At the races, and a celebration too

Oct 25, 2014,00:49 AM
 

During the previous weekend, we made a trip out to Las Vegas for birthday celebrations for two fellow PuristS.  We started the day early and headed over to Las Vegas Motor Speedway just a few miles north of the Vegas strip.

LVMS hosted the RedBull AirRace and it was a lot of fun seeing the planes fly high speed through the acrobat course.





It was sunny and hot for a mid-October day but we had some good seats in the grandstands with plenty of shade.  Our seats gave us a nice center line view of the race course.





Besides the MXS-R and Edge 540 race planes, AirBull had their B-105 piloted by Chuck Aaron perform some crazy acrobatic skills with inverted flight. 




Here's a video I made that captures some of the acrobatic flying.  Check out the 'Breitling Tumble' move flown by David Martin.  Wow!







After the excitement from the AirRace we headed back to the Bellagio for some rest and then prepare ourselves for a nice birthday celebration dinner.  One of our favorite restaurants in Vegas is Michael Mina's signature restaurant in the corner of the beautiful Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. 

We had a fantastic tasting menu starting with caviar parfait with smoked salmon, creme fraiche and shallot potato cake.





And caviar with white asparagus mouse.





One of my favorites is the ahi tuna tartare with quail egg, Asian pear, pine nuts, and Scotch bonnet infused sesame oil.






Hamachi sashimi with yuzu vinaigrette, ponzu gelee and micro shiso. 





Next is a seaweed and pepper crusted ahi tuna.  The tuna was great and I loved the tempura mushroom and crab fried rice that accompanied this dish.





A tasty miso glazed Chilean sea bass with a dashi broth and lobster dumplings.





Butter poached Maine lobster with spinach and ricotta raviolis in a citrus brown butter.





Then the signature lobster pot pie.  I've had this many times before and I was a little bit disappointed that the brandied lobster cream was somewhat watery and not as creamy as before.  But it was still pretty good.





Copper Ridge ranch natural veal loin with porcini and foie gras farro.  Excellent.





And finally 3 slices of American wagyu rib-eye with a perfectly seared Hudson Valley foie gras and shaved black tuffles in a pinot noir reduction.  Absolutely delicious.





We were all stuffed but couldn't pass up the dessert trio.  A refreshing passionfruit panna cotta with sliced avacado and coconut lime sorbet, fresh baked chocolate chip cookie, and a root beer float. 





We had a fun and great weekend in Vegas, looking forward to the next trip.
Regards,
ED-209

 

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Comments: view entire thread

 

That's some cool flying...

 
 By: DRMW : October 25th, 2014-01:00
Thanks for the vid, it's always cool to see the planes at the Redbull Air Races. Wish we still had foie gras in our state. -MW

the flying was incredible

 
 By: ED209 : October 25th, 2014-15:41
Thanks DRMW. The acrobatic flying was impressive. The last Air Race I've been too was several years ago in San Diego. It was cool to learn that the race course crew is able to repair and inflate the pylons in under 2 minutes. It used to take 1/2 hour to d... 

re: incredible

 
 By: DRMW : October 27th, 2014-00:11
Yep, those pylons went up quickly. Cool how the planes can clip them without messing them up. -MW

Great pics of what looks like a mindblowing meal! Awesome!

 
 By: ThomasM : October 25th, 2014-02:46
Happy late birthday wishes to those two special PuristS!

Wish you could have joined us

 
 By: ED209 : October 25th, 2014-15:41
Thanks TM, we had a great time and wish you could have joined us. Regards, ED-209

Happy Birthday!

 
 By: patrick_y : October 25th, 2014-07:24
That's a nice birthday meal befitting of a birthday! The last time I had the lobster pot pie, I was disappointed too. On the plus side, maybe the less creamy it is the healthier it is?

it was still good

 
 By: ED209 : October 25th, 2014-15:43
Thanks Patrick. We had a great meal and time in Vegas. Regards, ED-209

:) always a fun time

 
 By: ED209 : October 25th, 2014-19:18
:) Regards, ED-209