The Foodie Fantasy

Enjoy the beautiful summer weather by grabbing a shaded table on the outdoor patio for cocktails and dinner at the Barrymore in the Royal Resort just steps off the Strip. Are you craving some Asian-inspired cuisine and some of the best people watching around? Take a seat outside Le Thai for a large plate of pad thai or curry. You could also head over to The Smith Center for the Performing Arts to catch a show in this brand new arts and cultural center in Downtown Vegas.

Don't unpack - there's time for that later. You've just arrived in Vegas and already you're hungry for a taste. Maybe a light afternoon snack of Parmesan paprika popcorn at Hubert Keller's approachable new small-plates concept, Fleur. Replacing the formal French restaurant Fleur de Lys at Mandalay Bay, Fleur also mixes frozen cocktails tableside, compliments of a little liquid nitrogen magic. Plus, the hugely popular pajama brunch at Simon inside Palms Place offers a Bloody Mary bar, cotton candy, chicken and waffles, a junk food plate, and, of course, a sushi bar

Popcorn not your thing? Planet Hollywood's Strip House is serving up a new gourmet beef jerky appetizer that will take both you and jerky to places neither of you have ever been.
It's almost time for dinner. Here's where the options can overwhelm. But don't stress - you're in Las Vegas now, and there are no bad choices.

If you're with a group - head to Jaleo. Chef José Andres' Spanish restaurant at the all-new Cosmopolitan features an eight-seat inner sanctum with a 10- to 12-course dinner of tiny bites eaten sans silverware. For a side of show with dinner, choose Switch Steak at Encore. With the walls moving every 20 minutes, it's like eating each course in a new restaurant.

It's time for dessert, but don't expect the choices to get any easier. The Wynn's Lakeside Grill has a dessert cart named Desire. And on that cart is where you'll find the bacon chocolate bar - made with creamy milk chocolate, fleur de sel and, of course, applewood-smoked bacon. They'll dip anything in chocolate at Max Brenner in The Forum Shops at Caesars. But why bother dipping when you can just order a huge syringe filled with a chocolate potion you can squirt directly into your mouth.

If you're a cellar dweller, how about socializing in a place where you can choose from 160 wines by the glass using a prepaid tasting card to enjoy drinks of one, three or five ounces? The Hostile Grape at M Resort offers a contemporary, hip atmosphere with boutique wines and handcrafted cocktails along with unique samplers.

If it all seems too much, perhaps you're better off ending the night at ARIA's Sage, where you can inhale absinthe vapors. Shots range from $20 to more than $100. The cost for a shot of one special variety goes up each time it's ordered because once the bottle's gone, it's gone forever. Or, enjoy a beer at Public House at The Venetian where Nevada's one and only certified beer cicerone (think wine sommelier, but for beer) uses his Ph.D.-level expertise to help you find the perfect brew to pair with your meal.