Vegas Day 5: Feasting on Asphalt (and Rosemary)

Having said our goodbyes to Niko, J-Bends and the Sanch, RRR and I got up bright and early and hit the road for a day of adventure off the Strip. On my previous trips to Vegas I've never driven outside of town to check out the desert so we decided to be a little adventurous.

We mapped out a game plan with the first stop being a trip to Hoover Dam and were pleasantly surprised to find out we can be at this industrial marvel in about half of our anticipated driving time. Hoover Dam was pretty darn cool. After snapping a bunch of photos, we chose to skip the $30 tour of the dam and power plant since we were anxious to get out of dodge before the wave of tourists flooded the dam (pun intended). We hopped back in the car and back on the road out to the Valley of Fire.

All this flat hot desert driving can do a job on one's appetite so we searched for a place to eat. The tour books suggested stopping at Echo Bay for the most restaurant offerings in the area. Eventually we found ourselves at a marina shop and patiently (okay impatiently) waited for the cashier to fill out various fishing day licenses before directing us to the restaurant up the hill.

On the way out we noticed a huge amount of fish and bent over near one of the docks to take a look. A swarm and I mean swarm of carp came swimming up to us mouths open waiting to be fed! It was worse than being attacked by hungry squirrels in a park! Very strange and creepy in a 70s b-movie type of way. Hope the picture does the scene justice.

Utterly freaked out by the aggressive carp, we made our way up the hill and headed into a nautical themed eatery which seemed to be the only game in town for lunch. We found that we were the only customers with the exception of some bikers who might have been speaking with a German accent. We were laughing thinking that this was the type of establishment Alton Brown might come across during an episode of "Feasting on Asphalt".

The menu was pretty bare bones middle American fare but we found great pleasure in splitting the roast beef au jus and a cup of chili with grilled cheese, complete with a tomato nestled between gooey cheese and toasted white bread. Seriously it was delicious! Simple pleasures on a hot day in the desert! After trying to subtly snap a few pics of the bikers, we were back on the road and on our way to the Valley of Fire.

Finally made it out to the Valley of Fire and picked a short trail to hike in the blazing afternoon sun. The trail was pretty sandy due to the wind erosion of the rock formations. All in all, it was pretty cool. After a bit of driving and climbing to snap some more scenic pics, we got back in the car and made the drive back to Sin City.

The grand finale of our Vegas adventure was dinner at the Rosemary's, an esteemed restaurant located off the Strip. We have heard and read so much about this place that we were eager to see if it lived up to the hype. After driving down a road filled with strip malls and car dealerships we finally arrived at Rosemary's nestled in a non-descript shopping center. We were greeted warmly at the door, seated and began to navigate the extensive menu. So much to choose from!

With some advice from our knowledgeable server, we decided to get a three course pre-fixe meal for $65 per person. A bargain considering the amazing choices on the menu. We conferred on what to share and decided to get the dry aged beef and maytag blue cheese carpaccio with arugula, candied walnuts and port wine drizzles.


We were so amazed by the thin yet tasty carpaccio that we just had to ask our server how it was made. She told us that the beef was pounded thin and a thin layer of blue cheese was spread over the meat. It is then frozen and sliced super thin to order. The thin slices basically defrost as the rest of the salad is getting prepared.

We also chose the wilted spinach salad; prepared with port wine shallots, a goat cheese cake, spiced pecans and sherry mustard dressing. The shallots soaked up the port and were balanced by the creaminess of the goat cheese. Equally wonderful!


For my main, I chose a piece I fish I don't believe I've ever seen on a restaurant menu, barramundi. For this entree, it was a pan seared barramundi with sesame sauteed spinach and wild mushrooms, pickled ginger, sweet soy and wasabi ponzu butter sauce. The barramundi was sweet and flavorful with a perfectly seared skin.

The rich sauce had some amazing depth with the sesame and ponzu butter with an added earthiness from the mushrooms. Surprisingly the pickled ginger brought a lot to the dish as well, I actually had to persuade RRR to give the ginger a shot for which she was eternally grateful. Our server remarked that the sauce was one of their signature items and it goes really well on a variety of fish, poultry, meats and even as a salad dressing. I swear I could have slurped up every last bit of this sauce... remarkable!

RRR had the escobar, another fish we were not familiar with but were curious to try. This Hawaiian white fish was served with a pancetta cream sauce and morells. The fish was sweet yet firm and held up to the smokiness of the bacon. RRR usually has an aversion to the words "cream sauce" but I'm glad she threw caution to the wind and ordered this entree. She even remarked how she is usually not "wowed" by fish but in this case, Rosemary's knocked her socks off! (mine too!)

And since our server hadn't steered us wrong yet, we let her pick our dessert. She brought us a creamy lemon tart with raspberry sauce. Perfectly refreshing after a rich decadent utterly satfisying meal.