All was quiet on New Year's Day

A quiet breakfast at Morels in the Palazzo:

Poached eggs, bacon, potatoes, and toast

And a quiet dinner at Sage in Aria:

Poached egg with potato puree and black truffle shaved on top

Bacon-wrapped roasted pork loin with fried pork shoulder, greens, and chestnut puree

This meal was definitely the best of the trip.

The chowdown continues

Monday lunch:
Sliders and tater tots at I Love Burgers

Monday dinner:
Duck spring rolls and vegetarian dumplings at Hakkasan

Tuesday lunch:
Crepe with ham, onions, mushrooms, Gruyere, and an egg at Jean-Phillipe

Tuesday dinner:
Beet and burrata salad and fettucine carbonara at Postrio

Vacation, day 2

We had brunch at Max Brenner's in the shopping mall at Caesar's Palace. I had a sandwich of apples, Gruyere cheese, prosciutto, and greens on a savory rosemary waffle.

I didn't make a dinner reservation for tonight because we had to make a 9:00 show, and I figured we'd grab a sandwich or burger on the way. That wasn't what happened. Instead we walked into Sushisamba at the Palazzo.

Vegetable tempura:

Wild mushrooms and croutons in broth with a poached egg:

And then Japanese Wagyu steak we cooked at the table on a hot stone:

Whoa. This was like eating meat-flavored butter.

Vacation!

This week Good for Me is coming to you from Las Vegas! There will be no calorie counts.

Tonight's dinner was at Top of the World, the revolving restaurant on the 106th floor of the Stratosphere. A place that is more about the view than the food, but the food was good too.

Vegetarian platter (apologies for the blurry photo, low light plus no flash):

Left to right: vegetable napoleon - zucchini, portobello mushroom, winter squash, and kale in vinaigrette; quinoa and lentil salad with roasted onion on top; mixed vegetables (carrots, green beans, and turnips).

Celebration Day

One nice thing about celebrating non-traditional holidays is that they're not surrounded by an overwhelming cultural narrative, so you can celebrate them any way you like. Thus, my official Winter Solstice deep-dish pizza:

On the plate:

We concluded the celebration by welcoming the returning sun with some poolside fireworks:

Happy winter holidays to one and all! (Pizza recipe is here.)

Mideast Style

Roast chicken spiced with coriander, cumin, and turmeric;  pita bread; feta cheese; homemade tzatziki sauce; olives; sliced tomatoes and cucumbers.

Night of the Living Eggplant

After an all-too-brief hiatus, it appears that eggplant season is once again upon us.

Eggplant parmesan with whole wheat spaghetti.