Cheer Up With Food

It's been awhile since I've blogged about a restaurant in my hometown, Las Vegas!  Being a new parent has made me busy bee, so I have been putting up quick posts on the @CheerUpWithFood  Instagram here and there instead.  I will continue blogging when I get the chance though!   Over the weekend I dined at Other Mama .  Since I'm a big seafood lover, it was hard to decide what I wanted to try.  As you can see on Daily Specials, they offer an interesting variety of seafood: Daily Specials! They also serve beer, wine, and cocktails: Try saying the name of this brewery seven times In Vegas it's not often that you see Hush Puppies (cornbread balls) on a menu so I had to try their rendition.  These appetizers were soft, fluffy and it's subtle sweetness hit the spot: Hush Puppies On to the raw delights: Amberjack Crudo- garnished with meyer lemon, radish, and chives There were four types of oysters being serve...

Last January my husband and I went on a weekend trip to the Bay area.  When we got off the plane we were starving (as usual)!  Our friends had made a list of recommended restaurants that we should try.  So when I was looking down the list, I wanted to eat somewhere where I know we'd get full for sure.   Korean BBQ at Gogi Time was the first place I chose to satisfy our bellies. Gogi Time We came to this restaurant late at night on a weekday and it was busy- a good sign that this place was legit!  If you're not familiar with eating Korean BBQ, you get banchan   (side dishes) first to eat and share with your fellow diners.  These small dishes are usually replenished throughout your whole meal: The side dishes surrounding the grill and some vegetables that we ordered as part of our main course Some of the main dishes we ordered for us to grill: Marinated beef and chicken We didn't take much photos because we were that hungr...

What drew us to eat at  Yummy Grill & Sushi  were the live specials .  On the evening we went they had live California uni, spiny lobsters , abalone , ama ebi , scallops , and oysters ( shigoku and kumamoto )! Live Uni ( sea urchin )- we were presented the uni fresh out of the aquarium tank alive before they killed it.  Later the uni was brought back to us nicely cut.  If you never ate uni before , it tastes like an ocean custard: Brown rice, sea weed, fish eggs and more underneath: Live Scallops: Live Oysters: Cornetfish  from Tasmania : Specialty roll with fried onions and toro ( bluefin tuna from Spain ), and nigiri in the back - tuna, garlic tuna, ono (super white tuna), and shima-aji (striped jack): All the seafood we had were spectacular!  Also the service we received from our waiter, Aaron, was great and very informative.  I look forward to seeing what kind of specials they have next...

There are buffets all over Las Vegas especially in the casinos/hotels.  With buffets, you should explore around to find ones that appeals to you the most.  A place I recommend eating at is  The Buffet  at the Wynn , which is one of my favorite high-end buffets on the Strip :  The meal times and prices: The whimsical-like decor:  This was one of the plates I stuffed myself with.  There are 15 (or 16?) stations there, which include salad, Asian, dessert, seafood, meat carving, Mexican, and Italian.  So there's something for everyone:

Aureole Las Vegas  at the  Mandalay Bay , has recently launched an event called  #ChasingThursdays .  Every Thursday Aureole will be offering exclusive cigar pairings from  Nat Sherman , showcasing a cast of hard-to-find and wines from their " Unusual Suspects " wine list all priced at $39 per bottle, and will have menu items 20% off (except Happy Hour menu, small plates, and the $39 wine bottles... Still a good deal though for a fine dining restaurant!).  You get to enjoy all of this while listening to live jazz music and overlooking the swans at Aureole's outdoor patio. I love the aesthetics of this place: Happy Hour deals: Aureole's four-story wine tower.  The Wine Steward Angels are the ones who retrieve the wines: Some of the wines I saw while walking up and down the stairs that wrap around the wine tower: My husband here sippin on some 2007 Domaine Monte de Luz Tannat: The  tannat  is a red w...