L’ATELIER by Joel Robuchon is a high end exhibition French/tapas restaurant located in the MGM Casino/Hotel on the Las Vegas strip in Nevada. The late chef Joel Robuchon was the most Michelin stared chef in the world and was also known as the chef of the century.

They changed the menu slightly since my last visit last year and now the three course special menu ($85.00 subject to change) is only offered as an early bird special 5pm-6pm.

You get seated at the high top counter with view of the exhibition kitchen.

I don’t know what you have to do ……….or how much money you have to lose in the casino to get one of the few tables in front of the bar.

Anyways-

For the last several years they start you off with an Amuse Bouche foie gras with parmesan foam shooter.

Or a vegetarian Amuse Bouche if you ask.

Then you get a basket of the most amazing breads and delicious French Butter.

My first course was an Eggplant/Avocado Fondant with pixie sized turmeric croutons.

This was powerfully flavorful……you go wow! How did they do this?

My husband had a polenta, egg and ham starter…….(well not just any ham………actually ham that was kissed by Jesus Ham……….that comes from pigs with black feet and eat nothing but acorns ham……….Ham that cost like $25-30 an ounce ham)

For my main I had Halibut Flakes with Lemongrass Foam and Robuchon Potatoes.

Everything is so Forking perfect……………The micro herbs are so flavorful and go so amazing with the tender mild fish and lemongrass……..The French Pepper is perfect…it’s just the right amount of flavorful mild heat. The potatoes are amazing.

My husband had the Beef Short Rib.

He said it was the best short rib that he has ever had……I had a tiny taste…….WOW! I never tasted beef that was that beefy before.

For dessert we both picked the tarts….called Les Tartes.

This dessert plate just might be the most fabulous dessert in the country. Every tiny tart is so detailed and delicious…..Each tart is perfection……..This plate doesn’t just knock it out of the park…..It knocks it out of the galaxy!

Then they surprised us with these FORKING INCREDIBLE hazelnut madeleines.

Oh GOD I wish I could buy a sack of them!

The master is gone but the magic still continues.

I thought I’d post a few of some of the previous stunningly beautiful plates we’ve enjoyed here.

www.MGMResortsInternational.com

Everything is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

Gordon Ramsay Burger Restaurant is a slightly upscale full service burger restaurant in the Planet Hollywood hotel/casino on the Las Vegas Strip. The burger meat for these burgers is fresh ground in the main kitchen in the Paris hotel/casino. The burgers served are 7oz burgers. The atmosphere is accented with flames, pictures of chef Gordon Ramsay and the British Flag. There are several big screen TVs on the walls and most were tuned on to sports stations.

We started out by sharing an order of plain fries called “Just Fries” (last time we had the Truffle Parm Fries and all the stuff was heavy on the top and was too salty and had nothing under the top layer).

These fries came out hot and most under the top were the small ends that were slightly over cooked. We received curry ketchup and chipotle ketchup as dipping sauces.

This time I tried the Fish and Crisps Burger.

I received a thick large piece of thinly but crisp beer battered coated cod. It was drowning in about a 1/4 cup of citrusy yuzu dill mayo with a big handful of salt and vinegar potato shreds on a fluffy buttered and toasted sesame bun………..The flavoring wasn’t too exciting here……and……..This was far heavier than I was expecting it to be…..I enjoyed the Gordon Ramsay fish and chips from his casual fast restaurant but this fish sandwich could use something ………….or some sort of change……..maybe something to freshen and lighten it up some. I fixed that by removing one bun, scraping off most of the heavy creamy sauce and scrapping off half the crisps. I added some of the curry ketchup and it was lighter and much better tasting to me.

My husband tried the Mangalitsa Pork, Bacon, BBQ Pork, white cheddar, pickles, crisp onions and slaw burger. (requested slaw on side)

I should have taken a photo of the pork……It was a solid dense disk of pink dry meat. Topped with bbq pork, bacon, cheese and fried onions. My husband wasn’t happy with this burger but didn’t tell the waiter while he was eating.

Last time our burgers were FORKING AWESOME!

I had this Tandoori Chicken Burger that was screaming with all kinds of delicious flavors. It was so amazing that my husband also enjoyed it too and he usually doesn’t like these flavors….but this really was amazing. I can’t believe it’s no longer available.

He had the Hell’s Kitchen Burger and thought it was excellent.

That was my 2019 visit to Gordon Ramsay Burger………

www.Caesars.com

Every THING…EVERY FORKING THING is subject to CHANGE and your experience may or may NOT differ.

Mabel’s BBQ is a full service bbq restaurant by multi award winning, James Beard award winning and celebrity chef Michael Symon. This restaurant is located in the Palms Hotel/Casino that is a short distance from the Las Vegas strip in Nevada. They serve multiple styles of bbq, sides, salads, sandwiches and chef Symon’s Cleveland Style pork items.

It’s sort of country-barn like inside with lots of wood and interesting fixtures. It’s not too fancy but it very open with some bright neon on the wall that reads “EAT MEAT” with glass and a view of meat slicers behind it.

They suggested building a platter with two meats and sides so we did. In moments they bring out assorted house sauces and house rub.

In a short amount of time our platter arrives.

We get 8 oz Texas Style Brisket, 8 oz Turkey Breast with Memphis Style dry rub, horse radish beets, macaroni and cheese, house pickles and house kraut.

