Vegas Restaurants

What restaurants have you been to in Vegas? With this new job as roving restaurant reporter, I think I should spend a week or two there just eating and writing about it.

One of my favorite dining experiences in Vegas was at Aureole in the Mandalay Bay resort. This was a year ago, so to be honest, I don't remember what I ordered. I remember two things. One, I was with this really hot guy, an old flame from high school. What a cutie - and with a great job to boot! The other was the wine selection.

The wine list at Aureole is electronic. They give you a book size computer with a stylus and you can review their wines in a variety of ways: type of grape, region, price, vintner, menu suggestions. You had a wealth of information at your fingertips. That wasn't even the coolest part.

The restaurant's wine collection was stored in a white Lucite tower that was lit from within. The tower, enclosed in glass, but in sight of the entire dining area, was accessible by a series of ropes and pulleys. Once you made your wine selection, your server would hook themselves up to the ropes and pull themselves up to the bin with you selection. The wine was holstered and brought down with the server.

I suppose in a city with as many exquisite dining experiences as Vegas, a restaurateur has to find a way to stand out. Here it is a year later and I remember the Aureole well. It is an excellent place to drink wine if you are a novice like me or an expert who craves all that information about the wine.
Bottom's up!