Travel Bites - Las Vegas and San Francisco

Worth its weight in gold....literally

After the serene and relaxing shores of Bucerias, we flew to the bright lights and intensity of Vegas. And it was hot hot hot. Like 43 degrees hot. Now you may think that the food in Vegas is nothing to write home about....and you would be correct. Well, almost. The thing in Vegas is buffet. Every casino/hotel has one and they are actually pretty good value for money. If you're anything like me, in many ways the buffet is the perfect place to eat - you get to try a little bit of everything, and the chances that you will go away disappointed are slim because they pretty much have everything you could possibly feel like eating. We sampled the buffet at the Mirage and MGM. The former was the winner by a smidge because they had hot AND cold crab legs and I welcomed the huge salad bars and sushi at this point of the trip. They also really know how to make excellent cold, refreshing lemon alcoholic beverages in Vegas; however given that they cost about US$16 each, you may not ever get drunk - as I discovered the day I went to the Caesar's Palace pool for the day and only took $20. Rookie mistake. We also had White Castle because Harold and Kumar. And it was terrible. I mean, I know Harold and Kumar were really stoned but they made out like the tiny burgers were the most delicious thing ever, and the meat was potentially the worst quality I've ever eaten in a burger. There was a huge queue too, so either other people were under the same impression we were, or under the same influence Harold and Kumar were.

Just. Don't

After a very hot five days in Vegas - which also included a visit to the Grand Canyon, where multiple squirrels tried to horn in our packed lunches - we flew to our final stop, San Franciso. Before we ventured into the city however, we picked up our flash as Cadillac hire car and drove to Yosemite National Park, which is a very special and beautiful place. In the 24 hours we were there we didn't really eat anything of note but we did eat inside a big cafeteria that reminded us of being at school camp. And we were intent on going to In-N-Out Burger on the drive back - popular with the likes of Gordon Ramsay and Julia Child, would you believe - but every one we passed was on the other side of the freeway and the fear of becoming lost was too great.

Once we were in San Francisco, we were pretty stoked to be in the land of more regular food and pretty decent coffee again, which we hadn't experienced since our first stop in New York. For lunch on our first day we headed straight for La Taqueria for a Mission burrito. This is the same place I sought out on my first trip to San Francisco, six years ago - and it was just as good as I remembered. Now listen - get the super pork burrito, ok? Ok. And get spicy.There's no rice in there, so it's just a concentrated wrap of all the best bits. You honesty will probably never have a burrito as good as this, just trust me on this one.

To end our amazing four week long trip, we went to Foreign Cinema for dinner. Here, as you enjoy your 'Californian-Mediterranean' influenced food, they screen a film against the wall in the covered courtyard. It's a cool idea, and the setting was lovely, but it was still light so we couldn't really see the film - which was Magnolia, in case you wanted to know- and there was no sound. They had drive-in speakers around the edge but I couldn't work out if they were for realsies or just for show. Anyway, the food was pretty nice and beautifully presented. I had seafood, as San Francisco is known for; a brodetto (which I totally had to Google - it's soup). It was fresh and delicious, albeit a little undercooked, but they sorted that out for me pretty quick. Although we were decidedly under dressed for such a fancy place, we couldn't have cared less, and we ate and drank - and spent - away the final night of our holiday. We headed for home the following day a little fatter, a little happier and thoroughly satisfied.

Seafood brodetto of cod, prawn and scallops, tomato broth,
Romano beans, fennel, fingerlings and toast