Travel Spot: Hubert Keller's Burger Bar - Las Vegas

Sorting through digital photographs after we returned from our weekend away, I discovered not only do I take pictures of EVERYTHING but I also sometimes forget what I photograph. case in point, our recent trip to Las Vegas and my personal goal to hit as many Top Chef Masters restaurants as possible. This beauty drew us in to the restaurant before we even knew that Hubert Keller was behind it.

This is the Nutella Shake at Hubert Keller's Burger Bar. You read it right a NUTELLA SHAKE and those nuggets on top are hazelnuts. Nutella, chocolate ice cream chocolate sauce and chocolate whipped cream... dessert perfection and delicious.

However, this dessert wasn't enough when I saw these pictured in the menu:

These are the flower pot sundaes and in order from left to right: chocolate coffee, strawberry graham and chocolate marshmallow. Yep, also delicious.

I'd like to add, this was the last place we ate our last day in Vegas but not the first time we ended up at Burger Bar. We had talked about that Nutella shake the first time we walked by the menu and kept putting off our visit. Than the Saturday night of our friend's wedding and after a wine tasting event...we were starved  and stumbled in to eat. We ordered the Hubert Keller burger: buffalo meat, caramelized onions, baby spinach, blue cheese on a ciabatta bun with a red wine shallot sauce...there is no photo because there was no time. As my friend Kandice would say: Freakin' Fantastic!

Travel Spot: Las Vegas - Border Grill

The final Top Chef Masters restaurant of our Vegas trip was Border Grill one of 3 locations (plus a truck and a  "stop") operated by chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. I had already gotten the info from the bride that her lunch there had been amazing so my husband and I were really looking forward to our lunch there. On Saturday and Sunday Border Grill does do a brunch but the main menu beckoned...as did the guacamole:

as did the strawberry sangria:

Then frankly I was stumped because there was so much to choose from. Luckily for me, the chef highlights on the menu his favorite selections so I went for the Poblano Chicken Torta which was grilled marinated chicken breast with jalapeño bacon (how could that be bad!), poblano aioli, saint andré cheese, roasted poblanos, caramelized onions and avocado with smoked paprika fries on the side.

My husband went for the Chicken Chilaquiles: crispy corn tortillas, tomatillo salsa, shredded chicken, manchego, panela and cotija cheeses with mixed baby greens with cilantro lime dressing.

He said it was like an extremely elevated version of chicken nachos...I explained if I made MY chicken nachos with manchego and other high dollar cheeses, mine would be elevated too!

Everything was sooo good and may ruin me on Mexican food for a while!

Travel Spot: Las Vegas - Rick Moonen's RM Seafood

One of my goals on the trip to Las Vegas was to try and hit as many Top Chef Masters' restaurants I could. So how convenient that my hubby and I stayed at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino which housed several delicious restaurants, many of which had chefs that have been a part of Top Chef or competed on Top Chef Masters. With so many options and so little time, we made the decision to try and go to as many restaurants as possible and so as not to break the bank, sample various items versus having full menus at every location. We started with a lunchtime meal at Rick Moonen's RM Seafood.

Mr. Moonen is the champion of sustainable seafood and we had already heard how delicious his halibut was from the bride-to-be but upon looking over the menu, one item caught our eye: BBQ Pork Mac N'Cheese. As many times as I make pork barbecue in my house I never thought of putting it in macaroni and cheese?  Of course we had to have seafood and what better way to experience the freshness of seafood than sushi. We went with the Futo-Fireball roll: king crab, avocado, cucumber, spicy char, tobiko, kabayaki and wasabi citrus aioli. Incredible with the right amount of heat and definitely let the freshness of the seafood shine. We also ordered the crab cake which was light and of course delicious, but the star of that plate was the jicama with chipotle aioli...I almost licked the plate and cannot wait to find a way to recreate it at home! We finished our little smorgasbord with edamame served with Mediterranean sea salt and togarashi (a Japanese chili pepper spice that is now something else I need in my pantry!).

We loved our meal and if I ever go back to Vegas....I am coming prepared to dine there, and dine well!

Back from Vegas...and boy am I inspired!

Sadly I ended up with no computer access in Las Vegas but I had an incredible time (ha ha...not sure what made me think I would have the time or ability to blog from Vegas but I was hopeful!)! Mostly it was incredible because I spent time with my husband and some wonderful friends AND saw two of my wonderful friends get married but it was also amazing because I ate extremely well and met my goal of hitting as many Top Chef Masters restaurants as possible!! So this week I will be sharing my photos and experiences from those restaurants. For now, however, I am going to attempt to recover from a full day of work after a 12:30am arrival time!

PS. I know it's also Meatless Monday...check out these corn, black bean and pepper jack burritos!