helicopters, canyons and my string of ridiculous luck.

My luck started at the Tony Orlando of Dawn, yesterday when the helicopter tour company sent a stretch limousine to pick us up at our hotel, and we got the very best seats.  It wasn’t a very long ride to the helicopter place, but it was nice to know that when you sign up for the Deluxe VIP tour, you actually get the Deluxe VIP tour.

There were three other people in our particular helicopter, and they were from The Netherlands.  This is lucky, as well, because even though they felt nauseous on the helicopter ride, they did not throw up in the sick bag.  One can only assume that it’s because they’re from Amsterdam and have such a tremendous amount of secondhand residual pot smoke in their systems that their baseline THC level basically means that they are medically unable to barf.

Our helicopter ride took us over the Las Vegas Strip, then over Lake Las Vegas and over to the Hoover Dam, where we made a couple of turns to get a better view of it.  Then we continued on past Lake Mead and over to the Grand Canyon, where we soared through the canyon, which is spectacular, and then we landed to have champagne and a breakfast snack.  Then, we got back in the helicopter, flew out of the canyon, ditched the Dutch people, and went rafting down the Colorado River through the Black Canyon, pretty much from the base of Hoover Dam to a place called Willow Beach, about 12 miles downriver.  We were extremely lucky, here, too, because terrorists did not blow up Hoover Dam while we were on the river.  Had that happened, we’d be dead and floating in the Sea of Cortez right now.

My luck was rubbing off on other people, too.  Like one of the guys on our rafting trip, who decided that he was going to spend as much time as possible standing up on the raft, even though we’d all been told not to stand.  I think part of the reason he wanted to be standing, was so that everyone could hear him clearly when he supplemented the information given to us by the guide with additional information that he happened to know, himself.  Anyway.  My luck must have rubbed off on him, because had it not, I might have pushed him into the Colorado River.

When we got back to Vegas, David and I rested up for a bit before heading out to dinner.  We went to the Mandalay Bay a bit early, so that we could shoot some craps before our 6:30 reservation.   Just the night before, David learned my system for craps, and it netted him double his money in about 20 minutes, so he was eager to give it another spin.  This time, I played, too, and by the time we had to leave to go to the restaurant, I’d turned $200 into $450.

As we were trying to find the restaurant, David asked what the name was.  “RM Seafood,” I said. 

“What does ‘RM’ stand for?”

“Oh.  I dunno.  I think that’s the chef’s initials.  I didn’t recognize the name, but it was nominated for a James Beard award last year.”

Then, as we approached the restaurant and he saw a big photo of Rick Moonen, David burst out laughing.   David is notoriously difficult to surprise.  He figures things out quickly, and any questions that he doesn’t figure out on his own usually get researched before the moment of the surprise happens.  So, the fact that I was able to get his goat on this one was pretty unusual.

RM Seafood was one of those sublime dining experiences that doesn’t come along very often.  That’s why it’s fitting that it closed off my “need to eat there” list item.  I started with the shrimp corn dogs—the “Moon Doggies” that Rick Moonen made on Top Chef Masters.  They were absolutely delicious, and the slaw on the side was possibly the best cole slaw I’d ever tasted—so good that I made David taste it too.  David started with the Rhode Island Calamari (fried along with hot peppers--a way that I had recently somewhere else and loved, but I can't recall where) and then had the Cioppino, which he raved about.

For my main course, I had the special, a “surf and surf” with king crab and lobster, sautéed in a lemon and saffron (maybe with a touch of curry?) sauce, over orzo.  I’ve never thought of lemon and curry pairing to each other, but with the sweet shellfish it was such a beautiful, delicate and perfectly balanced “flavor profile”—that’s a term I learned from watching Top Chef—that I now think that I should be looking for that elsewhere.  Maybe it’s not a new concept to other people, but for me, in this dish, it was revelatory.

The service was stunningly good, as well.  Our server was completely lovely, with spot-on recommendations, and a sincere (more sincere than necessary, actually) apology for not having Woodford Reserve.  Toward the end of the meal, when the manager found out that we were drinking bourbon, he asked whether we’d ever tried the Woodford that’s aged in Maple.  Our server immediately jumped in to mention that we’d initially ordered Woodford, but that they didn’t have it.  My luck kicked in when the manager offered that he actually had a personal bottle of the maple-aged Woodford, and offered us an opportunity to try it.   It was great.  It had the same spicy carmel flavors of the oak barrel Woodford, but you could actually taste and smell the maple.  Another sublime moment.

If I could, I’d come back to Vegas and spend an entire week eating at the various restaurants at Mandalay Bay.  I haven’t done a comprehensive survey, but I’ve got to think that Mandalay Bay is the place to be if you're a foodie in Vegas.  Charlie Trotter, Wolfgang Puck, Hubert Keller and Rick Moonen are just a smattering of the celebrity chefs with restaurants at the Mandalay Bay.  If you can't get into Joël Robuchon's place at MGM Grand, just spend all your time and food money at Mandalay Bay.

I should probably be winding down this post, because this is already three full things knocked off of my list in one day--two helicopter rides, seeing the Grand Canyon, and finishing up the "need to eat there" project.  But I have to tell you that my luck continued after dinner.  I played craps at Luxor, Excalibur and New York, New York, and won at all of those tables.  We then went to Caesar's and played Pai-Gow Poker, and I won there, too.  By this morning, I was about $1200 up.