rib, turkey, leg of lamb, pork, etc...I couldn't take pictures of everything.  There was even a mini "pho" station, with tiny bowls of noodles, and you could spoon broth into it and add fixings!  My tummy got full before I even sampled half of the offerings at the buffet.  I wasn't disappointed at all that there weren't any king/snow crab legs or oysters; in fact, I was glad not to be pressured into eating a lot of crab and oyster to "get my money's worth".  But at $27, I think this buffet offered plenty for the price and highly recommend this buffet.  Just as long as you are aware of the lack of mass quantities of crab.  There was plenty of shrimp available, and king crab was offered, already shelled and tossed in a Cajun butter sauce.  Some Yelpers complained that they couldn't carry pans on their plate because it took up too much room and were heavy.  I admit that it could get heavy, but how much food do you plan to eat at once anyway?  There was another complaint, that some of the food didn't have labels.  I agree here too, and they need to improve on that.  The hotel has only been open since December 15, so I'm sure they're working out the kinks.  One other annoying thing had nothing to do with the food, but that the restroom nearby had only four stalls.  Four stalls?!?  Next to a buffet???

The two ladies sitting at the table next to us ended up being a source of amusement.  Those pretty mini candy apples pictured above?  Babe and I read on Yelp that they weren't worth eating, because the apples were very "sandy" (like an old Red Delicious).  Babe got one anyway, took a bite, and spit it out since it was true.  One of the ladies flagged down our server and complained to him, "These apples are so bad.  Why are they bad?", and so forth.  Like the server would know.  She insisted that he ask the chef why they were so sandy.  He relented and went into the back of the kitchen; he returned to tell them that the chef said that they were sandy on purpose because the texture worked well with the chocolate.  The lady did not agree and kept giving our poor server an earful about why the apples should be better and how the chef didn't know what he was talking about.  The server just stood there and shrugged as the lady went on and on.  Poor guy.

Besides the few hiccups, the buffet was a pleasure to eat at, and I am looking forward to eating there again on a future trip to Vegas (which should be very very very far into the future).  This was our last night in Vegas...back to work the next day.  Gotta pay for the travel, right?  My next big trip isn't until middle of February...one week in Kauai with the parents!  In between now and then, I'll dig up some Time Machine entries...stay tuned!