after a day of typical daytime vegas activities (translated: debauchery) I'm pretty sure all I had in mind was inhaling a half order of Carne Asada fries (I love San Diego). But alas, I was in Las Vegas, and had a reservation for the restaurant at my hotel (the Venetian), Bouchon. As exhausted as I was, I put on my \"dinner shoes\" (perfect for sit down occasions where the destination is a mere elevator trip away) and headed down for dinner.\n\nI love food- but food is still food, so while I expected to be wow-ed by the food, I never really expect any food I eat to be out-of-this-world extraordinary. I try to maintain realistic expectations. But let me tell you, this food came close. I had foie gras for appetizer, the salmon as my main course, and also tried some fries. Those are the 3 most memorable things I ate, so this review will be primarily based on my thoughts on them. \n\nThe foie gras (if you're into that) is good - extremely rich and creamy and can easily be shared among 4 to I'd say even 8 people. It comes in a small 4 oz jar with some toasted bread. I've only had foie gras once before (prepared entirely differently) making me hardly an expert in the area so I'm only capable of leaving a brief thought - it tasted like very flavorful butter. It was delicious and worth a try, but I was told that it is a little different from what you might expect at a different restaurant. \n\nThe salmon - heaven. I've had pretty good salmon before, and some pretty bad salmon (over cooked, stiff, and tasteless.. ew.) To be honest, I half expected this to just a typical good salmon, that I might not find terribly memorable (because I had yet to discover really memorable salmon). Well this salmon was extraordinary - somehow the chef had managed to achieve the perfect combination of color, flavor, tenderness.. it was beautiful. It was not over cooked or undercooked, and it looked like the color that salmon should be. I typically enjoy the natural flavor of salmon so I don't usually need much additional flavor added to my salmon for me to think that it's good. However, this did have some sauce that complimented the salmon perfectly. I could taste the sauce, yet it did not overpower the salmon flavor that I enjoy. I savored every bite and quickly forgot about how just an hour earlier, I thought I would have achieved the same level of nirvana (yes i was THAT happy.. and yes, eating good food really makes me that happy!) eating carne asada fries. I'm pretty sure I was proven very wrong. The salmon was much better.\n\nThe fries. Everyone has raved so much about these fries that at the time, so I will refrain from repeating myself but yes, they are the perfect blend of flavor and crunchiness. I love fries! I love them so much that I will even eat them cold. And I did indeed eat these fries cold later one (we didn't finish them and had taken them to go.) One thing that I discovered when eating them cold was that these fries had some delicious onion flavor snuck into them! Brilliant! It was like they were fried in onion infused oil or something. I didn't notice them while eating them hot (and someone let me know if you do!).. but the flavor was significantly more apparent and a nice surprise to me later on. Now I'm dying to try them fresh again... I think it might be my only hope for being truly transported to another world by way of food.
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