I’m “live-blogging” my spontaneous road trip to Las Vegas.
My son is very endearing, but gets little funny when it comes to cheese. That impacted our lunch plans in Las Vegas and torpedoed my plans to have lunch at Eataly – we ate at Taco Bell instead…
Taco Bell Lunch In Las Vegas
Part of being a good dad is letting your children learn to make decision for themselves and sometimes suffer the consequences of them. That must be balanced, though, with a limit in which you draw the line and overrule certain choices promoting injurious behavior. In the grand scheme of thing, our lunch choice was meaningless.
Since this trip was just as much a special last-minute getaway for Augustine as it was a chance for me to rack up Hyatt nights, I let him choose where we would eat.
Of course I tried to coax him in my own preferred direction, but he gets funny when it comes to cheese.
Just down the road from the Excalibur is the smoke-free Park MGM hotel (formerly the Monte Carlo) that features an Eataly, which if you’ve never been is not overrated. Eataly is a market filled with various eateries and stores of an Italian nature. You can generally find good coffee and good food here.
I sat down at the bar, because the bar has the best coffee machine in the house…only to be told it was broken.
Then Augustine began complaining…there was a cheesemonger and admittedly, the cheese was very pungent. I love Caciocavallo Silano, one of my favorite cheeses, but Augustine wanted to to scomparire.
Where to, you might ask? “I want to go to Taco Bell!”
There’s a Taco Bell Cantina (Taco Bell’s “flagship” restaurant) in the Miracle Mile Shops just a couple blocks away. We braved the intense heat…to have lunch at Taco Bell.
The really odd thing? Augustine will eat cheese at Taco Bell (“This is the cheese I like.”). Oh my…
CONCLUSION
Well, it could have been worse, but we drove all the way to Las Vegas…to have lunch at Taco Bell.
If you think that is bad, wait till you hear about dinner…
Actually I think you meant the Park MGM, which is where Eatly is. The MGM Grand is the large property across the street from NYNY and kitty cornered from Excalibur.
You are quite correct – my error.
I know there are a lot of Eataly fans out there, but there’s no denying that it’s a novelty chain that exists primarily in tourist locations. Making a run for the Border in Vegas is probably more admirable than going to Eataly in New York… or Italy.
Novelty for sure and overpriced too. I still like it quite a bit. Nothing like being in Italy, though in terms of the expreince (and price…).
@Jerry: I would not say it is “primarily in tourist locations.”. It is better to say large metropolitan areas. I met the founder of Eataly and he is a genius. He has the stores in large cities where you can find great real Italian food and not what you usually see people calling Italian food like Olive Garden. Everything is made with high quality ingredients mostly from Italy. Fresh pasta, fresh tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella are all made at their stores daily. Their marketplace is also fantastic and you can find great food brands you usually only find in Italy. They have stores in Dallas and São Paulo for example which I wouldn’t call tourist places. Now, I can’t understand them having a store in Rome and Milan but they do. It is my place of choice to eat if I am on business and there is a Eatly in town.
Everything you say makes sense, but once you’ve opened a location on the Las Vegas Strip and Dubai Mall you’ve sort of jumped the shark. Hopefully the quality stays high.
The original Eatalys in Italy catered to the locals – the first one was in Torino for example, off the tourist path
Sorry but Eataly is OVERRATED. I truly don’t understand the fuss with it
Vegas aside the urban Eatalys are good places to shop for ingredients. Yeah the restaurant part is fine, not magic, but much better than ‘average’ U.S. italian
“I want to go to Taco Bell!”
Like father, like son…
“we drove all the way to Las Vegas…to have lunch at Taco Bell”
That can’t be worse than flying to various places in Asia…to have lunch in Taco Bell 😉
Love the pasta at one place at Eataly on the right, just before the casino.
Be careful if you head back to that location (doubt you will) but a lot of homeless hang out there on Harmon Corner and the overpass and beg for food and cash at the TB, Subway and McDonald’s there. And buy their 24oz bum cans of alcohol at the Walgreens on the corner.
Tying 2 things together note that the Plug, next to the Taco Bell you visited is a “fake” dispensary as are all on the strip. They sell Hemp that looks like weed but because it’s illegal to sell on the strip, they make it look like regular weed. Of course tourists fall for it because they believe weed is sold legally everywhere in Vegas.
My sons don’t like cheese but eat pizza and the cheese in Kraft Mac and cheese. It’s frustrating in terms of making school lunches! Otherwise they’re pretty good with new foods (they love Indian etc)
Sorry to break it to you but the only thing that is NOT in the Kraft Mac and Cheese is real cheese. That is pure garbage.
Hahah yes no doubt.
He had to walk home from Vegas when he wanted a Starbucks coffee and wrap for dinner, didn’t he?
Even worse! 😉
“ We braved the intense heat…to have lunch at Taco Bell.”
This coming from the guy who went to Bangkok…to eat at Taco Bell…
Lol
As a professional cook, the Taco Bell Cantina you went to with the kid is the best one I’ve been too. So there’s that. Eataly was fine but looking at the Sea Bass etc in the seafood spot wasn’t that cool meh. Stick with prosciutto or some simple fare…
LMAO. What a great story. Hey, little Augustine sounds like a chill bro who is focused on what he wants. Don’t hate on him for what he likes!
Your child is blessed. Congratulations. Please keep this up in him. You are doing a good job. Don’t change him.