Had a very cool dinner at Chiyono last night to celebrate Kat’s bday. Tiny little restaurant, very elegantly comfortable with a simple Japanese aesthetic. The restaurant is set up with two small tables and one long giant table in the middle which is what we took over. We had 17 people and we fit perfectly. Ricky ordered us a fixed price dinner set where the appetizers were picked by the chef/owner and we each got to pick an entree. Everything I tasted was totally my speed. The apps all promoted simple clean flavors ranging from burdock root julienne, lotus root slices, hijiki seaweed and marinated eggplant. For my entree I got the fried oysters which were simple yet delicious. Kathy got a fried sardine dish which was fantastic; big fish flavor and really moist inside of the crispy exterior. Lisa got the miso mackerel which was equally impressive, served in a big bowl with a sauce/broth, although it wasn’t clear to me that the fish was actually braised or broiled, or both. All in all, I came away completely impressed by the flavors but the portions were small and the kitchen wasn’t able to handle a party of our size because they brought out the entrees in waves with Twoin finally getting his after many of us had already finished eating. For dessert they served a very interesting cake of green tea mousse with some red bean and other things I couldn’t quite recognize. Good stuff, and not overly sweet. Then Rick dropped a bomb on us by telling us he took care of the whole check. For 17 people!! See, that’s what I mean when I tell everybody what awesome friends I have. Not because they make magnanimous gestures like that, but because they come from the heart.

After dinner we headed over to Bowlmor for some team bowling. Not a banner day for me on the lanes as I didn’t even break 100 in the first game and didn’t fare too much better in the second. All I could think about was how my fingers were starting to swell up a bit and that it would make riffling chips harder when I head out to Vegas in the morning…

So I got home and took a 4 hour nap and headed to the airport. JetBlue was awesome as always and I got to watch some football at the end of the flight too. Got over to the Wynn, checked in and headed down to Tableau to meet my friend/co-worker N and her husband who were in town for a marathon. Talk about great friends, they ran a marathon in the morning and still came over to my hotel to have lunch with me. This was my first time meeting N’s husband C. I gotta say, the two of them are an awesome couple. They both look like models and are super cool and laid back to boot. We had a terrific brunch at Tableau. C had the french toast, N had the hangar steak salad except she substituted chicken for the steak. I had the seared scallops with butternut ravioli and browned butter. Every dish was exceptional. I also ordered a side of bacon which was possibly the best tasting bacon I’ve ever had. Crisp and meaty without being overly salty. A perfect combination with my entree, creating an ad hoc scallops with bacon effect. C grabbed the check so you can bet that I will get them back next time. And there definitely will be a next time because I can see I totally got them hooked on the Wynn.

After lunch I headed onto the gaming floor to play. I did a walkthru to see if I could spot any dealers I recognized. One Taiwanese chick I remembered, but she was dealing one of those weird card games which I don’t play. No sign of my boy Randy, but I’ll look for him again later. I played for a couple hours, buying in for a G, getting down to the felt at one point, got back to even, then +1600 profit, and then finally cashed out when the table went cold, finishing +1000 for the session. Waiting to see if I can grab dinner with Kin in a bit, otherwise I’m gonna head back to the tables to play. Dealer shift change is at 8 so maybe I’ll wait until then to buy back in…