Vegas Day 2: Ago at the Hard Rock

An abysmal lunch of over processed lunch meat on low grade 12 grain bread at the Las Vegas Convention Center added to the excitement leading up to Monday's meal at Ago. Ago is an Italian restaurant located in the former home of Simon Kitchen and Bar at the Hard Rock Hotel and partially owned by Robert DeNiro. There was a poolside party at the Hard Rock that evening so logistically it was a no-brainer to have the night's meal here.

We began by splitting one of the evening's special salads: mixed greens with roasted beets, gorgonzola cheese and candied pecans.

We also shared the lo bianco pizza which was made with mozzarella, rucola, cherry tomatoes and shaved parmesan. The portions weren't exactly huge but the salad and pizza were pretty darn tasty.

For my main course, I chose the lombo di maialino con cavolo nero e patate: a roasted pork chop with black cabbage & rosemary potatoes.

The pork chop was pretty large and well seasoned although slightly more cooked than I would have preferred but certainly not dried out by any means. The cabbage and the potatoes rounded out the dish perfectly.

The rest of the crew were equally satisfied with their dishes and the standout meal belonged to Sanch's seafood risotto, chock full of briny goodness. After a long day on the convention floor, this was a great way to kick back and relax!

Vegas Baby!

In about a month, I will be heading out to Las Vegas with a few co-workers for the annual NAB Convention. In getting ready for our trip, first and foremost on my mind, is where are we going to eat?

Last year, we enjoyed fabulous meals at Bouchon, Border Grill, Simon Kitchen and Bar and Craftsteak.

How do you choose the best restaurant? Word of mouth of course! In Vegas there are SO many good restauants and SO little time. In determining where to spend our four nights of culinary bliss, I am looking to you, dear readers, for some suggestions on where to go:

DB Brasserie at the Wynn?
Michael Mina's at the Bellagio?
Joe's Seafood at Caesar's?
Zeffrino at the Venetian?
Emeril's New Orleans Fish House at MGM?

So what do you think? Any of these restaurants? Or do you have some better suggestions? Bring it!

Oh yeah and I guess there's gambling in Vegas too isn't there?

Bowling for Soup - Pumpkin Soup!

I've only made soup once. My college roomie Jul-Bean and I made cream of broccoli soup from a Moosewood cookbook recipe as part of a Valentine's Day double date dinner. The soup wasn't all that memorable - actually neither was the date.

Fast forward x amount of years later and I decided to embark on a rematch with soup making. Spurred on by the sugar pumpkin that has been my tablescape and my new blender, I was up for the challenge.

After scouring the web for the simplest pumpkin soup recipe I could find, I settled on Kerry Simon's (of Vegas' Simon Kitchen & Bar fame and now Ago) recipe from The Food Network site. (link to recipe: here)

The result? Well, now I know why I don't make soup. Besides basically not having the patience, there was a ton of chopping (carrots, onion, apple, sage in a fine dice) just to put it all in the blender. Not to mention roasting the pumpkin forever and chopping that up as well! I was also a bit heavy handed with the cream and needed to season, season and season again to get it just right. Couldn't believe how much salt this dish needed! The cleanup was a bit much as well although if I owned an immersion blender it might have helped lessen the mess.

In my defense, the soup actually tasted so much better the next day after all the flavors settled. Still a bit too creamy for my palate but overall not too shabby.