Vegas: February 2024: Day 2: Bacchanal Buffet

February 2024: Day 2: Caesars Palace

View from my room. I think that's the Palace tower?

Uhh who needs to pay for Windows licenses?

Dennis' super fancy Seven Diamonds status line.

11:10am brunch at Bacchanal Buffet.

Carving station.

Mexican items at right.

Avocado toast with salmon.

Pearl gazing at lechon and at sushi.

Bacchanal roll: tempura shrimp topped with unagi.

Hard pass on the dim sum.

Acai bowl: acai, starfruit, kiwi, coconut, bananas, dragonfruit.

Baby loco moco.

Prime rib (for a buffet) was quite good.

Pearl went for the fancy loaded hot dog.

Prime rib, sushi, lechon.

Menudo was good.

Steel cut oats, half and half, dried fruit, nuts, granola, cinnamon.

Chorizo scramble was meh.

Monkey bread: apple cider frosting, candied pecans.

Denver scrambled eggs. Did not try but looked decent.

Braised short rib benedict was meh.

Lobster boursin egg bites. Did not try.

The kitchen hard at work.

Crab florentine benedict was bleh.

Breakfast sandwich: beef, egg, bacon, cheese.

Was too long under a heat lamp. Ugh. But had potential.

Birra ramen: birra broth, beef rib, ramen. Tasty but overall not one of the top items.

Dessert.

Cupcakes. Did not try.

Terrible pano attempt.

Inside Caesar's Palace.

There's a full-fledged post office at the airport.

McCarran International Airport has a cool litte museum of flying.

They still make Sheridan's?

San Bernardino Mountains poking through the clouds on approach to LAX.

Dinner at Hop Woo.

Cold cucumber. Needed veggies.

Seafood clay pot was forgettable.

Given Dennis was staying in Vegas and neither Pearl nor I had a morning flight, plus we were already at Caesars Palace, decided to take advantage of Dennis' status and hit Bacchanal Buffet for brunch.

Not quite sure what may have been changed up for Lunar New Year, but the spread, as always was impressive. Prime rib in particular was excellent for a buffet, cocktail shrimp were decent, and many of the mini-sized breakfast items (eggs benedict with crab, egg bites, pancakes, waffles, etc.) were more just okay. Skipped the massive mound of Denver omelet and went for some other misses instead... but then redeemed things with a pretty solid mini birra ramen and a tasty menudo. Pearl grabbed a fancy loaded hot dog, there was some sushi consumered (not bad, but then, can't expect too much from a buffet), and much fruit was consumed for dessert.

Verdict: even if everyone is too old to really be going to buffets, and our diminished stomach capacity makes it hard to say it's worth it... it is still fun to go once in a while, and everyone can always appreciate not just the excellent selection but also a good prime rib.

Had a bit of time on the way out at the airport, where the on-site post office is very useful to mail postcards and actual packages, and there's a neat little museum (more of a display?) of flying in the pre-security area of Terminal 1 on the floor above baggage claim.

After a slightly delayed flight back to Los Angeles, complete with a lovely view of the snow-capped, cloud-shrouded San Bernardino Mountains, wrapped up the day with a late dinner at Hop Woo. Hop Woo has added a massive Sichuan menu to go with their more traditional Cantonese/Shanghainese menu, which was quite a surprise. They are definitely not the best Chinese food, but their cold cucumber was more badly needed vegetables, and the seafood clay pot was entirely mediocre.