Las Vegas, Nevada: It's hot. A local newscaster has been tracking how many days over 100° have occurred this month. Nearly every day. And so many days around 110. Probably time to head home. We had planned to visit a few more places, but every place we want to see is over 105. The kids are descending upon us next week, so maybe we will just go home? Maybe play some early-morning golf on our own course before they do the annual scalping-o-the-greens?
Our plan for the day was to get our pedometer steps walking in air conditioned Las Vegas hotel malls and restaurants. (Of course, DT rode his bike for an hour early this morning!) We Ubered over to the hotel, subjecting ourselves to the blasting heat only when exiting our RV and exiting the Uber to the seriously cold Caesars Palace. What are their power bills?
Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Cafe has been at the same location across the street from Caesars Palace for 20 years. The lease came up and it was not renewed. (Rumor: the lease had planned to not be renewed far before My Favorite Singer passed away, because they wanted to move to a different location on The Strip, but no word on what's happening with that idea now.) Caesars owns the Flamingo Hotel & Casino housing Margaritaville, and the Flamingo Hotel is in the middle of a huge hotel-wide renovation. (Rumor: a country-western restaurant/bar is going in - probably with a Garth Brooks tie-in as he is doing a residency at Caesar's across the street. It does make sense.) The Flamingo are bringing in a Gordon Ramsey burger joint as well. Today, this is what we could see while driving past the old Margaritaville:
Bobby Flay has opened two new places in Caesar's Palace. One is Italian and one is French(ish) and I'm guessing they share the same kitchen as the two venues are next door to each other. Italian place was closed until the evening, so we went to the French place, Brasserie B, which only had a brunch menu mid-day, but was interesting enough to lure us.
The menu was frenchy-enough, had the usual items one would find in a Paris brasserie (at higher prices - this is Vegas after all), but everything had a Bobby Flay twist. First time I have every had a chicken paillard that was grilled, that is for sure. And, in what must be some sort of record, I consumed my entire lunch.
(Pickled shallots, olives and peppers garnish)
Customarily, this dish is a pounded chicken breast, dusted in flour and sauteed, then placed on a bed of lemon-dressed greens. Flay's version was even a bit spicy. It was very good and very pretty, but it wasn't very French.
The restaurant also offer all sorts of raw and cooked shellfish, including everything all together on a tower, and on the dinner menu, Duck Confit is listed.
David ordered the omelet, which came unrolled/folded, flat in a bowl, topped with parsley pesto, tomatoes, goat cheese, and greens. He could not finish.
After our brunch, we walked and walked and walked and walked around the Forum Shops in Caesars Palace. So many nice shops. We went into Louis Vuitton as they had an interesting display with the mini-trunks that will hold the medals presented to the winning athletes in the Paris Olympics. Nice souvenir! I thought the mall was more packed than usual, maybe due to the heat, but Dave thought it was just the usual crowd. I wore a mask.
By 4p, I had 8000 steps and decided that was enough. We Ubered back to our RV and the air conditioner was doing a pretty good job. We watched the Olympic re-broadcast on NBC and had appetizers and cocktails for dinner.
Tomorrow, we see friends!
Until my next update, I remain, your hot correspondent.
Campground Information: Oasis RV Resort - Several miles from The Strip. This place has everything. Family pool, adult pool, hot tub, store, restaurant, bar with live music, laundry, dog runs, horseshoe, pickle ball, putting green, bath house, free wifi and cable television. We are paying about $100 per night for a paved full-service pull-through site. Note: near the flight path of the airport and on the I-15... which we cannot hear over the roar of our ceiling air conditioner.