What do people do in Vegas when they are not gambling? Well they party. There are many clubs on the Strip. The well known ones include Tryst, Pure, LAX, and Tao. The XS at the Encore, sister property of the Wynn, is just about the most glitziest, glamorous club on the Strip. The indoor outdoor set up with the pool makes for a great venue for party goers.
We were invited to Las Vegas to join Microstrategy for their annual user conference. Both Microstrategy and their consulting partner 2finity were great hosts during our stay. The main topic of the conference was the impending rollout of Microstrategy 9, which is their most feature rich release in a decade. The following breakthroughs were featured in the keynote and breakout presentations:
My flight into Vegas was delayed for over 3 hours. By the time I got to the Wynn, the room type that I had booked was sold out. Erin from the front desk sent me over to a nice room at the Encore, a connected and adjacent property. It was a great little suite. The linens and the furniture were all top notch. All of my colleagues who had gotten rooms at the Wynn were impressed with the room at the Encore. Thanks Erin.
The overall level of service was high. The staff, from the front desk receptionist, to the servers, to the bartenders (Heather at the Parasol Bar), were all friendly and helpful. I was just killing some time playing low stakes roulette and ordered a White Russian. The drink came back in minutes and it was no different than the drink I ordered at the Parasol Bar the night before.
For my birthday, my wife took me to Mix at Mandalay Bay. The restaurant is on the top floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel with a great view of the Strip. According to its website, Mix was born from the union between culinary art and contemporary design. This concept was created by Alain Ducasse in 2003 around the idea of combining the past and the present, cuisine and culture, style and material. Mix restaurants create a culinary link between France and its country of adoption. The design respects the evolution of tradition balanced with the right mix of the contemporary.
We had the 7 course tasting menu with the wine pairing. It was a formidable meal which took us over 3 hours to complete. The lamb loin was the best lamb I have ever had. The loin was seared with some herbs and then put in the oven for a little bit. It was still very rare inside. The meat, sourced from a special breeder in Colorado, was evenly marbled, and had all the wonderful goodness of lamb without any of the gaminess that some diners object to. The lamb was paired with some Syrah whose name I can't remember, but it was also good.
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