Life, Love, & Laughter: Strip, er, Steak...

Mr. J turned the big 3-0 this year and I wanted to celebrate it in a fun way. We met up with a great group of friends for a long weekend in Las Vegas. For his birthday dinner, we ate at STRIPSTEAK in Mandalay Bay. Weezermonkey mentioned that the restaurant was great for group dining. Even better, she mentioned that she was able to use a gift certificate from restaurant.com. When I purchased the gift certificates, I caught the 70% off sale. That allowed me to purchase $200 worth of gift certificates for $24! Of course, STRIPSTEAK is the only place that allows you to use more than one of the gift certificates at a time. Let me tell you, all 8 of us had a blast with the Michael Mina menu.

I consider myself a french fry connoisseur and was over the moon to see these come out first and foremost (i.e. before ordering anything).

Fresh, warm focaccia arrived next and it was covered with buttery, garlicky goodness.

Most people ordered from the prix fixe menu ($55 for a 3 course meal). My first course was the Maryland Blue Crab Chowder. It wasn't as thick as I expected, but it was still very good.

Pictured above is my bone-in ribeye, medium. It was succulent and so worth the extra fat. Seriously. Plus, the kitchen did a great job cooking my ribeye at the right temperature. Please note that the bone-in ribeye was an addtional $10 when ordered from the prix fixe menu ($65).

The 18 ounce steak above came with three very small side dishes of truffled mac and cheese, and the veggies pictured below. These sides were teeny tiny and the contrast to the size of the main entree made me giggle.

I wish I took a side by side picture of the steak and the sides. I believe the mac and cheese and the veggies were literal spoonfuls.

Last but not least, was the dessert: Root beer float with sassafras ice cream and chocolate chip cookies. I never liked root beer but I fell in love with it just this one time. The float gave me a refreshing, tingly feeling in my mouth.

The birthday boy, enjoying his pretty looking dessert. Right before we left the restaurant, each of us received complimentary caramel and chocolate popcorn. LOVED them so much that I ate them before I was able to take a picture. Hehe.