Dining in Vegas

The days of cheap, mile long buffets serving crab legs, roast beef and tables of desserts are long gone in Vegas. With the influx of foreign tourists, Las Vegas has become one of the top travel destinations world wide so the hotels no longer have to serve discounted meals. The last time I was here was 2 years ago and it seems like meal prices have more than doubled since 2006. While there's a wealth of fine restaurants in Vegas, you'd better bring a fat wallet because it's going to cost you anywhere from $40 to $80 a day to eat here, unless you want nothing but fast food.

Some of our favorite restaurants in Vegas are Canaletto in the Grand Canal Shop area of the Venetian hotel for dinner. It's Italian dining at it's best, with dinners in the $15 to $30 range. Linda dined on sauteed swordfish served in lemon caper beurre blanc sauce with assorted vegetables and I had the spinach/mushroom ravioli. Both were excellent and left no room for dessert. For lunch, try the BLT Burger Restaurant in the Mirage Hotel. I tried the Caesar salad while Linda lunched on a 5 ingredient, spicy Asian salad. The prices are reasonable and the portions so huge, that we could have easily shared one. After the Cher show on Tuesday even, we dined at Wolfgang Puck's Spago at Caesar's Palace. The menu offers several interesting options for late night diners including Tuscan White Bean Soup, Mushroom Tortellin and pizzas. The server was friendly and attentive, the food excellent, but it's a bit on the pricey side.