The boys and I ventured out to Las Vegas for a long weekend this past weekend. Vegas is such an incredible town. There truly is something for everyone. Even if you don’t gamble, you need to go to Vegas once in your life. I call it sensory overload. Everywhere you go there is something going on. Vegas is almost the polar opposite of Martha’s Vineyard in the off-season. The money being thrown around in this town is unfathomable. Everything is expensive, so be prepared, if you go, especially if you stay on the strip. Ran me 6 bucks every morning just for an iced coffee. The broads walk around in droves, like kids in a prominent subdivision on Halloween. You can hear em coming from miles away because they sound like the Clydesdales in the Thanksgiving Day Parade trotting the route with their high heels and jacked up dresses. Some of us stayed at the THEhotel portion of Mandalay Bay and some stayed at the Egyptian Themed Luxor. I would definitely recommend THEhotel. They were right on it with my requests and very hospitable. The “reason” for the trip was to celebrate my boy’s fortieth birthday party. #MVfoodguy apparel made it’s first appearance on this trip. The boys surprised me with a slick #MVfoodguy hat and one of them even sported a #MVfoodguy fan club tee-shirt. He said he was going to walk up and down the strip so I get a ton of hits that day! It certainly made me feel the love from this crew. Thanks again, fellas, for the support.

Vegas has some of the best restaurants in the world. Most of them are located on the Vegas strip scattered about at different hotels and casinos. I will do a short run down on a few places from the strip in this blog and then I’ll do a full, detailed, complete review of the fabulous Gordon Ramsey’s steak in the Paris Casino in another.

The first place we hit up was Lagasse’s Stadium for the Bruin’s game 1 on Thursday vs. the Rangers. Lagasse’s Stadium is located in the Palazzo Hotel and Casino. The Stadium is an Emeril Lagasse themed place. Emeril is from my home town, Fall River, and used to cook at the St. Johns Club. Twenty five years ago you could get a steak sandwich, cooked by him, for less than ten bucks. Today it will cost you fifty and will be cooked by some unknown Joe in one of his restaurants. Lagasse’s Stadium is in the old Jay Z 40/40 Cocaine Club. I guess Jay Z’s wasn’t a hit. I’m not sure that would have been on the bucket list anyway. I may be going out on a small limb here, but there may not be a better place, in the country, to watch a game. MVfoodguy.com was originally started as a food for guys blog. If you are with your boys in Vegas and you are sports fan, do not miss a chance to hit up this experience. First of all, you can legally bet on just about any game going. you won’t have to worry about having to call up the shady Italian kid you met, one night, at Federal Hill in Providence. Secondly, this place has a TV screen that is one of the biggest ones you will ever see. They have a feature game on that TV. If you don’t

like that one, no problem. Sit off to the side somewhere in a “luxury box’ or “sky box” and they will put whatever game you want on your own personal 50+ inch Television. Sit back, take your shoes off, scream, yell, do what guys do when you’re watching a game. No problem. I imagine there are some scraps in this place from time to time, but while we were there, it was mostly friendly fans cheering for their teams. Of course I say that because the Bruins won. The seating in the main room is stadium seating with nice leather couches and ottoman’s to put your feet up and tables for your food and drinks. They do impose a $25.00 per person minimum to come in here. Can’t blame ‘em, they don’t want people just coming in, ordering a tap water and watching their TV’s. Twenty five dollars is an easy spend here. It’s probably a burger and two beers. A word about the food. It’s good. We weren’t disappointed with anything. However, we also were not doing cartwheels over the food. We hit this place up twice during our trip. Both times for the Bruins games. The first time I went with the Shrimp Po-Boy. Even though most of it ended up on the floor, it was pretty good. The spinach and artichoke dip was tasty. A few of the guys got burgers and said they were above average. Second time I got the tuna appetizer served on chips. Again good, but lacked the “wow” factor. I did have a couple very tasty Bloody Mary’s though. It’s kind of funny with the time thing in Vegas. It’s three hours behind eastern standard so a 1:00 game is actually on at 10:00 am. No problem, change it up from beer to Spicy Bloody Mary’s. One of my boys grabbed the fish and chips. Very good. Fall River style with the vinegar on the side. The fries that they came with were awesome. Shout out to Andrea our second waitress who bet and won on the Bruins with us. She would be sure to check in on us at least every 5 minutes, and we were there a good three hours. Go here. Not necessarily for the food, but for the experience. You won’t be disappointed. #MVfoodguy rating – 5 out of 5 for experience and 3.5 for the food.

