If you didn't know we went to Vegas to celebrate Andrews birthday! We also went the year before as a surprise but the big surprise this year was his best friend and wife. They surprised him at the airport and it was really cute to see how happy he was. Andrew mentioned on like January 1st that it would be fun to do Vegas with John and Jen and so I texted them that night and the plan was set into motion!
This trip will have been our third time to Vegas. The first with Caitlin and her (now) husband Chris for the UK vs UNC game. It was a great reason to take a trip and it was a TON of fun. We stayed as the Cosmopolitan and just thought it was the best hotel on the strip. You can read more out that trip here.
Each year we go to Vegas I feel like it's a totally different experience which I really love. There is so much to do there I cannot believe it. And it doesn't all revolve around drinking and gambling! It's kind of for everyone and it has everything. The theme of this trip was eating haha.
We got in late Thursday night (I hate that time change and flight -- it's so hard!!) and just about passed out trying to get into our rooms. We were so excited because the Cosmopolitan hotel was able to host us again for this trip and I was just praying for another fountain view room. The hotel is right next to the Bellagio and overlooks the fountains and the strip and it's just one of the best views ever!
Friday morning we met for breakfast at eggslut which is located in the Cosmopolitan. We found that out during our first trip here and loved it just as much then as we do now! Andrew originally found it in LA when he was there for work and raved about it. It lives up to the hype! We decided to keep it short and sweet for breakfast since we were due for a larger lunch!
After breakfast we went around the casino some and gambled. Then we wandered over to the Bellagio hotel for some shopping (Jen and I hit up all the good stores) while the boys found a table to play at. It was all wonderful and relaxing and we eventually met up at the bar for a bloody mary and headed back to our hotel.
As part of our trip with Cosmo, they wanted us to try out their new Block 16 Urban Food Hall -- which is the first of it's kind in Vegas! It's brand new and basically has the best of the best from all over the United States in one place. There were donuts from New Orleans, a speakeasy Tequila bar from New York, fried chicken from Nashville, sandwiches from Portland, Vietnamese wings from Portland and sushi from Las Vegas. IT. WAS. INSANE.
To be totally honest here, the hotel really hooked us up and gave us this amazing one of a kind/VIP experience that was the highlight of our trip. Chef John was like "let me just bring you the best two to three things from each place to try out" and we were like YEP. So we set up in Ghost Donkey (the speakeasy tequila bar that I honestly couldn't find lol) and he started bringing in everything one by one.
He was so wonderful because he was able to share the stories of how each item has come to life, the best way to eat something, a trick for if it feels to greasy, to mix this with that -- he was just so knowledgeable and had these wonderful backstories for each restaurant and menu item. It was truly and honor to learn from him and eat this amazing food.
I was especially grateful because he made us all step outside our comfort zone with food. Without him I probably would have eaten some Hatties and called it a day. But he presented everything and asked for just a bite to experience it. He was so right! There was nothing I didn't love on our table. I tried to do my best with the pictures but I was so focused on eating and listening, they are not the best!
There was SO MUCH FOOD we needed about 10 more people to help us finish it all! Everything was so good but by the end of it we needed to roll ourselves out of there. One of the best experiences from the blog to date!!
After our lunch feast, we gave ourself a nice walk over to TopGolf. Andrew and I tried it out for the first time last year and thought it was a ton of fun so we wanted to go with John and Jen. It's great for the guys because they basically get to go to the driving range and still fun for the girls because even if you don't have a powerful shot you can still roll some in for points! I personally put up zeros across the board because I had like two sips of a bloody mary and couldn't hit the ball. The first round I was much better.
After a couple hours there we went back to the Cosmo to gamble some and since we skipped dinner, headed back to Ghost Donkey for some drinks. We weren't able to experience it for lunch since it was closed and we just thought it was the coolest thing so we all agreed we needed to go back.
I have never really been to a tequila bar before but I love tequila so I was in heaven. They really help you pick what is right for you and your taste and even have little shots/pours with different salts, spices and fruits to chase it with. They said that the different items open up the tequila in different ways. Think of this like your salt/lime combo -- my sister loves some cinnamon/orange and my favorite from the taste was a black salt/cucumber!
After a couple drinks at the bar, we had a thought of going to Marquee (the nightclub in the Cosmo) but we all agreed that sleep sounded a little better and were off to bed! The next morning we took advantage of the brunch buffet since Andrew had a 2-for-1 deal. Just what we needed: more food. We of course ate everything in sight again and just like before everything was delish. Obviously not as amazing as our lunch the previous day but was still so good!
Then we made our way to old Vegas and walked around, soaked it all in lol and found the cutest little old time place that had like $5 table minimums. It was a lot of fun! Once we headed back to the strip, we walked around some, gambled some more and did a little bit of shopping. We split up to get ready for dinner and our show that night. The day before, Chef John gave us some suggestions for a nice dinner around the hotel. Obviously there was a plethora of options so we narrowed it down to something within the hotel.
He immediately suggested Momofuku for dinner and told us to get the duck. We were in, set up a reservation and had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. At dinner, we asked the waiter what he suggested and the conclusion was to get the duck. So we heard it from two great sources and we decided on it.
You guys, I'm not joking when I say it's one of the best meals I've ever had in my life. It was SO GOOD ugh I can't stop thinking about it. They start by bringing over a full duck and carve table side. Then they bring out all these extra side dishes and you're like ??? what the what. Thankfully they explain different ways to try it and eat it and wow -- every way was better than the rest. What you do is you take a slice of duck, add it to a lettuce cup or ginger pancake, layer it over rice and add toppings and sauces of your choosing.
THEN they come back with the rest of the duck that wasn't sliced and offer it in a (what looked to be) fried manor. UGH IT WAS SO GOOD. There were three of us eating it and we still weren't able to finish (although Andrew tried his best). I let it slip that it was his birthday dinner and we got a dessert from Milk although none of us could take more than a bite lol. What is with us eating too much???
After dinner we took an uber over to The Mirage hotel to see the Cirque du Soleil show featuring the Beatles. It was so beautiful and SUCH a good show. I constantly forget how many Beatles songs there are that I know and really like. I have never experienced a show like that but it was truly out of this world. I also haven't seen any other shows in Vegas but my biased review says to go see this one!!
After the show we were still so full and very sleepy so we went back to the hotel before our early morning flight home! With the time change you basically lose a day in the air -- we took off around 10am and landed in the city around 6pm. But while you lose a day, I think that flight it so much easier than the one going out there -- I'm not sure why!!
And that was that! It was such a wonderful trip filled with good friends and A LOT (one more time for the people in the back) A L-O-T of food and wouldn't have changed a thing. Vegas is always such a fun trip to do as a couple, with friends or even family. If you haven't been -- put it on your list.
Hope you enjoyed the format of todays blog post. It's very 2012-esque and I really liked it. More of a journal entry than a blog post. But I just needed to recap our very fun weekend away for Andrews birthday!