WOW the pickles are DY-NO-MITE! They are like bread and butters but better…with more flavor and spice. Love the pickled peppers and kraut too! The turkey has a great bbq flavor but is a little dry. Brisket today is also a bit dry…….and lacks bbq flavor today. The beets are really good….They seem like they are very fresh and have a nice fresh texture and natural sweetness embellished with sharp horseradish. The macaroni and cheese today is ….not real cheesy tasting……but the tiny baby sized elbows are a good texture. I think the sauce might have been thinned down because it’s like milk in the bottom of the cup. Tasted most of the sauces on the table and I thought they were good. I only used them on the brisket and the macaroni and cheese. The turkey had a really good flavor and I found I lost the delicious flavors when I tried sauces on the turkey.

BBQ places are rarely consistent. it’s next to impossible to have just done bbq meat just done all day long. Just 2 hours later the meats will be either 2 hours older or you might get lucky and get a fresh batch.

Worth a try!

That was my trip to Mabel’s BBQ in Las Vegas NV.

www.MabelsBBQLV.com

Every THING is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

Chica is a Latin Restaurant located in the Venetian Hotel Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. The restaurant is located just off the casino floor. The menu offers Chef Lorena Garcia’s spins on classic Latin Foods and flavors.

The atmosphere is on the dark side.

They have a ceviche bar in the middle of the restaurant and a rotisserie in the back. Our server suggested that we need about two plates a person so we ordered two appetizers and two dinners.

Both of our appetizers were brought out at once. We decided to start with a Peruvian Snapper Ceviche.

It was bright from citrus, spicy from chili, sweet from sweet potatoes and crunchy from Peruvian corn. It was served with crisp thin sliced plantains that were very tasty.

We almost got to the Trio of Picos we ordered…..At the time we were still in the middle of the ceviche and our dinners arrive.

We pushed our dinners to the side and tried the arepas because they were warm and fresh made. One was corn flavored, another was cilantro flavored, we had a beet root one and a purple corn arepa. We had the rest packed up but we didn’t get to eat it so this appetizer was just wasted.

It seemed like the waiter was trying to rush us out. I don’t know why because there were hardly any other customers at the time.

I had the Pacific Striped Bass. It came out with a crispy skin that turned soggy fast but the fish was tender and perfect. It rested over Peruvian Corn Succotash and a guajillo chili sauce and corn salsa that was delicious.

My husband had the Slow Roasted Suckling Pig Porchetta.

It sat in a pool of pork jus and was topped with spiced plantains, pickled onions and water crest. He enjoyed it very much. He said it was even better than the one he had last time here.

The manager did apologies to us for all our food coming out at mostly the same time. She did offer to re-make our dinners so we could enjoy the appetizers. I declined because I know what not all but what some cooks do to food when they have to re-make it. She also offered a complimentary dessert that I declined because I was full.

Last time I had the rotisserie chicken.

My husband had a different plating of the Porchetta.

All the food we tried was Worth a Fork!

I tell The Forking Truth and this is how it was.

Last time we received very good food and they treated us like VIPS here.

This time the food was still very good but the service was more like from a diner.

That was my trip to Chica in Las Vegas – Still very good food but service can be hit or miss.

www.ChicaLasVegas.com

Every thing is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

******UPDATE NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS*****The Mesa Grill is celebrity chef Bobby Flay’s take on south west style cuisine. The restaurant is located at Caesar’s Palace Hotel/Casino on the Las Vegas strip in Nevada. The restaurant has pops of bright colors everywhere and lots of tequila bottles on the wall.

We came for an upscale lunch and they started us off with the most delicious bread basket.

Jalapeño bread, raisin bread, corn chile muffins………these are really delicious!

For my lunch I had the Ancho Chile Honey Glazed Salmon over spinach with black bean sauce, tomatillo and jalapeño crema. ($25.00 subject to change)

The salmon is a generous size and is tender and reasonably fresh tasting. It’s cooked to around medium. The sauces are all delicious and don’t miss that little dot of creama…..WOW it’s far more powerful than it looks…..It doesn’t look like much but it’s delicious and very spicy. It’s a bomb that kicks everything up.

My husband tried the Grilled Mahi Mahi with green chile rice, yellow pepper mole and pineapple salsa. ($25.00 subject to change)

This one is also delicious. The actual fish is milder but all the south west flavors are different and stronger here. They but have great flavors but for me the buttery salmon meat wins over the flaky Mahi Mahi.

Everything was so great that I saved room for dessert and we shared the Banana Cream Pie.

It’s a thin crisp of praline hazelnut brittle over sliced bananas and cream. To me it’s not bad but I would have enjoyed not saving room for dessert and eating more of the bread instead. Incase you didn’t hear…..The bread was just as good as the entrees.

***UPDATE NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS ****

I’d say the Mesa Grill was Worth a Fork!

www.MesaGrill.com

Everything is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

Eataly is an Italian Food Court, Wine and Gastronomic Marketplace. They sell a variety of pastas, pesto, sauces, rice, grains, crackers, canned tomatoes, vinegar, olive oil, salt, spices, olives, sweets and coffee.

They also offer complimentary daily tastings.

They offer a world of Italian foods and wines to try.

You might want to start with some street foods.

They offer all kinds of sandwiches, fried snacks, chicken and more!

There’s Roman Style Pizza.

There’s focaccia and pizza by the slice.

There’s plenty of fresh baked breads too.

If you want fish they will make you a fish.

They’ll make you pasta.

They assorted meats and cheeses.

There are candies, chocolates, pastries, cakes and other sweets.

But all you really need is Gelato.

That was my trip to Eataly Las Vegas NV.

www.Eataly.com

Everything is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.