Day 9 - Las Vegas - A sweet send-off

I'd warned the SO that even though 8 nights seemed like a long vacation that we'd not be ready to leave at all and I was right. But our hosts gave us a sweet send-off by taking us to the The Bagel Cafe (aka around their house as "The Jew Deli"). A place simply called The Bagel Cafe set in the middle of what looks like an early-90s office park? Uh, okay.

Oh, but don't let the simplicity of the name and the unassuming location fool you. This place is awesome. An authentic Jewish New York Deli run by authentic New York Jews but in Las Vegas instead (ostensibly to serve the large Las Vegas Jew population). I could hardly contain my excitement upon entering the cafe and seeing the huge counter holding tons of sweet treats, breads, bagels and even bialys. But there was breakfast to be had.

We decided to dine family style, pretty much. An order of cinnamon challah bread french toast, the "home-made cheese-filled blintzes," a potato knish (baked on-site rather than the fried version flown in from New York), and matzoh brie with apple sauce. That french toast was huge. Four of us couldn't finish it off even though it was just about the best french toast I've ever had in a restaurant (though the Pancake Pantry's sourdough french toast is pretty damn good).

And the blintzes. Wow. The SO had never had blintzes and was very happy to have them sitting at his plate (he shared...reluctantly). I didn't try any of the matzoh brie since I wasn't in the mood for eggs; I focused on the knish. I'd had one while I was in New York and was rather disappointed. I mean, how could I possibly not like mashed potatoes inside of bread? But I didn't. So I was a little hesitant about this one. But it was delicious. Now I know that I prefer baked over fried (which is hard to imagine).

But the real story here is what I didn't get any pictures of...the desserts. While we were waiting on food, I hit the counter. There were hamentashens and linzer tortes and rugulah and black and whites and everything else you can imagine. So I stocked up for the return flight home. My only regret is that I didn't get more. My haul:
One small black and white (I should have gotten ten--they were orgasmic)
One each of almond, chocolate and mango rugulah
One sugar pretzel (plain and chocolate dough wrapped into a pretzel shape and sprinkled with sugar)
and the piece de resistance: the chocolate cigar

How can I express my love for the chocolate cigar in words? I cannot. But I will try. When I saw it, I asked the guy behind the counter what it was. "Well, it's got chocolate chips and chocolate cake crumbs and chocolate and it's..." Stop right there. You had me at chocolate cake crumbs. Anyway, all of these things plus some pastry dough are combined, cooked and then topped with more chocolate and powdered sugar. I really wish I'd bought ten of these. I need to call these guys and see if they'll FedEx me some stuff. Because very little of these goodies made it off the plane. I imagine there were some very jealous people around us on that flight. The Bagel Cafe: licked-clean thumbs up.

And that's it for my trip. I'm back in Nashville--wearing muumuus and detoxing by eating mostly salad and Gardenburgers in hopes of getting back into real clothes. But dreaming of crepes, sweet potato raviolis, and chocolate cigars.