Took me a little bit to finally sit down and write it. My dinner at Gordon Ramsay's Steak was about the most amazing dining experience I've ever had. I can retype it all here, or I can just post the link to my blog, and let me know what you think.
[When it's your own writing and there's no copyright issue, I think it better facilitates discussion if it's simply posted here rather than linking out -- link replaced with full post, with permission from CelticBellaAZ. -Mod]
My husband and I have been wanting to get up to Vegas anyway, and since I got killer prices at the Paris, I thought we'd just go for it. Now we chit chatted on the way up there about how excited I was go to to my hero's place (no I didn't expect him to be there), I tried really really hard not to set my expectations too high. I knew that if every little thing wasn't perfect I would be let down like the Hindenburg on a bad day. I wanted to set my expectations low, so that when it was a good experience I'd be happy. So I won't make you wait until the end of this blog post to give you my results, I will say right now that without a doubt it was the absolute best dining experience I've ever had in my life. So that screaming man you see on TV with the highest expectations of perfection can't be all that exaggerated. I'll start from the beginning
We arrived actually pretty early on Sunday and our reservations weren't until Monday, but here we were coming down the escalator to check in, and I saw this....
There he is bigger than life! Calm down stomach....
So we're walking to our room we go by the front of the restaurant and I say to Chuck "can we go in and just have a drink" Drat, no they don't open until 5. *sigh* I'll be back tomorrow Gordon Ramsay just wait.
Finally 5pm on Monday night. We check in at the front and the hostess says "oh I see you're big fan" to which I reply "indeed I am". Then she says "well we have a special seat for you" And where does she take me? Right in front of the pass! OMG it just can't get any better, not only am I here, but I'm getting to see everything right up front and personal. So exciting.
Kind of blurry, but they move fast in there!
Before we got seated this was one of the first things I saw. That cookbook looks very familiar to me! Now I'm really glad I picked that one to cook from.
Cooking for Friends is the whole reason for my blog.
Next we ordered drinks. How cool is it that they give you the drink menu on an iPad? It was very cool. Don't try taking them though, they're locked down. (no I didn't try to take one)
Chuck had a craft beer and I had the HK Martini, come on you know I had to.
They brought us a plate of complementary breads which were clearly an indication of the wonderful food we were about to partake of. They were so good!
That butter is a sweet butter with black salt on top, who has ever heard of that?
Next order of business is to order an appetizer I had scoured the menu before we got there, so I pretty much knew I wanted to try the British Ale Onion soup. I chose right. This soup is so good, full of sweet onions, Boddington's English Ale, and topped with Welsh rarebit. YUM! must look for a recipe. I have to tell you the customer service here is bar non the best I've ever had anywhere. Chuck had to go up to our room to get a decongestant and while he was gone the sous chef was looking for him because his soup was ready, and I told the gentleman that he could just leave it and he'd be right there. Well he wouldn't hear of it, he waited for about three minutes and threw away the soup sitting at the pass and brought a new one when Chuck sat back down. CRAZY!
Next came time for us to order our steaks, and they wheeled out this cart of the most amazing meat I have ever seen! The top row is American Kobe, and the rest was prime.
Chuck had the American Kobe rib cap and I had a beef wellington. I just had to have this also since Gordon Ramsay seems to take the dish so seriously, and I really couldn't see myself ordering it anywhere else. I am not going to lie, the fillet inside of that was so tender you could eat it with a spoon! I don't recall ever having a steak so good. I probably wouldn't have wellington again simply because of how much bread is on the outside of it. Too much for me to eat. I also ordered a buttered poached lobster tail as an accompaniment for my steak but I really should have done crab legs for only 3 dollars more. I am not much of a lobster fan, but I figured if it was going to be good some place this would be the place. The taste was good, but it was still a lobster tail that to me seamed tough. *shrug* Not to mention that for $35.00 you'd expect it to be bigger than a prawn, and it wasn't.
- Beef wellington
Beef Wellington
This rib cap has all the tenderness of a rib eye, without any gristle or fat slabs
It may have been the size of a crayfish.
Even that little bit was a tad disappointing, it was still very good, and since there was so much else, Chuck and I split the bite of lobster and finished up our steaks, which again were AMAZING.
We decided to have another cocktail and let our food settle because we had our heart set on trying the English stickee toffee pudding and browned butter ice cream. The staff there was so nice both the head chef and the head sous chef came and chit chatted a little bit and told me what a gentle person GR is and definitely a genius in the kitchen. Duh I knew this. Just a relaxing non assuming nor stuffy atmosphere at all.
Now here came the dessert.....
All I can say about this is Chuck said "OMG F*ck strawberry shortcake" Which until now was his favorite.
Well goodbye Gordon Ramsay, until we meet again *sigh*
The take away from this was that I don't think I'll ever enjoy something like I did that night. Not just because of the place it was, but because I was with the love of my life. He was so happy to spend that evening with me. I truly am a blessed woman. I love you honey.
The only negative that I can say, were the other guests of the restaurant. PEOPLE yes I know you're in Las Vegas, but have some F*cking class. You don't go to a 5 star restaurant, dressed in shorts and flip flops with crying toddlers.
Cheers!
Donna
