Las Vegas - Mon Ami Gabi

I'm back! Vegas was fun although a bit windy this year, to the point where it was difficult to walk. Then it got a bit chilly. Is this the most dragged out winter ever? I feel like it's really making an effort to stay. Anyway, the first day we got there, we ate breakfast at Mon Ami Gabi. We had dinner there later on Mother's Day as well.  Our breakfast started off with a cappuccino for my mom and a coffee for me. The cappuccino was okay, I didn't really like their espresso roast. I did like their coffee though, it was a dark roast that reminded me a little bit of chicory roast.

Mom ordered their special eggs benedict of the day which consisted of bacon, spinach, and tomatoes with a side of hash browns. I didn't think it was all that special. It was good/okay, but nothing outstanding. The english muffins were very... toasted and a bit difficult to bite into. There was very little spinach and only a small piece of bacon. I think it was one bacon slice for the entire plate. The hollandaise sauce was bland and seemed watered down. The hash browns were good, however it was salted unevenly so we got little pockets of salt here and there.

I ordered their mushroom omelette, with egg whites instead. It consisted of mushrooms and brie cheese with hash browns and a slice of toast. Omelettes don't usually wow me since it's such an easy breakfast item to make. They didn't skimp on the brie although the brie wasn't a strong one. It was okay. I did like their bread though, bread never disappoints me.

For dinner, mom and I each ordered their filet mignon merlot. I would say the filet is about 6 or maybe 8 oz. It has a merlot butter reduction poured over it and is served with thin potato crisps. Dinner starts out with a warm baguette served with butter and a small pickled shredded root vegetable "salad".  Last year it was carrots, this year it was jicama. I absolutely love their bread, but refrained from eating the whole loaf.

The filet came out really fast this time. We didn't even have time to finish the loaf! I would say our food came out within 15 - 20 minutes of ordering. The filets were ordered medium well and they were cooked perfectly with a nice seared crust. The potatoes came warm and perfectly salted and crisp. I haven't had a steak in over 5.5 years since going vegetarian in 2008 and this was a nice introduction back into the meat world. I didn't finish the fries, but I did finish the steak! On a side note from the review, I always try to get only as much meat as I plan to eat and finish it since I am conscious of the fact that an animal died for it... 

For the vegetarians out there, last year I ordered their vegetable farcis plate, which was AMAZING! It was so flavorful and bursting with flavors I didn't feel I was missing out on anything. I hadn't been that excited about vegetables for awhile. I was very impressed with a steakhouse creating such a unique vegetarian dish. It consisted of herbed quinoa on a bed of sauteed tomato/sauce and topped with grilled zucchini, squash, and eggplant. Some of the vegetables had a creamy stuffing that was pretty decadent. On that note, this dish is definitely not vegan. I'm not sure if the cheeses contained animal rennet or not; it probably did although i'm sure you could request this plate vegan to be on the safe side.

Dessert consisted of their famous bananas foster crepe. My mom waited for this all year long. The caramel sauce is sweet and nutty with the bananas perfectly sauteed to remain firm, yet have that nice cooked banana flavor. One mistake I find many places make when making bananas foster is overcooking the bananas to mush. I don't think I detected any rum; the caramel is very strong so if there was any rum, maybe it brought out the caramel flavors. The crepe batter they use yields a nice thin, slightly chewy crepe. I'm not one to favor the crispy type crepes so this was perfect. Inside the crepe is vanilla ice cream and on top is a dollop of whipped cream. The ice cream pairs wells with everything else going on with this dessert. Just talking about this crepe has me salivating.

Now, on to the dinner service. I've never had a bad experience here at Mon Ami Gabi. I had originally made reservations for 8:15 after being told 7:30 was unavailable. We got hungry so I got there at 7 and asked them what the wait time was. The response was 45 minutes to one hour for a party of two. I let them know that that was fine and I had reservations at 8:15, so I would take whichever availability came first. The hostess then said that since I had reservations, they would take me right away because it would be unfair for me to wait. I told her we would be staying at Paris anyway so it really was fine, but she insisted and we didn't wait at all! The waitstaff is also courteous and well-spoken. Food came promptly and warm. I couldn't have asked for better service.