Wednesday, August 26, 2009

M Resort breakfast

Last week we went out for breakfast - I love hitting a nice place for breakfast, it’s usually the cheapest meal of the day, and you can get some nice meals for a lot lower cost than diners. My favorite breakfast place is Bouchon at the Venetian, if you want a really nice atmosphere, great food and delicious baked goods give them a try, on the tenth floor of the old Venezzia tower, but it will probably run you $25 each for a full fresh OJ, coffee, baked basket and meal, but it’s worth it. My second favorite place is the coffee shop at the Palms; it’s an OK atmosphere, the coffee is good, and usually the place is fairly empty as the Palm caters to a younger crowd that stays out late and doesn’t come down to breakfast. It’s also the closest casino to our house.

Anyway, last week we thought that we’d try the new M Resort. It’s the latest place to open in Vegas, came on line just a month or so ago. It is located at the far south end of the Strip. By far south I mean it’s about the last building before you hit California. Well, perhaps a bit of an exaggeration there, but it is quite a few miles down before you hit the southern hills. It is the first big place visible when driving up from California, visible between the mountains before you turn into the Vegas valley. We took the drive down - it’s about twelve miles from our house - to check it out. From the news reports M was really crowded the first few weeks, it is the newest casino down south, where a lot of homes and developments were recently built, so locals in southern Henderson have a closer place to go away from the main Strip traffic. Green Valley Resort is another nice place that services the same area, but it is quite a few miles away from M.
The casino looks like all the others in the new style, same slots, but swirly carpets and lots of wood and rock.


The coffee shop is off the main casino floor, with views to the west and south, the two corner walls are all glass. It is not an intimate feel, the Palms coffee shop is in the middle of the casino with no windows, but a nice open style.


They have the same good O’Douls coffee that the Palms has. I ordered the French Toast with cherries and whipped cheese - it sounded much better than it looked. And the fresh cherries turned into jam.


But it tasted OK, the bacon was crisp, but it ended up costing about twice as much as a similar Palms meal. Almost up to the Bouchon price range without the excellent food.

Right outside is the M pool. You can look down at the swimmers while eating, and at the end is their outdoor stage. In cooler weather you can dine outside, and watch the setup. Probably see the concerts at night, though there may be a waiting line for that.


They were setting up for Crosby, Stills and Nash when we were there. This is taken from the same place but looking north. You can see the big Strip hotels off in the distance, with the farther northern mountains in the background.


Driving back we came up Las Vegas Boulevard instead of the parallel I-15, just to get a longer view of the ride. From here it still looks like desert, and the main Strip area is still seven or eight miles away, with the airport between.


End result? B liked the location and the views, said the food was ‘OK’. I would say the same thing, not worth going down just to eat, but perhaps to take tourists. For that price I would do Bouchon - especially for the pastries. I’ll still stick with the Palms breakfast for the price and quality. The menus posted outside the fancier restaurants seemed to match the good quality Strip high costs, we might try some but probably not.

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