Ohhhh yes. So, it was not initially intended, but the universe handed me a gift. Somehow a "boys trip" to Vegas intersected squarely with the Meat Month. And by "boy" I don't mean adolescent male, I mean douchebag. That's right, there was a strong db crew there last weekend, and the shenanigans began even before landing. Somehow we made friends with the stewardess. Flight attendant? Come on, it's stewardess in this case and we all know it. In fact, any flight going to Vegas should be required to call the flight staff stewardesses, even if they are male. Just my .02. So we managed to not only drink a few rounds on the plane, but Brandi, our favourite stewardess, refused to take any drink coupons or tips from us for the second round...which we didn't even order, and then as we stepped off the plane she handed Mario all the drink coupons that had been used on the flight, a big ol' stack of free drinks. Let's just say we'll be flying Southwest for a while. I'll keep the shenanigan stories to a minimum, but I will say fun was had by all. Now, one of the guys we were meeting up with is from New York, originally from Cali, and he had been craving IN-N-OUT. So we decided to head on over and get some grub. UNFORTUNATELY, they had just closed (I thought nothing closed in Vegas?!?) so we went with a backup plan and headed across the street to Jack In the Box. I'm calling first lapse in judgment right here. Next lapse was ordering what Mike suggested: A double cheeseburger. Mother of god was that thing disgusting. I mean really really bad. Who eats these things? I had enough of a struggle to keep the 1/4 of it that I ate down, and ended up throwing the rest away. It was a good college try, but I had some backup tacos that did not disappoint, so I was good. Those Jackinthebox tacos must just be horrible for you, but they have a certain trashy goodness about them, but you must absolutely use the hot sauce, with out they are dry and tasteless. The meat itself, if it is meat, is described in one of my previous posts. Alright, fast food done for the trip, thankfully.
That night we stayed with our friend that works in Vegas, Steve. He works out there during the week, but lives in the east bay, so normally he's back in the bay on the weekends, except for occasions such as this. OK, now I'll rant about the Fing TSA a little bit here. I brought in my checked in luggage all of the makings for bloody maries. Not the vodka and mix, because I knew the first stop of the night after we got off the plane was the liquor store, but all the little stuff...lemon pepper, celery salt, A1 sauce, and Worcestershire sauce, and some of Maria's bloody mary beans, which add a nice vinegar and pepper KICK! OK, she doesn't call them "bloody mary beans" but let's get real here...does anyone use these beans for anything else? I mean I'm sure they would be great as a meal, but in a bloody mary they are stellar. So there it is. Well, turns out the TSA decided that they needed to open up and search my bag. How do I know this? Well when we got to steve's that night and I pulled out my jacket from the bag I noticed that it was...wet. MMMMMMM, yes, wet. Not a good sign. I proceed to empty the entire contents of my bag to find that all of the screw tops on all of the spices and lids of the sauces had been loosened. But of course, this can happen which is why you place things in ziploc bags right? Well ziploc bags don't work to well as a secondary seal when some toadeater TSA employee searches your shite and leaves the FING BAGS OPEN!! Seriously? I was none to happy, mostly because I wanted to make myself a nice beverage in the morning. The main problem was that the here-to-fore completely full Worcestershire was now completely empty...it's contents now marinating all of my clothes, the bag, and the lovely little note the TSA left explaining that my bag had been searched. Ahhh, marinated clothes. Well, thankfully Steve had a washer and dryer, and I made bloodies the next morning sans the Worchestershire. All was A-OK.
After a few bloodies that morning we decided that since it was noon it would be a good time to get some breakfast. I say "WE" here, because I'm being polite. I did not need to go anywhere near food for another 6-8 hours because I still had that dumbbell of a double cheeseburger sitting at the bottom of my stomach and I could hear my stomach yelling at me, "What the F IS THIS thing?" And just plain refusing to digest any of it. I think it was waiting for lab results before proceeding. Anyway, 'we' decided to go to the Original Pancake House for breakfast. Yes, the chain, but at least it's not fast food. There I ordered food: a side of hashbrowns and coffee. I figure either the Irish in me would start digesting the hashbrowns, or the coffee would speed things up down below, if you know what I'm saying. Oh, and actually, since it's meat month, I had to try some bacon.
