Fast Times

So yeah, we went to some nice restaurants in Vegas (see accidental awesome wine post).

But we also see Vegas as another kind of food Mecca. It is where the best fast food in the world lives. Fast food worth paying for cabs; fast food worth braving the heat; fast food that will change your life.

Or at least it will if you live in Colorado and don't have regular access to In 'n' Out and Nathan's.

The Happiest Hamburger in the World.

There are a few things that make In 'n' Out's food pretty awesome. Most important: Everything is fresh. Crispy lettuce, thick tomatoes and onions, fresh cut fries.

Buns are toasted.

Special sauce is present.

You can get like 5 hamburger patties on a burger if you want, I think.

Also: don't miss the milkshakes.

And if you're a huge burger dork, you can unearth In 'n' Out's secret menu. I personally stick to the basics...it's kind of not worth trying to make it better.

In true Vegas style, In 'n' Out Las Vegas is graced with a giant neon sign, so it'snot hard to find. But remember: even though it looks like it's close to the Tropicana, it's really not. Take a cab. Seriously. Food will only be like $5. Don't kill yourself walking there.

Hot Dog Heaven, and Maybe the Best Fries Ever.

Oh, Nathan's. Yeah, you can buy Nathan's hot dogs in the store. Or at Heidi's deli. Or whatever.

But they won't be made to order, and they won't come with amazing crinkle cut fries.

Nathan's hot dogs might be the only reason I would ever move to New York. They are traditional style, with natural casings (that little "pop" when you bite in will tell you if there are natural casings, btw). They don't get overpowered by condiments (important, because I eat mostly so I can put condiments on things).

But, most importantly, there are fries.

Kristen and I tried to think of fries we liked better. We couldn't. And that's quite a feat. They are thick cut, but not mushy or too stachy. They are soft inside with perfect crispness quotient outside. They come with a teeny-tiny fork to eat them with. They are perfection.

Also! Best tip we discovered in Vegas: If you catch it on the right day, the Coney Island area of the New York New York has a special: buy fries and a drink, and your hot dog is free. Yes, please.

Mamma Knows Best!

As Carrie Bradshaw would say, "hello lover!" She was talking about shoes. I'll be talking about pizza. My favorite little pizza place in the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada to be exact.

I discovered Mamma Ilardo's a few years ago and now look forward to it every time I go to Vegas. Apparently it's a chain restaurant, which, sad for me, doesn't exist in the middle of the country. It does exist in the food court of the MGM past all the fancy restaurants.

The only thing I've ever gotten and the only thing I ever plan to get is the deep-dish pizza with sausage and pepperoni (double the pig, double the fun). Sara usually opts for the bread sticks so I'll go out on a limb and recommend them too. It's true I'm not a deep-dish expert (if I were I wouldn't fail at getting deep-dish every time I visit Chicago). Regardless of my status, this pizza is just damn good. Just the right amount of crunchy crust, sauce that isn't yuck like most pizza sauce, tasty sausage crumbles. I'd go on but my mouth is watering.

The point is it's good, it's fast, it's cheap (Vegas cheap) and most importantly it's ready at breakfast time. Mmmm breakfast of champions.

Intentional Food Snobs, Accidental Winos

I go to Vegas for the food. That's right, shocking.

Imagine my euphoria when we discovered that the majority of the nice restaurants in the MGM Grand were having spring tasting menus (through the 31st of May). That's like winning at a slot machine people.

After much debate, my group of girlfriends and I decided to go big time and go to Nob Hill Tavern. I campaigned hard for this choice as previously we had merely had appetizers and two drinks and it cost $80 and now I could get 4-courses for $49! Winner? Me.

As a table we decided to invest in a bottle of wine, that's what highbrow people do after all. Still though as none of us have reached our full Housewives of Denver status we picked a cheaper* Pinot Noir on the list. We informed our Sommelier of our wine selection and he seemed unusually excited about our cheapo* bottle of wine. More on this later.

Then the food came! (cue the ding!ding!ding! of winning a jackpot)

We received two pots of delicious gruyere fondue with sourdough bread. Oh so tasty. That's Lizzie in the background and Sara the hand model. Then came the first courses. I opted for the cream of broccoli soup and was ever so pleasantly surprised when grilled cheese came with it. I'm not crazy about grilled cheese probably because I have an aversion to Kraft Singles but this grilled cheese was no "I'm in college and I'm broke grilled cheese." The cheese wasn't mysteriously salty and it was grilled just right. There was also bacon in the soup. If you don't already know bacon makes every food better and I mean EVERY food.

Bring on the Main Courses! By this time I'm already feeling the pinch of too much food. I probably went a little too hard at that fondue out of pure excitement. After leaving half of the grilled cheese behind as a causality I was greeted with this magnificent dish.


I won't lie when the menu said Braised Short Rib with Root Vegetables and Mashed Potatoes I didn't exactly know what Braised Short Rib meant. I chose it because it had me at Mashed Potatoes. As it turns out a Braised Short Rib is like a pot roast, a pot roast from Heaven. It was better than grandma's. I never thought I would say that, I'm sorry grandma. I wanted to eat it all but and I tried my hardest, until my stomach was audibly yelping in pain. I did make a tiny bit of room to try Sara's dish, Chicken and Dumplings. To which my official review was and will remain, "I didn't know chicken could taste that good!"



For dessert I had Irish coffee creme brulee (I don't know how to make fancy accent marks) and by this time I must have been so delirious by deliciousness that I neglected to take a picture. It was beautiful and fabulous and somehow I managed to eat it all.

Finally it was time to go. Our bill arrived and to our surprise (or maybe for some, horror). We had not ordered at cheap bottle of wine. I even checked with our adorable Sommelier to be sure we weren't all food drunk or actually drunk, as we had finished the bottle. We were neither. Instead we had accidentally ordered a 2006 Kosta Browne from Kanzler Vineyards* costing over $200. Nothing to say to that except that fate wants us to be as fancy as we pretend. So go to Nob Hill Tavern they'll assume you fit in and perhaps you'll accidentally prove that you do.