Le Chocolate on Le Strip

While ChocolatesWhyImFat originated as a New York-centric blog, we have decided that while traveling, why not find the best desserts around the world?  We've covered Philly a few times, and now we're heading out west to the city of sin.  Viva Las Vegas.

Some come to Vegas to gamble.  Some come to replicate the Hangover and experience a little of that 'what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas' philosophy.  Some want to eat all they can eat and frequent strip clubs they discovered by having fliers shoved into their hands at every corner.  And some want to see minor glimpses of cities around the world all along one strip of land in the middle of the dessert.  

I don't exactly fit into any of these categories.  This was my first time in Vegas above the legal gambling age, however my time there was short, as it was merely a starting point for a ski trip to the mountains in Utah.  Now with limited time, the most important thing to do was to figure out the best places to eat, since Vegas is known for having the best of everything all in one place.

What our photographer Justin discovered upon researching desserts on the strip, was a chocolate shop located in the Bellagio, Jean-Philippe Patisserie.  Chef Jean-Philippe Maury comes from Paris, and serves as the Executive Pastry Chef for all of the Bellagio's 17 gourmet restaurants.  

At the front of JP you'll find a giant chocolate fountain with streams of dark, milk and white chocolate dripping down from the ceiling, amassing at the bottom to create a giant pool of mocha-colored chocolatey wonderfulness.  Blocks of the chocolate fountain are available to purchase as souvenirs.  The fountain is certified by the Guiness Book of World Records as the largest in the world.

While the fountain was impressive, the rest of the shop was filled with beautiful cakes, ranging from birthday to wedding cakes, each more glamorous than the next.  

There was a wide selection of gelatos, but we had come to try some of the pastries and chocolates.  Justin, being obsessed with both Nutella and brioche (and really anything Parisian), bought the last Nutella brioche available.  While I'm not overly excited by Nutella, this pastry truly was a not-so-little piece of heaven.  The pastry was large, fresh, and dense, able to hold what seemed like an entire jar of Nutella.  With a layer of powdered sugar across the top, this was certainly messy to eat (we both were covered in hazelnut spread and sugar after the first bite), but delicious and highly recommended.  Guest blogger of the day Justin described it in just one word - "epic".

The selection of confections to purchase was quite large, including chocolate rocks (which I accidentally spilled all over the floor - the package was much heavier than it looked!), hot chocolate pellets, chocolate covered caramel sticks, and much more.  The dessert I opted for was a package of four chocolate macaroons, half covered with a layer of white chocolate.  The macaroons were extremely thick and moist, and retained their flavor and moistness for days.  (Who am I kidding - I don't know how long they really lasted because I finished them off on my plane ride back to NY!) Each one was large enough for two to share, and the inside tasted like a flavorful cake, rather than the typical drier taste of a traditional macaroon.  The white chocolate layer provided an extra kick of chocolate that added a nice balance to the chocolate cake.  Since this was a one-time trip to Vegas where I probably won't be returning any time soon, I was okay with buying a package of 4, however at $3 apiece, if I was in Vegas and wanted one I would have preferred for them to be sold individually.

Lastly, we got a tin of assorted chocolates.  The bars came in dark, milk and white, a little bit of everything from the fountain.  I usually like my chocolate less on the plainer side, but these bars were delicious, and I felt the taste of Paris in every bite.

I would certainly return to Jean-Philippe if I ever made it in Vegas again, next time to try the gelato.  I definitely would recommend checking out the one in the Aria, which is even bigger and better than the one in Bellagio, as I just found out from investigating on Google.  Even if you don't have a sweet tooth, this place is worth checking out if you're on the strip, even if you're just window shopping and want to see the world's largest chocolate fountain.

A taste of the Catskills, down in Tribeca

Growing up, I used to go with my family to the resorts up in the Catskillls.  Primarily, it was the Pines & Kutshers.  I remember a lot of things about those vacations - I remember my grandfather playing shuffleboard out back while my grandma played bingo by the pool.  I remember going to kids camp where we would have scavenger hunts around the hotel.  What I don't remember, is anything about the food having any redeeming qualities.  That's why when Kutsher's Tribeca, a 'modern Jewish American bistro' opened up a few weeks ago, I was skeptical.  Did I really want to go somewhere to pay $10 for a bowl of matzoh ball soup? The words gefilte fish manke me queasy.  But my friends from Birthright wanted to go for Restaurant Week, so since I wanted to see them I went and prepared to eat challah bread all night.

Since this is a chocolate blog, I'm not going to go into detail about the meal.  Proving to be the stubborn one I am, I was the only one at the table of 5 who opted out of the restaurant week menu and went with a salad and brussel sprouts.  Now when the time came for dessert, I spotted two things on the menu which made me realize the reason to come here hadn't been about the rugelach at all.  There was a black and white ice cream cookie sandwich, and a rainbow cookie ice cream fudge sundae.  Four of the girls ordered the B/W cookie sandwich, and I ordered the rainbow cookie sundae.

The sandwich was such a fun concept.  Two black and white cookies surrounded a heap of ice cream, forming a sandwich that was too big to eat in sandwich form.  Luckily, the dessert came with a bowl of chocolate to dip it in, so we dissected the cookie, scooped up the ice cream and dunked it int he chocolate.  Taste wise, it wasn't anything spectacular, but I definitely give it points for concept.  I think it was the vanilla ice cream that killed it for me, because  since I'm a chocolate freak, vanilla is too bland for me.  The girls all loved it though, although were so full from their steak and potato dinners that they gave me all of their leftover cookies :)

Now for the rainbow cookie ice cream sundae.  I am very particular about my rainbow cookies.  There are certain bakeries I get them from, my favorite being the bakery in Astoria, Queens that I reviewed last summer.  They were my fathers' favorite before he found out he was diabetic, so by the way if anyone knows of a really good sugar-free rainbow cookie, please let me know!
There were pieces of rainbow cookie spread throughout the sundae, which were fun surprises as I picked through the cup to throw away the vanilla ice cream and get down to the fudge at the bottom.  I didn't realize it at first, that there were two different types of consistencies to the white part of the sundae.  I thought it was whipped cream, which is also a skippable ingredient for me, but Alana and I figured out it was marshmallow fluff!  This was such a fun dessert, and made my experience at Kutsher's a happy one.  I have to say, I wouldn't eat here specifically for the desserts, but if you are going here for dinner, it definitely is a fun after-dinner treat.

Kutscher's Tribeca
186 Franklin Street
(212) 431-0606
www.kutsherstribeca.com