We flew in together early on Sunday morning, I did some work, the girls went shopping and had lunch at Caesar's, we spent some time by the pool, and then got ready for dinner. I will expand on this at the end of the post... it was ah-mazing. Wait until you read this. Afterwards, we spent some time in the casino for fun, cocktailed (aka mocktails for this preggers), the boys went "out", etc. I am lucky to work with some of my family, so they were there too!
Monday was a work day, but I snuck away at lunch to surprise my sister-in-law who happened to be in Vegas at the exact same time as us (except she had NO clue we were in town)! Mr. Evans and my bro-in-law, Nick, arranged the entire lunch and shenanigans. Oh it was so good to see them, especially because they live in Montana and we only see them a few times a year!!
Monday night we ate dinner at Lupo by Wolfgang Puck at the Mandalay Bay. We also saw Cirque du Soleil's Michael Jackson ONE show. It had some typical Cirque acrobatics, story and showmanship, but mainly focused on the music of MJ. I'm not the biggest MJ fan in the world, but certainly like his music so it was fun! They always put on a fantastic show. Last time we were in Vegas we saw Cirque's Beatles LOVE. It was spectacular!
Tuesday we worked (Mr. Evans flew out that morning), Wednesday we worked. I got home late late on Wednesday night. Oh, for lunch we had In-and-Out Burger... YUM!!! Ok... on to the fun stuff.
Dinner on Sunday night. Here we go.
We dined at (aka experienced) e by Jose Andres inside of Jaleo. é is truly a show and an experience, not just dinner. It opened in January 2011 and has been sold out ever since. I made reservations 3 months in advance!
There are only 2 seating's per night and each seating only serves 8 guests. We each got 20 courses (prefix menu, tasting size portions), with optional beverage pairings. It's a restaurant-within-a-restaurant tucked away inside Jaleo. It does not advertise and the website is cryptic (I only knew what to do and expect because of Yelp).
I am just a regular gal, maybe a "foodie", but definitely not a food blogger, restaurant critic, or fancy-shmancy famous person (a few nights before we dined, Anthony Bourdain and his film crew were there!)... but, the restaurant is known for it's gastromolecular technique and traditional Spanish cooking. My takeaways were all fabulous! Its vibe is quirky, its food is detailed and flavorful, the service is stellar and orchestrated. They have perfected the experience over the past few years, no doubt. It's one of the top restaurants in Vegas (if not the country?) - the epicenter of luxury dining... and the cost to dine and drink match its reputation. Was it worth it? Oh yes.
Ok, if your curiosity is piqued here are a few great articles/reviews that do a much better job explaining e by Jose Andres:
(Keep in mind I did NOT take fancy photos, but that's what the links above are for!)
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| p.s. Despite his look in this photo, Mr. Evans is happy to be here! :) |
