To get dessert, you gotta go through Hell(‘s Kitchen)

The sweets section of the Gordon Ramsay Burger menu reads the following:

Sticky Toffee Pudding Ice Cream Sandwich.  Brown butter ice cream sandwiched between two sticky toffee pudding “cookies”.  If you’ve been #chasingme you know my affinity for all thing’s sticky toffee pudding, and this dessert was at the top of my list.  Make no mistake, I would have sacrificed many other events on this trip to get my hand on what I was hoping to be a magical dessert.  But just like that #$%&@# slot machine jackpot, pay dirt stayed just out of reach. 

I teased earlier that sticky toffee pudding is not only my favorite dessert, but the BEST dessert. Outside of Mr. SJ (AKA Muscle Matt, AKA ½ of the Swole Society), no one in our travel party has ever had the privilege of trying it. Outside of getting the OG from Scotland (see here), Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants offer the next closest thing to perfection (minus the custard). My challenge (and I chose to accept it) was to expose my gang to this delicacy by means of a sticky toffee pudding ice cream sandwich found at Gordon Ramsay’s Burger in Planet Hollywood. Let the #chase begin…

We land Thursday around 5:30 pm in Las Vegas, and after unpacking and doing a quick freshen up we head out to GR Burger. We did not have reservations because it was a Thursday night, and GR Burger was not taking reservations on Open Table. Plus, anything can happen with travel so we didn’t want to make a reservation and then miss it if our flights were delayed. We thought we would be ok…

Well we thought wrong. At 7:30pm GR was packed with a line. The next available seating…10:45 pm. Good news this is clearly a sign that Vegas is BACK, bad news we didn’t have a good plan B. I was super disappointed because I talked up this dessert and it was on my list of “must do’s” for this trip. My feelings were hurt, but I wasn’t going to be deterred we would go somewhere else and try again. We opted for convenience, and while Vegas is coming back to life, many places are still closing early. The winner for dinner was a visit to Holstein’s at the Cosmopolitan (my favorite casino). The crispy fried shrimp and pork nugget fries were the stand out dishes, and Holstein’s is also the setting to an epic chasing losses story that was shared at the table. We decide to go to GR’s Steak at the Paris where the very best of his STP dessert resides. I walk up to the hostess and ask to sit at the bar “I’m sorry,” she says “but we are not sitting anyone until we open tomorrow at 4:30.” Frustrated and tired…we retire to the Mirage slightly downtrodden and without the extra calories and sugar. 

Friday was a day full of chasing! I chased after a personal goal and ran a distance to burn off dinner and take a classic Vegas photo. In all of our previous Vegas exploits, we’ve never made it to the famed “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign.  Us girls went shopping and we chased after a white blouse and dress for Sassy through the Forum Shops at Caesars (chasing tip: the staff of Caesars are not amused when you ask if Caesar really lived there). All that chasing earned Sassy, Mrs. Point Break Dave and I an appointment with a massage therapist at the Mirage. I had not forgotten about my sticky toffee pudding, so I made plans to chase again the next day.

Saturday started with breakfast at Mon Ami Gabi with Sassy and Mrs. PointBreak_Dave as Mr. SJ and PointBreak_Dave thought that working out was “a better use of time.” [Lame] Now here comes a real chase.  I refuse to be denied my ice cream sandwich and I don’t care that we just had breakfast! We head through Planet Hollywood and the Miracle Mile of shops towards GR Burger which is CLOSED! I manage to stay calm…no worries, we will come back after our trip to Fremont and Circa. Should we make reservations? Probably… but we are coming back mid-afternoon so I think we are ok…not making reservations.

Fremont was a blast! But I’m sticking to my goal. Back at The Mirage the guys go to make sports bets and my faithful squad follow me back down to GR Burger. “Do you have reservation?” the hostess asks, “No, we just want one thing can we sit at the bar?”  Something we heard often “No, the bar is closed and our next reservation is Monday,” Feeling frustrated and a bit angry I proceed to pressure “Ma’am this is my 3^rd attempt, can I order something to go?” Hostess: “Absolutely, what would you like?” I breathe a sigh of relief “Sticky toffee pudding ice cream sandwich, please.” The hostess’ face drops and she says “Except for that, we can’t package it to-go.” Ok now I’m mad… “Can’t you just, like, wrap it in a napkin or stick it in a box?” I ask. “No, she [manager] won’t allow us to sell this to-go.” I have no words… Vegas is the King of separating you from your money and making you feel good about it.  Yet here I am, in the middle of the Vegas strip, with my arm outstretched pleading with this young woman to take my money…to no avail.  The dessert cost $10 and I was more than willing to hand over $50 if she just put the stupid thing in a napkin!

But…we have a wonderfully intelligent crew.   Mrs. PointBreak_Dave is ready with a plan… “Let’s go to the other place. Steak at the Paris” Wait… it’s 3:30, they don’t open for another hour! She is persistent; before I can proceed into tantrum mode she is on the phone with Hell’s Kitchen at Caesar’s …”they may be able to do a to-go dessert, let’s stop by on the way back to the Mirage.”  So, the 3 of us head off to Hell’s Kitchen. Once inside we see chaos! So many people! I ask the hostess “Can we sit at the bar and order a dessert?” and again “No, we are full and our bar is limited to parties of 2” [%&$#*&] “can I order something to go, then?” Sassy offers to pay for it, but I insist this is my treat and I owe them for chasing me up and down the strip for this dang dessert. It’s tense… this place is the most pushy about social distancing and you can feel the stress from the hostess and servers in the crowded foyer. But, it doesn’t take long, and I’m handed the bag of promise (it’s even hot!).

With our precious in hand we return to the Mirage to gorge ourselves with the buttery, sweet goodness that waits in the bag. We had one set of silverware, so I give Sassy the spoon, Mrs. PBD the fork and I take the knife, and we each dive into the dessert that I have literally hyped for weeks leading up to this moment.

Was it worth it? Absolutely! I had some of my best friends to chase the Strip with in search of the most perfect dessert, and that makes for a most perfect memory. Chasing Tip: Don’t be afraid to use ALL the silverware and never quit on sticky toffee pudding. Chasing Tip: As Gordon Ramsay would say “always make the effing reservation”. It wasn’t the version of sticky toffee pudding I wanted, but what I got was exactly the taste I needed; so the #chase continues…