Yellowtail

Not wanting to give up on the restaurants at the Bellagio, Friand and I decided that we would give Yellowtail a go. We had passed it that morning on the way through the high end shopping gallery to the coffee bar, and thought the sushi menu looked promising.

As all us vegans know, sushi is probably the easiest, most reliable, and most satisfying of all the vegan options out there. You can order a vegetable roll and never have to utter the word "vegan" to any server, never have to worry about there being a capable & creative chef in the house, just order, eat & enjoy. After the disaster that was "Olives", we were looking forward to a simple, yet elegant meal.

Remember, "Sushi" refers to the RICE, not the fish. I always laugh when people say, "Vegan sushi? Give me a break!" Yup. Rice is vegan, folks.

We were seated and immediately greeted by our server, who directed my attention to the "Infusion" at the top of the cocktail menu. A delightfully sickeningly sweet martini style sake drink, with pineapple and vanilla flavorings. I'm not a froo-froo drink kind of girl, but this thing made my teeth chatter with sweetness, and let's face it: it prevented me from drinking too fast and too much. I can pound gin martinis like James Bond on shore leave, so this was a good move on my part!

Friand ordered the 7 course Omakase with the sake pairing. Any sushi lover, nee, any refined connoisseur should order this way at a sushi joint. Let the chef decide what the best dishes on the menu are that night, not you! I've rarely seen Friand order anything on his own when we've been out for sushi, he's always been delighted & amazed by the chef's own suggestions. This Omakase did not fail him. 6 different sakes for 6 dinner selections including a salad, sashimi and kobe beef, and one slice of green tea cake with a mocha shooter for dessert, kept the food & drink flowing at our table.

There are actually several items on the menu suitable for veg*ns including edamame, an array of salads, vegetable tempura, vegetable roll, wild mushrooms and eggplant skewers. I was overwhelmed with possibilities!

I began my meal with the vegetable roll. There was nothing out of the ordinary in that roll: cucumber, asparagus, carrot, avocado and pickled daikon, sprinkled with sesame seeds, but the rice had the perfect proportion of vinegar to make all the flavors pop instead of run together. I could not pass up the opportunity to try the eggplant, though. And when it arrived, my mouth was overwhelmed with taste bud ecstasy. Sweet, bitter, juicy and savory, the Japanese eggplant melted in my mouth.

I was thankful that there were a dozen pieces of eggplant on this plate, otherwise I may have freaked out and actually begged for more. It was probably enough for any normal person to be satisfied with this much food (8 vegetable roll slices and a dozen pieces of eggplant), but I was like a bottomless pit! The Omakase still flowing on Friand's side of the table, I needed to keep up. At this point, I was torn between ordering more eggplant or going for another sushi roll. That rice was too good to pass up, so bring me another veggie roll! This time, I had fun overdosing on wasabi and seeing how much I could slather on my sushi before my eyes started watering & flames shot out of the top of my head.

Yellowtail was a delightful and sophisticated way to round out our trip to Vegas this week. We both left a little tipsy, and a whole lot satisfied. I highly recommend making a reservation and brushing up on your chopstick technique. Come hungry!! This is a must visit restaurant at the Bellagio!!

Hours of Operation:

Dinner Daily Monday - Thursday 5:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Lounge open until 11:00 p.m.

• Friday - Sunday 5:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. Lounge open until Midnight
• Reservations: Recommended by calling 866.259.7111 or 702.693.7223
• Location: Located by North Valet right off of Via Bellagio shops.

Las Vegas Vacation Deals

Todd English's "OLiVES"

Todd English's "Olives" at the Bellagio... oh dear....where to start....

For all the hype, all the chatter about this place, we were let down immensely. In fact, "let down" is hardly the right way to describe our experience. Even Friand, who had the added advantage of being able to order anything he wanted off the menu, walked away incredibly disappointed.

We decided to dine at Olives because we've heard off Todd English & his wonderful establishment at the Bellagio. And reading the menu, both of us found several items that made it worthwhile to make a reservation. In fact, I saw two items (other than the obvious salad reconfigurations) that looked promising for a vegan: Portabello Flatbread (sans cheese) and Spring Pea Mezzaluna (again, sans cheese).

Our server arrived and of course it was time to face the music: "I'm a vegan" and what did we encounter? Lovely faces & sounds of disgust by the server. "Ooooh...." she groaned and gave us the face that says "Danger! Danger!! Vegans not welcome here". We all know it well, and even Friand cringed and squirmed when he saw her reaction. I should have ordered the flatbread, but I figured I would try the Mezzaluna. She told me that the mezzaluna was made with a cheese filled pasta. Fine. Any other server would have suggested that we just substitute the cheese pasta for a "not-cheese" pasta, say like all the other 300 varieties of pasta available at any grocery store in the world. But no. She said she had no idea what the chef could do for me, but she'd ask.

