Munch Bar - Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, NV

Restaurant:  Munch Bar
Location:  Caesar's Palace - Las Vegas, NV
Date Visited: December 2010


Las Vegas is a hedonistic delight and a foodie's dream.  This is the city where you can partake in the "Buffet of Buffets" - admittance to SEVEN - yes SEVEN all you can eat buffets in one day.  As if more than one all you can eat buffet was not enough.  Did humans start to grow seven stomachs?  In the hotels, there tends to be several classes of dining establishments: food court, casual dining, formal dining and whoa hold on to your wallet dining.  I like to pretend I am a gourmand, but I usually go to the "formal dining" or celebrity chef category. 


On a break between pricier meals (and let's face it, a break for my stomach as well), I decided to have lunch at Munch Bar at Caesar's Palace.  I had eaten at Munch Bar before. I had read a review of Munch Bar and the reviewer was going on and on about how delicious their Lobster Roll was.  Now I cannot say "no" to a good Lobster Roll, so I was giddy to try it.  Only to discover that it was a seasonal special and it was no longer on the menu!  So, I "settled" for a scrumptious shrimp po boy with crisp light French fries and a big glass mug of pear cider.


This time, my sister accompanied me for lunch.  She had a steak salad with feta that was a large size salad and very hearty.  She liked the tang of the dressing against the heavier salad components.  I had the fish tacos.  I was very happy that the fish was not deep-fried.  The fish was lightly seasoned and the plate contained all the accoutrements for a corn tortilla fish taco.  I could have used a few extra tortillas as they are the very small ones, but otherwise all was well.  The French fries were not as good as I remembered.  They were overly greasy, but I took that as a sign from the culinary gods (or a sign from my expanding waistline) that I should only eat a few. 


The Munch Bar faces the casino and also the Pussycat Dolls merchandise stand.  If you're eating dinner at Munch Bar, you will have a view of Pussycat Dolls-style go go girls dancing next to gaming tables.  Not exactly the view I want with my dinner, but it may add to the ambience if that's your sort of thing!


Munch Bar has a variety of fun desserts.  But if nothing appeals to you, walk out the casino doors and get an ice cream sundae or a frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity 3 which is in front of Caesar's.  I'll save my review of Serendipity 3 for another posting.


I enjoy Munch Bar - it's a happy medium between more expensive food options and the food court in Las Vegas.

Duval's in Sarasota, FL

Update Nov. 2011: Duval's has opened a new restaurant called Duval's New World Cafe with a similar menu to the former Duval's.  Duval's on Tamiami is now closed.  Read all about Duval's New World Cafe at their website here. 


 Check out my October 2011 post: "Return to Duval's" and my November 2011 review of Duval's New World Cafe for additional information!


Restaurant:  Duval's
Location:  5758 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL  (Now Closed:  check out their new restaurant on Main Street)
Date Visited:  December 2010


A couple years ago I went on what could best be called an awkward date.  He was intelligent and sweet, but also decorated his home in big pictures of a pained Jesus dragging the cross.  Again I say ... awkward!  But the best thing that came out of that date is that he took me to a small restaurant in a strip mall in Sarasota called Deja Vu.  In Tampa, "Deja Vu" is the name of a strip club ... so I was somewhat reticient to go there.  But what Sarasota's "Deja Vu" lacks in strippers, it made up for in delicious food.  We shared the shrimp and crab cake, the best calamari I have had in Florida and bread pudding with a gigantic plop of whipped cream.  But not just any bread pudding - bread pudding made with danishes.  It was so rich; it tasted almost deep-fried.  My taste buds rolled over and let out a collective gurgle of delight.  It was New Orleans-style cuisine heaven.


While I chose not to go out with Mr. Jesus Paintings again, I did go back to Deja Vu again and again and again.  But last July, I drove to Sarasota - visions of flash-fried calamari dancing in my frontal lobe.  And what did my seafood lovin' soul discover?  Deja Vu was closed!  It was like being dumped by a guy out of the blue.  I wanted to press my face against the glass windows and cry out "What did I do?  I'll change!  Come back to me, Deja Vu!"  Confused, sad, let down ... I made my way back to Tampa in tears.  OK, no actually I did some shopping and ate somewhere bland and sad and then went home.  But you get the point.


Given the high drama of my discovering Deja Vu was closed for good, I was ecstatic to find out that Deja Vu has been reborn in November of this year.  It is now Duval's - named after the owners - and the menu is very similar to Deja Vu's menu.


I headed down to Duval's on a Saturday after seeing a matinee of the movie "Black Swan."  Because what else goes better with psychosexual thrillers than calamari?  The movie was intense and delightful and so was my lunch at Duval's.  I was concerned that maybe the food would not be as good as I remembered, but it was spot on.  I started with the shrimp and crab cake with calamari appetizer.  It comes with a cocktail sauce, a heavenly remoulade sauce and an aioli.  The shrimp and crab cake was moist and flavorful.  The calamari was light and tender.  Duval's flash fries their food and claims less oil is left in the food without any greasy taste.  This was definitely a true claim for the calamari - it was not greasy at all. 