On Friday, I convinced two of the guys to eat at Gordon Ramsey BurGR in the Planet Hollywood Casino. This place is money. There was a twenty-minute wait to get in. It was kind of cool, you give your name to the hostess and they ask for your phone number. These hostesses are smokin’ hot and it’s been a while since a hottie like that asked for my number so I coughed it up faster than she could punch it into the computer. Within about ten seconds I got a text saying welcome to Gordon Ramsay BurGR. It’s now 2:28. Your table will be ready in twenty minutes and we will text you again when it’s ready. As you would expect, with a Ramsay place, we waited just about 20 minutes to the T. Exactly enough time for each of us clowns to sink a c-note into the adjacent slot machines. Money goes faster in Vegas than Usane Bolt running the forty yard dash. Anyways, place has a great, fresh vibe. As the name of the place indicates, limited menu with mostly burgers. Similar to most of his restaurants, this place has an open kitchen. I grabbed the Hell’s Kitchen Burger. The boys had the regular burgers. Everyone was

very impressed. I put this burger in the top five burgers of my life, possibly top three. I did have to X the jalapenos after one bite – which I took a little heat for from the waitress. She was great. Very attentive, friendly and bubbling with personality. The bun was soft and the burger was juicy and cook perfectly. Even the presentation was key, with the one burger in the middle of a square plate with the Restaurant’s logo at the top of the plate. For sides, we crushed some sweet potato fries and some truffle fries. The sweet potato fries were served with powdered sugar and they even gave you a small jar of it to reload when you get to the middle. I think it cost us another c-note for the burgers including tip. Three mouth-watering burgers, drinks and sides for 100 bucks is the deal of a lifetime considering the hundred large we each just pissed away in the slot machines. #MVfoodguy rating 5 out of 5.

Another must do is to experience “old school” Vegas. Saturday afternoon we took a ride to this area where you will find the Golden Nugget, Binions and The Queens, to name a few. The Golden Nugget has undergone some renovations and if you want to stay downtown off the strip, this is the spot. For lunch, we decided to try the Heart Attack Grille. It’s on Freemont Street, within walking distance to all the hotels in the area. The Heart Attack Grill is a “themed” restaurant with a gimmick of serving unhealthy food. They put johnny’s on you and serve burger’s like the Triple Bi-pass

burger. They don’t have diet coke or light beer at this place. The waitresses are dressed up as nurses serving you. Interesting theme I guess. Food was very sub par. I got a single bi-pass burger. If Ramsey’s burger was top three, this one was bottom three. I got some chili cheese fries which may just as well have been a bowl of grease. The service wasn’t that great either, as we sat for a good ten to fifteen minutes before being approached. I know nurses can be busy, but let’s face it, they aren’t saving lives here. The place had an interesting concept, checked it off bucket list, no need to ever go back. If you want to go for the experience, sure, but you will be doing so against my recommendation. Oh and if you are over 350 lbs you eat free at the Heart Attack Grill. #MVfoodguy 1 out of 5. Another place to avoid at all costs is Dick’s Last Resort. We didn’t eat here but got drinks and it’s just lousy.

Last but certainly not least was Gordon Ramsay’s Steak in the Paris Hotel. This place is epic. No doubt this review has to have it’s own blog post. Stay tuned.