Ok. That's not an uncommon reaction by any server. Let's see what the chef at a high end, high profile place like Olives can whip up for me.

She returned to tell me that the chef could make me spaghettini with tomato sauce. Ooooh!! Can he? Really? That would be fantastically special for an expensive meal out.

Yeah, no thanks. So I asked if there was a way to have vegetables with the pasta instead, and she said sure. Now, if I had been smart, I would have just changed my order to the flatbread... but no. I decided to take my chances with the pasta.

Friand ordered the Alaskan Halibut, and the nicest thing he could say about it was that the risotto was "creamy". Wow. Go Todd English? He was sadly disappointed in his meal and this was a rare meal that was not finished by him. In fact, he picked at his meal in such a way that only a picky eater such as myself can fully appreciate after years of pushing around things I don't like to the edges of my plate. He did a great job at making it appear that he'd eaten more than he actually had, while choking down some clear swill that barely passed as a martini with a chunk of ice.

So this pasta that I was served... yeah, I'm not 8 years old. I don't go out to eat to get spaghetti and tomato sauce, but there I was poking around at this poorly executed spaghetti & sauce. To the credit of the kitchen, they did at least toss in a few broccolini, a few leaves of spinach, some peas, and (one of my favorites) fava beans. But, my trust in the sauce was second only to my trust in the veganistic attributes of frosted pop tarts. I'm not entirely certain, but I think that the server heard "no dairy" but no the "no meat" part of my description of "vegan", and there may have been some meat in this sauce. Needless to say, 5 bites into this meal I discovered what I thought was a questionable lumpy thing in my dish and quickly lost my appetite and quit eating.

The server returned to see that neither one of us had finished our meals with the comment, "I see we're taking a break..." Um, no. Let's call it quitting time, lady, this meal is over. Take our dishes, give us the check, and let us run free through the streets of Vegas.

Todd English's "Olives"... gets an enthusiastic thumb's down from both myself and Friand (who, by the way, was just making yum yum noises at a Denny's commercial while helping me write this). "Olives" gets 2 sprouts, even from Friand, which says a lot regarding your omnivorous friends' possible enjoyment of this restaurant. If you're expecting a gourmet meal, forget it, this isn't the place. But enjoy the people watching, watch the fountains, and if you're lucky you'll be buzzed enough to finish most of your meal.

• Hours of Operation:
  Lunch and Dinner Daily
  Lunch: 11:00 a.m. - 2:45 p.m.
  Dinner: 5:00 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.
  Bar Open Daily:
  3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
  Bar menu available 7 days a week
• Reservations:
  Suggested by calling 866.259.7111 or 702.693.7223

• • Location:
    Within the Via Bellagio shopping promenade.

Las Vegas Vacation Deals

Flamenco Dancing

I've been studying Flamenco dancing for more than a year now. I really enjoy it. And I'm happy to be home again. I went to my dance class this morning. It was so much fun! A lot of hard work. But lots of fun!

It's a lot different from the Folklorico dancing that I do. But it's really interesting. Your dancing is just as important as the guitar playing. I want to get really good at it. This video has a really good dancer. One day, I want to go to Spain and dance. I think that would be a lot of fun! :) C

Crochet Bows

I really like these bows! Jess from Happy Together made them. She posted a tutorial today. And I'm going to make me some for school. I have to wear a uniform for school. But they let us wear different kinds of hair bows. I really like these. And they look pretty easy to make too! :) C

Urban Rain Giveaway

You can win $25 from Urban Rain. Look at how cute the things from Urban Rain's shop are. I really like all of the hair pins. I wear a lot of them when I dance. I hope I can win something from the giveaway. You should enter too! :) C

Back Home

Nono and I made it home this afternoon. I'm really tired. But I had a lot of fun with him. I was in Florida for over a month. I missed my Dad so much! And mi abuelitas too. My dogs must have missed me. Because they've been sitting in my lap all night.

Tonight, we all went to church. Then my Dad made a big dinner for everyone. It was so yummy. And it was fun to see all of my friends again. :) I missed everyone a lot. I'm glad that Nono gets to stay for a few weeks too. I think it's going to be a lot of fun to have him around.

I'm really tired. I think I should go to bed. We've been up for a long time! It was a long flight home. But I'm glad to be back. I had lots of fun with my Nono. I'm glad I got to go spend some time with him. :) C

Apron Giveaway

Megan is having a giveaway on her blog. For one of these aprons. I really like the first one. It's my favorite colors! Pink and green. Which one do you like? You can win one of these aprons. You just have to go to the giveaway and enter. :) C