JayRo's Musings: JayRo in Vegas

As I've mentioned once or twice, I'm in Vegas this week. I'm hoping to put up a post a day about my various adventures and tribulations along the way. So, let's get this started...

Eating at Bacio

For the first couple of nights, I'm staying at the newly renovated Tropicana. A room review will show up, but I will say that the renovations look fantastic. I love the room and the look of the casino.

With all this said, I also wanted to make sure I ate at some of the restaurants being offered here. I was torn between Bacio and Biscayne (which are convienently located right across from one another). As it turns out, a passerby would end up making the decision for me by handing me an unused $27 comp for Bacio. To that person, I thank you again for your generousity.

I was seated by the hostess (who is sure to be featured on Eating LV's Hot Hostess Watch), and once seated was asked by Glenn if I would like water and what kind. Being a simple person, I asked for regular/tap water, and it was brought without problem. Then my main server Manny appeared, asking me if I had any questions about the menu or wine list, and making recommendations of his choices from both. For the small berth in the actual Bacio restaurant, there were 3 teams of two servers, a main who handled orders and delivery of the meals/alcoholic drinks, and a secondary (junior? What's the correct term here?) who served the non-alcoholic drinks, bread and did some cleaning of the tables as well.

I ordered a Chianti (which Manny said was the house Chianti), and received my bread basket.

I'm going to be honest and say I don't remember what the breads were. There was a foccacia, some sort of olive bread, a cheese something (the thin large wafer). An olive oil/balsalmic vinegar combination was served along side for dipping. The breads were fine, and the oil/vinegar combination complimented the breads nicely.

Manny came back and I made my order:

I started with the Vongole Oreganate, which are described as "Broiled Bread Mixture Stuffed Littleneck Clams". This was on the recommendation by my mysterious benefactor, the hostess and Manny. These were pretty good, and surprisingly light considering that the bulk of the food is just bread mixture. The one downside of this dish was that the clams played second fiddle to the breading. The breading was quite tasty and definitely carried the dish. The broth was lemony; if you put some on top of the clams it would have added another dimension.

For my main course, I selected the Gnocchi al Ragu, which is a "Potato Gnocchi in Slow Cooked Ground Beef, Veal, Pork and Tomato Sauce".

This was a disappointment. The problem was the Gnocchi. The gnocchi stuck to me, but to my teeth instead of to my stomach. This ended making the gnocchi feel more heavy than it should have. The sauce was good, not good enough to elevate the dish, but it was good enough.

In all, I think I would come back. I'm willing to give the gnocchi a pass and try something else (I am eyeing up the Pollo Scarpariello), as the service was a strength and the ambience was suprisingly nice.

The bill came to $46

I hate having to do the right thing

I played a lot of video poker yesterday, and came across this dealt hand:

What an unfair choice - take the guaranteed $6.25, take the the 1 in 47 shot at the $1000 Royal Flush, or the 2 in 47 shot at the $62.50 Straight Flush.

The Jacks or Better book says you have to keep the 4 to the Royal Flush instead of the open ended straight flush draw or even the flush. So that's what I did, to this result: