Vegas — Day Two.

As per usual, I was my perky five-year-old-in-paradise self at around 7:30A on Friday morning. I was ready to take on the day and there was zero chance that bystanders were going to get to sleep through that. After looking at the room service menu and deciding that $14 was just a stupid amount to pay for a carafe of Starbucks coffee, I ran downstairs to the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf to grab morning pick-me-ups for Boat Shoes and myself.

Day two of exploring!

I’ll admit, I feel like a lot of our day (and night) revolved around the restaurants we were eating at. While that’s not my normal M.O., there are just too many awesome eateries in the city to not have an agenda of sorts. That being said, we made our way out of our hotel at around noon and started heading down the Strip with a dual objective: 1) Pop into a few hotels to see them in all of their glory; and 2) Eat lunch at Jose Andres’ China Poblano in the Cosmpolitan.

We walked through Treasure Island and the Mirage and I was fortunate enough to witness Boat Shoes’ expression of disgust when he saw the Kardashian Khaos store opening at the Mirage. From there, we made our way to Caesar’s, checked out the endless medley of overpriced shops (fortunately for all parties involved, I’m a window shopper) and popped into Mesa Grill to make reservations for dinner.

We ended up at the Cosmpolitan for a late lunch and I was thrilled to be able to check China Poblano off of my list! It was definitely on my radar (along with a handful of other spots) so it made a great lunchtime rendezvous.

The Cosmpolitan

The concept of having a menu with Mexican and Chinese seemed a bit odd, but it definitely worked.  Great small plates, perfect for sharing and for trying out a slew of his creative bites. The afternoon’s winner: the tuna ceviche. It’s a must try!

After lunch, we popped into the New York – New York Hotel and Casino to explore, play in the arcade and check out the afternoon’s dueling pianos. I’m sad to admit that Boat Shoes is a better at skee-ball than I am (at least during this instance), but am happy to report we walked away with a whopping 98 tickets, yielding one green bouncy ball and a small pack of crayons that will forever hold a special place in my heart. The piano bar at the NY-NY is much rowdier — a fairly young crowd with a pianist that captured the essence of all things New Jersey. After spending a few hours listening to tunes, we decided to make our way back to the Palazzo to get ready. {Note: Friday afternoon/evening is not a good time to hop in a cab. Walk. It’s much more efficient.}

After getting cleaned up, we made our way to the piano bar in our hotel to grab a drink before heading to Mesa Grill for our 930P reservations. While the pianists at the Encore were pretty amazing, I actually think I liked the vibe at the Palazzo’s piano bar a bit more! It was a cool, loung-y set up; definitely up my alley. From there we made our way to Mesa Grill for quite possibly the best dinner of life! Everything was absolutely delish from start to finish (the ahi entree and the corn side dish are ridiculously awesome). In terms of price, deliciousness and ambiance, I think Mesa Grill would be very hard to beat.

With it being our big night out, we made our way to Rhumbar at the Mirage for a couple of late night drinks and a hookah. The whole vibe of the place was great — it’s outdoors with fairly sufficient seating, a small dance area, a DJ and no cover charge! We spent a couple of hours lounging outside enjoying the Vegas weather before calling it a night and making our way back to the Palazzo. After making it back, we decided to head to our hotel’s nightclub, Lavo, to check out the club scene. Not much of a surprise here, but I’m not really a ‘clubber’ so I was definitely a bit out of my element. Regardless, it made for some epic 230A people-watching and was the perfect way to end our evening!

Needless to say, it was another ridiculously fun jam-packed day in Vegas. Check back tomorrow for our Jimmy Buffett-themed day from the street party at Margaritaville to the concert at the MGM!

xoxo,