First off, the flight left from a terminal I'd never seen before,
I gather it's an international terminal as there were special
hallways directing people through customs. Before I knew
that I found they have much better stores there! Nice.

Wanted to grab a bite to eat, we were looking around, there
was a Gallagher's Steak House. Supposed to be a good place
in Manhattan, I have never been. In the window hung meat.
Rib roasts. Aging. Now ... maybe it's me, but dried out old
looking meat, it just didn't whet my appetite. More like, ew,
don't go in there. Hanging right there next to the menu.

That's okay, I'm here for a flight, not for a big meal. Split some
kind of cheese steak and fries.

Got there, it was late. Late for me if it was real time, probably
7:30 or so. Late for me as in eating dinner. Of course in real
time it was 10:30 at night. Better get used to it.

Went to the Venetian. Looking for a good meal, but not like
a $300 meal, you know how those casino restaurants can be.
Dinner. First food place we hit, a food court. No, nancy hardly
does food courts at all, I'm sure not grabbing something from a
chain and eating it at some icky table. Nancy is a snob. Yes.

So we asked at some information desk just past the food court,
is there some place not super expensive, you know ... she looks
as us ... and points back to the food court. That's not expensive.
No, not what I had in mind. She pointed in the general direction
one might find a sit down restaurant.

Let's try here. Grand Lux Cafe. Huh ... looks pretty nice. Table
for 2? Sure. Holy Crow! What a nice looking place! Even the
ceilings were gorgeous. Nothing wrong with the Venetian, they even
have a Guggenheim museum for pete's sake.

Ron ordered the short ribs, I ordered Mongolian beef. Didn't really
know what to expect. Italian waiter (as in from Italy) asked Ron how
he wanted the ribs done. Uh. Well ... (thinking) they are slow roasted,
aren't they already well done? Okay, I'll take them well done. Oh, the
disappointed waiter said, they'll be crunchy and dry. I give up, you
order them the best way.

Turns out the guy thought he'd ordered something else, who knows what,
so all was well.

Wow, what a dinner. SO good. Couldn't believe it. The food, the
service, the decor, it had the whole package. Had dessert, dulce la
leche cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory (note: I think they might
own the restaurant), after all we ate, we were just being piggy.

That was just the first night. What's not to like?

nancy