A few days ago my wife and I had dinner at Roy’s, a Hawaiian fusion restaurant. The ambiance was very nice (upscale, quiet, etc) and the food is pretty good. We had their “Prix Fixe” (which is a preset menu, $35 per person) and the Lakanilau roll (Seared Kobe Beef wrapped around Dynamite Crab, Tempura Asparagus & Avocado). We particularly loved the Chocolate Souffle for dessert, which needs to be ordered 20 minutes in advance (because it is made to order).

While we thought the food was top-notch, our best experience with Hawaiian fusion is Alan Wong’s in Honolulu. If you’re ever in Hawaii, don’t miss out on Alan Wong’s. The restaurant is located in a residential neighborhood, and is actually on the top floor of an office building. When the taxi drops you off, you think the driver has messed with you because you just see a sign that says “Alan Wong’s Office” (with no mention of “Restaurant” anywhere). But don’t worry, take the elevator to the top floor, and you’ll be amazed at the outstanding cuisine to be found there.

I first visited the Rio’s Village Market Seafood Buffet (in Las Vegas) a few months ago with friends. I had been so impressed by that first visit, that I’ve been trying to convince my wife to go for awhile. Although she likes seafood, she wasn’t convinced by either the independent reviews (nor her husband’s praises, apparently!) enough to make the time.

Anyway, we finally made it today. Suffice to say, she was suitably impressed!

Here’s a short summary:

• The Rio is an older hotel, just off The Strip on Flamingo. It looks nice from the outside, but is only so-so on the inside. Not run down, but certainly seen its better years.
• Despite the looks, the food at the Village Market Seafood Buffet restaurant is top notch. You can Google lots of reviews about it on the Internet if you don’t believe me
• Being a buffet in a casino, casual dress is fine. Shorts and t-shirts is perfectly acceptable. Anything more than jeans would probably be classified as being over-dressed.
• The cost of $35 per adult is probably on the mid-to-high end for a buffet in Vegas. Not sure what children’s prices are, but we saw toddlers in there, so it’s semi kid-friendly.
• Food comprises mostly of very good quality seafood: Alaskan King Crab legs (steamed hot or cold, cooked in various sauces), shrimps (large, steamed, cooked, crumbed, etc), lobster (a little small, but lots of it and cooked in various varieties). Obviously as an all-you-can-eat buffet, so you can easily get your $35 back in the Alaskan King Crab legs themselves!
• Non seafood fare is also available. Mexican, carvery, ribs, salads, deserts…
• When we got there ~5:30pm, the wait to be seated was <10 minutes. I think after 6pm, the line starts to get pretty long (maybe 30-40 minutes wait).

It has two-thumbs-up from my wife and I

Went to see Celine Dion with my wife last night. It was awesome!

It was a Caesar’s Palace (Las Vegas), in the Colosseum. I’d never driven to Caesar’s before, but there were (at least) two entrances. To get to the Colosseum, go to the Self Parking garage (as that’s the closest point, and shortest walk to the venue).

I was impressed that Celine still had amazing vocals. I guess after performing every night (well that’s not true, I think she only performs 4 night a week), after 4.5 years in Vegas, you would think that the tedium might have gotten to her. But not so!

The venue looked sold-out (no empty seats in my section, and looking throughout the audience I wasn’t able to discern any other empty seats), and the place is huge!

Tickets were a tad expensive. $115 per seat (and that was at the mid-tier-price 1st Mezzanine level), which was about $150 by the time you counted all the tax. Show went on for just under 1.5 hours, but we left feeling that we had our money’s worth. I won’t go into the details, but the vocals, special effects and dance choreography were all top quality.

This is her last year in Vegas (half a year left!), so if you haven’t seen it yet, I’d highly recommend it.

Some of you know I moved to Las Vegas just this Summer.
Summer was hot. Incredibly hot at 130+ degrees Farenheit! At 10pm at night, the summer nights might drop to the low 90 degrees.

But who knew, that it also snows in Vegas!
Here are some videos I captured while driving today…
Click on the (small) green Play button on the bottom left to view the videos.
Co-incidence or not, at the time of the filming, I was listening to Hotel California by the Eagles, from the Hell Freezes Over album!