We are in Las Vegas for the Thanksgiving Holiday.
If that sounds strange then this has been an otherworldly Fall, starting with the devastating event a few weeks ago that has changed America (and travel), perhaps for ever. Even if we had family here to celebrate the Holiday with, I doubt we would be boarding a flight to do so. Anyway, it is just the three of us, and our two families are multiples of timezones away.
We haven’t lived here long enough to really appreciate this wonderful American institution, let alone to have made deep enough friendships to be invited to another family’s celebration, so this year as last the Thanksgiving break for us is an excuse to go on a small vacation to an unlikely destination within easy driving distance from our home in LA, and nowhere better qualifies than Las Vegas. Neither of us is into gambling, so what better place to take a curious nine year old than to what we hope will be a grown up version of Disneyland, with a spot of fine dining on the side.
‘Fear and loathing’, to coin Hunter S. Thompson’s seminal work on his Vegas experience, there has been aplenty already. What we want is a few days of joy and laughter and so it is proving, though Sabrina and I are having to make more than a few attitude adjustments along the way to get into the spirit of this place.
The Mandalay Bay Hotel where we are staying, is at the airport end of the Strip, cheek by jowl (if such an expression can even be applied to such massive structures), with other newly-built ‘theme park’ giants, as became clear when we drove to the old low rise downtown with its neon, wedding chapels and motels, late on our first evening after what was quite the most spectacular meal we have had in years.
We’d heard that Vegas was not just about $4.99 ‘all you can eat’ buffets any more, but nothing quite prepared us for Aureole, where superlative dishes from the kitchen of Chef Charlie Palmer, compete with the spectacle of ‘wine angels’ who ascend the ‘wine tower’ on pulleys to retrieve your wine order, with a few acrobatic flourishes en route. The tower is an awe inspiring 42 foot pillar of glass and steel filled with 10,000 bottles of wine, with inevitably the most expensive vintages at the top to heighten the sense of theatre, while affordable-for-mere-mortals choices like ours require a much shorter ascent.
Even Sabrina, who is not known for being bedazzled by atmosphere over food, had to admit that it was quite something, but only because the food was as undeniably impressive as the ‘show’. It’s hard to pick out one dish from this experience, but the Black Cod with Beluga Lentils, especially impressed.
Black Cod with lentils and crispy leeks: Serves Four
I love the subtlety and simplicity of this dish. I’ve customized it by adding crispy leeks for some contrasting crunch.
For the lentils:
1 cup of French Puy lentils (these are easier to find)
2 tbsp EV olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onions
1 tbsp lemon juice
Salt & pepper to taste
For the fish:
Four pieces of black cod with the skin still on
Salt & pepper
1 tbsp EV olive oil
1 tbsp butter
For the crispy leeks:
2 leeks (dark leaves removed), split down the middle and cleaned. Cut each leek into 3 inch pieces and then julienne into thin strips.
Fill one third of a large deep saucepan with EV olive oil and heat. To test if it is ready put one strip of leek into the oil, and if it sizzles you can then fry the leeks in batches until golden brown. Drained on kitchen roll.
Put the lentils in a second saucepan and cover them with water (the water level should be about an inch and a half above them). Bring to the boil, then simmer uncovered until tender (for at least 12 minutes). Drain and reserve half a cup of the cooking liquid.
While the lentils are simmering melt the butter over moderate heat, add the onions and garlic and a large pinch of salt, stirring occasionally until golden. Add the drained lentils and a little of the reserved water and reheat through. Just before serving add lemon juice and EV olive oil.
Heat a large frypan with olive oil and butter; place the fish skin side down and cook until skin is golden and crisp; then turn over and continue to cook until done (you may need to reduce the heat, depending on how thick the pieces of fish are).
To serve:
Place a heaped pile of lentils in the centre of the plate, topped first with the fish and then the crispy leeks.
Still a little heady the next morning from this experience, and with the much vaunted wave pool at the Mandalay Bay temporarily closed, we gave in to our daughter’s pleas to explore some of the other mega hotels, starting with (sorry to say), the astonishingly kitsch Excalibur, where the fake battlements adorning the exterior and oversized suits of armour standing guard on miles of swirly carpeted corridors got it a resounding thumbs down. Much more fun was the ‘Neptune Show’ at Caesar’s Palace and the synchronized fountains at the Bellagio. Just as all this clever fakery was beginning to blur for us parents, we entered Siegfried & Roy’s ‘Secret Garden’ at the Mirage Hotel with its magnificent white tigers, snow leopard, black panther and dolphins. Our daughter was completely entranced and we were as wowed by its conservation credentials, while simultaneously asking ourselves “Why here, of all places?”. She was even more captivated when we took her to their show which featured the same feline menagerie that evening. “Seaweed & Roy” as she insists on calling them, immediately supplanted Steve Wyrick’s astonishing magic show at the Sahara and the autograph she patiently waited for at the stage door, as the highlight of her trip.
That night after the show, eager to see the city lights from a distance we drove miles into the Nevada desert until the city disappeared behind the surrounding mountains and all that remained was the arc of its preternatural glow and the laser beam from the tip of the Luxor Hotel’s glass pyramid bisecting the night sky. Parking up in the silence of the desert we absorbed this incredible sight and wondered aloud how visible it was from space.
It’s our last morning here and as we prepare for the arrow straight blacktop drive home across the desert, we’re making a little side trip to the Hoover Dam, a remarkable Depression era infrastructure project, which required the diverting of the Colorado River and the creation of Lake Mead, whose water levels are worryingly low after two years of drought. There’s a poignant memorial on site to the scores of men that were killed in its construction: ‘They died to make the desert bloom’.
It’s a sobering bookend to a few escapist days in this one of a kind desert city, that owes its very existence to the water supplied from this dam.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and the family
Today we venture down to the outskirts of Vegas for our Thanksgiving holiday. We are camped in our RV near Moapa Valley for 5 days.
Close enough to my daughter and her hubby who now call Vegas home (for a while)
So glad you got to get above it all and see the lights. Your trip was definitely one of those “you gotta do this once at least”
Where we are we have an expanisive view from a high plateau of sorts. We love Nevada and it’s endless remote beauty.
Not looking forward to driving through the Vegas maze of highways today but we are so so excited about seeing my daughter since it’s been two years.
Will have to try the recipe .
Sounds wonderful.
Time to start the Apple Crostata...... that’s what I’m in charge of for the gathering.....old family favorite
Cheers from Nevada~
You're welcome! You too, and here's hoping it's a normal, happy one- 2001 was anything but!