Shrimp and Crab Cake and Calamari with 3 sauces

I then had the Napa salad.  At Duval's they will make food however you want it, so the menu advertised that you culd get Napa salad with whatever you wanted on it.  I chose pan-fried tender sea scallops.  Duval's uses a pesto concasse with garlic and olive oil to dress the shredded Napa cabbage.  When I die, I want to be dressed in the pesto concasse as well.  It is robust and very garlicky-tangy.  It truly makes one's mouth sing!  The delicate scallops held their own against the tart salad. 

I forgot to take the picture before I liberally covered
 the salad in pepper and ate half a scallop!
 No one said I'd win food stylist of the year!

And of course for dessert - the afore-mentioned danish-filled bread pudding.  It actually tasted a little lighter than I remembered - not so deep-fried tasting.  However that might just be my caloric denial!

Delicious and decadent!

I was really happy to discover that Duval's quality food is still as good as it was when they were Deja Vu.  If you're in Sarasota, FL - check out their fine New Orleans-style cuisine -- exquisite seafood, Po Boys, hearty soups and terrific salads. 

Update Nov. 2011: Duval's has opened a new restaurant called Duval's New World Cafe with a similar menu to the former Duval's.  Duval's on Tamiami is now closed.  Read all about Duval's New World Cafe at their website here. 


Check out my October 2011 post: "Return to Duval's" and my November 2011 review of Duval's New World Cafe for additional information!

Purple Reign

There are various cinematic offerings where a woman on the run or a serial killer or your run of the mill psychopath goes into a gas station bathroom and dyes his/her hair with a drugstore box dye to change identities.  Well what happens when you take multi-colored hair and apply cheap "washes out in 28 shampoos" dye?  PURPLE.  My hair is purple.  Except the bleached white blonde parts.  Those are faded out, tie-dye-esque washed out pink.  Note to self:  don't attempt to truly go on the lam, as people around the nation will be making fun of your mug shot.  I don't want to be known as the Grape Bandit. 


I started this blog to talk about my travels, restaurant and entertainment reviews, etc.  Instead it could be called "Lily's Blog of Horrendous Hair Disasters ... starring LILY and her ever-changing hair colors."

Welcome to Lily's Life On The Lam

Hello Reader(s):


I am here to answer the age old question - can a crazy transplanted Floridian write an opening blog post within the time it takes for her hair dye to take effect?  Start the clock - 20 minutes, please.  My hair is about 5 different colors right now -- black (natural), brown, orangish-brown, blond and white blond.  It was supposed to be a chic, sophisticated, highlighted do -- but it's turned out to be quite the melange of insanity as my hair has grown out and the rings of altering hair colors make me look like something out of Dr. Seuss.  I am a Multi-colored Maloose who has lost her papoose ...


Since I recently spent more money than I should have partying in Las Vegas (age old story!), I decided against going to the salon and having my multi-colored mane treated professionally.  Instead, I am applying Clairol's temporary (28 shampoos!) cherry creme hair dye (accent on the first "e" in creme)-- the results are supposed to be dark auburn but the dye itself looks like orange sherbet and my blond highlights look more maraschino cherry.  We'll soon find out if I have managed to make my hair more clown-like in just a mere 16 minutes.


Now let's get down to business- does the world need another blog online?  (Heck no!)  Wait, I mean YES!  You may have been surfing the net for porn or looking for your childhood love Lily Lam and instead found "Lily On The Lam" ... so while you're here, let me explain why I thought it was a good idea to pollute the internet with yet another blog.  I travel ... A LOT.  I travel for work.  I travel for fun.  I love to visit places, explore the sites to be seen, see shows and eat.  At home, I like to do the same, except with a  generous dose of movies as well.  Many friends have asked me for pictures or reviews of the places I have visited, so I have decided to create "Lily On The Lam" as a "lifestyle blog."  The perfect lifestyle if you like traveling, entertainment and food.  If this is not your thing, well there's always internet porn out there somewhere for you!


I've been on the road a lot lately for the past several months.  My blog entries will probably jump back and forth to the various places I have been, restaurants I have eaten at and shows I have seen.  In that way, my blog will mirror my crazy stream of consciousness thoughts - always jumping from one edge of my brain to the other.  My home is on the Gulf Coast of Florida, so there will be some entries detailing various Florida places as well.


In addition to documenting my reviews of various places, restaurants, shows and movies for my friends; I also hope this blog will help would-be travelers plan their own itineraries when they travel.  When I am traveling for vacation, most of the time I do copious amounts of research first.  Call me crazy.  Call me anal.  But I'm a planner!  So hopefully "Lily On The Lam" will help people - my friends and strangers around the world - determine places to go (or not to go!) on their vacations. 


If you enjoy this blog, please feel free to post comments or send me an email at LilyOnTheLam@gmail.com.  If you hate this blog, please send me copious amounts of money so I can take some writing lessons.


And that friends, lovers, strangers, readers is my first blog post for Lily On The Lam.  2:09 a.m. Eastern, Saturday, December 18, 2010.  Finished with 2 minutes of hair dyeing time to spare!


Pray that I don't look like a maraschino cherry when I wash the chemicals out of my hair!


Thanks for reading!
Lily (At home, but still On The Lam!)