Las Vegas, NV

Hey friends!

In September of 2021, I traveled to Las Vegas for the national HR conference. I thought it would be a great cheaper way to explore a city I’d never gone to before, so I had Josh fly in one of the last days of the conference and we stayed for 4 days. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with Vegas, I thought I wouldn’t like it much because I’m not much of a gambler but Vegas had lots more to do besides just gamble!

I stayed close to the hotel when I was by myself, but I did venture out to Casa Calavera one night and had some good Mexican food! I had the classic guacamole and the grilled shrimp taco, the guac was very good! Space was also cool. I’d give them a 7/10!

On Josh’s first night we ventured out to Sparrow + Wolf and enjoyed ourselves. We had the oxtail hummus, that night’s special of squid, and halibut for our main dish. It was a little on the loud side, but we would rate them an 8/10.

Our first full day together we spent walking the Strip going in and out of most resorts (such as Park MGM, NY NY, Paris, Venetian, Mirage, and MGM), we stopped for lunch at fellow Top Chef Alum Richard Blais’s The Crack Shack. Josh and I split the Mexican Poutine fries and he had the fire bird and I had the California drip - it was a lot of food! We probably could’ve gotten by with splitting just one sandwich. It was all really good though - we would rate 7.5/10. When we were in Park MGM, we walked around their Eatily marketplace (inspired by Italy) - it was super cool! Definitely recommend it! We ended up having lunch there another day. We had tickets to see Gabriel Iglesias in the evening and I gotta tell ya - he is absolutely hilarious! He is one of Josh’s favorite comedians, and he did not disappoint! Before the show we had dinner at Mott 32 and I have to say it was amazing! We had the hot and sour pork dim sum, crispy Szechuan chicken, crispy duck salad, prawn clay pot, and ended with coconut ice cream. I’d rate everything a 9/10!

Our second day together we drove out to explore Hoover Dam, Willow Beach, and the Red Rock Canyon Park, it was all so pretty! We stopped for breakfast at Sunrise Cafe for breakfast, I had the vanilla cold brew and cinnamon swirl french toast, Josh had the Fiesta Benedict. It was very yummy - rating would be 7/10. We wanted to kayak but didn’t want to spend an arm and a leg for a full day ride, it wasn’t beginner easy either so we opted to skip it. We did explore the area though and stopped at a local brewery Boulder Dam Brewing while we were out that way, and also stopped at Mariscos el Soto Loco and had corn in a cup and tacos - very good too 8.5/10. We went to Best Friend for dinner and had the bancho sampler, slippery shrimp, and kolbi beef. Josh liked it more than me, but I was having stomach issues that night. Still a very cool place and good food - 7/10.

The next day we ate lunch at Mr Fries Man and split the lemon bacon parmesan fries - they were very good but the location was junky and run down the food I’d rate 8/10 though. For dinner we went to Top Chef Alum Jamie Tran’s The Black Sheep and had the poached pear salad and duck confit we would rate 8.5/10 - we also got to meet her as she was working that night and she’s just as sweet and down to earth in person as she is on the show! We walked Fremont St and also did the zip line at night and it was so much fun! After the zip line, we went to Lucky Day Tequila + Mezcal House and Commonwealth Bar. Both were cool spaces, Lucky Day was very loud but I think that’s what the crowd likes late at night. We also lounged in the Flamingo’s adults only pool and it was really really nice, I wished we had gone more times than the one time we had!

The day we headed back home, we stopped at an In N Out - we had to since it’s such an iconic burger joint. It was good, but honestly think it’s a bit over-rated in my opinion.

Our trip to Vegas was awesome - I will definitely go back!