Now on the topic of bacon. Everybody said, "Ooooh bacon, gotta try bacon, don't know how you can't eat bacon, god I love frigin bacon". Really? I mean OK, this bacon here was actually a thicker cut than I had before, so it was pretty good, but definitely not earth shattering in any way. Yeah, I like the juicy fatty salty, singed flavor, but really? I just don't see the draw. I guess some people just really like pig anyway they can get it. Hello, SPAM anyone? Alright. So bacon, the best I've had this month, but I still don't see why everybody is so ga-ga over it.
That night when I was laundering the marinade out of my clothes we decided to go to a good steak house for dinner Saturday night. Bill, from NYC, found a Mario Batali restaurant called Carnevino and he had already setup reservations prior to the trip cause he's one of those smarty types. For those of you, like me, who had never heard of this eye-talian before, he's some famous food network chef type. I just went on Bill's recommendation, and let me say he did not disappoint. First, the restaurant ages all of the meats on site. They also use only organic meat, no growth hormones, no anti-biotics, all from Colorado. Well, due to the HIGH price of the meals here, and in honor of meat month, and really, cause we all wanted to try everything on the menu, we decided to share everything family style. This is in fact a suggestion of the restaurant, and when they carve up the meat at your table they do so in small pieces that can be shared. Pretty smart. We got, collectively, a few appetizers like a seafood pasta that had half a lobster, so I got to try that for the first time in my life. Lobster is good, light and buttery, simliar to the crab I remember catching with my grandpa in the San Juan Islands, but a little lighter in flavor...a bit more airy. Quite velvety in texture, and it just crumbled away in my mouth. Good stuff. We also got a dried meat sampler with pancetta, beef and pork loin, and mortadella. The loins were quite good, and ridiculously thinly sliced, but a nice hint of salt. Like a very high end beef jerky. I also ordered a salad and some green beans with pork, because I felt we should have a little bit of greens with the onslaught of meat.
For dinner we got the porterhouse, the ribeye, I ordered the lamb chops, and Bill, mr. adventure, ordered the sweetbreads....which are neither sweet nor bread. In fact they smelled like chicken mc'nuggets, and tasted a bit like chef's salty balls....well, what I imagine chef's salty balls to taste like. Alright that doesn't really help does it? The outside texture was like anything breaded...namely bits of bread, and the inside, texture wise, actually reminded me a little of seafood texture. Now "seafood" is a large target, so the texture was more like calamari with different layers that had structure, but movement between the layers as you bit. The layers weren't as distinct because this is afterall just a gland, and not a whole limb. They were OK, but there's nothing that makes me want to have them again. The porterhouse and the ribeye were fantastic. We got everything cooked medium-rare and the color was just a beautiful deep redish brown. And the edges of the meat, due to the onsite drying and the salt, pepper, and rosemary rub were charred just the right amount. Crispy on the outer edges, tender in the middle, perfectly prepared, and really quite delicious. No sauces needed. The carving was pretty cool, in that this is something I've never, ever seen done before. Remember, I've been a vegetarian for 17 years, and when I was a kid we didn't have the money to go to places like this, and really who would take there kid to a place like this? The porterhouse left a HUUUUUUGE friggin captain caveman bone, which at the end of the meal, Steve gnawed on until all the meat was gone.
My lamb chops. Again, a first for me, I've never had lamb before at all, so this was something special. The waiter told me that they leave the cap of fat on the end of the chop during the aging and cooking so that the fat flavor pushes into the meat and ends up really enriching the flavor of the lamb. When I cut into the first chop the inside was a deep purple color. Quite lovely. The taste was even better, a little less overbearing a flavor than the porterhouse or ribeye. More refined, and a little more lean, although thanks to the fat, not dry at all. Again, cooked to perfection by the chef. I gnawed on these bones when I was done, which is a true complement from a vegetarian.
Oh and the last bit that I really enjoyed was the Sommelier, and he chose a great pairing for my lamb. I'd never been to a restaurant with a Sommelier before so I took full advantage. He suggested a spanish wine called Aragone which had a nice spice that went well with the mint rub on the lamb.
That's about it for Vegas this time around. There are more details, but nothing as good as Carnevino.
