Vegas Baby! Fun weekend in Vegas, Tastemaker Conference, Fancy Food Show!

What a weekend! Talk about BUSY!

I recently took a trip to Las Vegas to attend the Tastemaker Conference and the Specialty Food Association’s Winter Fancy Food Show! And boy was it incredible! Read about our fun weekend visiting Hell’s Kitchen, Martha Stewart’s Restaurant (The Bedford), Tastemaker and the Fancy Food Show!

A man and woman standing in front of large, decorative red rose arrangements with mirrored accents. The woman is wearing a burgundy dress and beige coat, and the man is in a black shirt and jeans. The ceiling features modern light fixtures.

A man and woman smile for a selfie in an ornate indoor setting with a large statue of a robed figure in the background. The statue has a raised arm and stands on a decorative pedestal under a domed ceiling.

Is Vegas really ever just for business?

Being in Vegas during the work week obviously meant we had to tack on a long weekend for pleasure! We came in on Friday with no plans to work until Sunday. (100% the way to do it!)

Friday we took a trip to Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen on the Vegas Strip. Was it worth it? Was it as good as they make it seem on tv?

Was Hell’s Kitchen worth it?

100%! 1000%. No doubt about it.

Any of you who know me personally know my husband John and I are huge fans of Gordon Ramsay, Hell’s Kitchen, Master Chef, Master Chef Junior, all the things. So when I was able to convince him to come with me to Vegas (just for a couple of days), I knew I had to make a reservation at Hell’s Kitchen on the Vegas Strip.

I made the reservations a few weeks ahead of trave and decided to pay the extra $25 or so to reserve a table over looking the strip. I’d do that again a million times over.

How was the food?

I can’t even begin to explain how lovely dinner was. We started off with some cocktails, my husband got the smoked old fashioned (so cool!) and I got the “Meet Your Maker” a sweet, strawberry infused whiskey cocktail It was lovely!

For appetizers, we got the scallops (which were drizzled in this amazing bourbon glaze that was just next level) and the lobster risotto. Lobster, 10 out of 10 obviously. The risotto, listen I could’ve eaten the whole pot. It immediately made me want to go home and make a giant batch of risotto and just overindulge. It was that good.

For main course, we both went with steak. I had the filet and my husband had the New York Strip. Immaculate.

But the most impressive dish, surprisingly enough – the creme fraiche mashed potatoes. I don’t even know how to describe what kind of good this was. They coated the spoon, they were perfectly salted, and I’m a food blogger! How have I never added a pool of creme fraiche to the of my mashed potatoes before?!

For dessert, my husband just had to try the Sticky Toffee Pudding. Super moist, rich, and delicious! Glad we tried it!

A plate of lobster risotto topped with a lobster tail and garnished with fresh herbs. The creamy risotto is served on a white dish, with the text Lobster risotto at the bottom left corner.

A dark plate with seared scallops topped with a savory sauce, garnished with herbs. Accompanied by roasted butternut squash slices and Brussels sprout halves on a swirl of butternut puree. Text on the image reads, Seared scallops with butternut squash.

A dessert with a scoop of ice cream atop a sticky toffee pudding is served in a white bowl, surrounded by a caramel sauce. A glass of red wine is in the background on a dark wooden table.

Overall Hell’s Kitchen was such a fun experience! The service was immaculate and the food was out of this world. We’ll be back!

Casinos and Shops for Days, and Dinner at The Bedford (Martha Stewart’s restaurant!)

Saturday we spent most of the day gallivanting around all of the designer stores. We had dinner at a lovely place in Caesar’s called Water Grill. The oysters and seafood tower were incredible.

A plate of fresh oysters is arranged on a bed of ice, accompanied by condiments like lemon wedges, red sauce, and chopped onions. A menu card listing the days oyster selection is placed in the background.

A seafood platter with oysters, shrimp, mussels, and crab legs on a bed of ice, garnished with lemon wedges. A glass of white wine and a small dish of sauce are beside the platter. The text Good lord. is displayed at the top.

Sunday I spent the morning walking the floor at the Winter Fancy Food Show, which was so fun! There was more food samples than the eye could see! It felt like I must have walked the length of 5 football fields! I snagged all sorts of fun new ingredients and snacks to try out. I’m excited to get to work with some of those!

Sunday, after I returned from my busy day at the show, John surprised me with reservations at Martha Stewart’s new restaurant in Vegas called The Bedford. It was everything I knew it would be.

We started with a couple glasses of delicious white white wine, and the world’s most amazing breadbasket. (When you order bread at a restaurant you expect some rolls, maybe an artisan loaf. Nothing crazy. – This basket came out with 3 different loaves of bread! Just incredible!)

A white basket holds a variety of breads, including two long, oval-shaped loaves with sliced vegetables on top, a rectangular piece with cranberries, and three small rolls. Text reads, Now thats a bread basket. Theres a label: The Bedford by Martha Stewart.

It was so tough to choose between which was my favorite, the Sour Cherry Focaccia or the Vegetable Flatbread that was just so flavorful and savory.

For dinner, I went the scallop route (with lemon risotto, yum!) and hubby went with a steak. Get this – he said the steak was better at Martha’s than Gordon’s! (Nobody tell Gordon!)

Dessert was the Pumpkin Cheesecake. Gorgeous, decadent, delicious, and served with a caramel sauce that I could have put a straw in.

A dish of lemon risotto topped with seared scallops and garnished with caramelized onions, served on a white plate. The scallops are golden brown and arranged neatly over the creamy risotto. Text overlay reads Lemon Risotto with Seared Scallops.

Restaurant interior featuring a sign reading The Bedford by Martha Stewart on a tiled wall. The foreground shows a round wooden table with cushioned chairs on a stone floor, under soft overhead lighting.

A pumpkin cheesecake topped with a scoop of ice cream and caramel sauce is served on a white plate. A small white pitcher is beside it on a wooden table. Text reads Pumpkin Cheesecake ❤️ and The Bedford by Martha Stewart.

Time to Work – My Week at Tastemakers

I spent the remainder of the trip attending the Tastemaker Conference, which is a conference designed for food bloggers and food creators. It’s jam packed full of content around optimizing for SEO, photography, technology for bloggers, food brands to work with for partnerships, and business tactics to grow these very real busy businesses.

Audience members seated at a panel discussion event with five people on stage. The backdrop displays sfa and images of spices and herbs. The scene captures a diverse group of attendees and panelists engaged in conversation.

It was so rewarding to finally be in room of over 600 other food bloggers. It can feel so isolating to be working this business on your own island – to be doing all the things, wearing all the hats, convincing yourself to just take a chance on yourself and trust your gut, and get up and do the damn thing everyday. Being around so many other bloggers was enlightening, encouraging, and just so much fun!

Just a Few of the Breakout Sessions I Attended at Tastemaker:

Joanie Simon’s (thebiteshot.com) Photography Skills and Composition Course (Amazing! Joanie is a powerhouse!)
Molly Thompson’s (whatmollymade.com) Crafting Content that Connects – Email Marketing Techniques (Loved this! Molly is the BEST teacher!)
Jacki Chu’s Driving Traffic SEO Lecture (This was so insightful and really helped me understand how to better utilize SEO.)

Those were just a few of my favorites! And I still have a full courseload to attend when I get home! (One of the perks of registering is you get all the virtual classes to watch when you’re able! Incredible!)

A large screen displays an image of a person pouring syrup over a stack of waffles topped with butter. The screen shows a desktop interface with various icons. The setup is in a room with a black tablecloth-covered table below the screen.

We wrapped up Tastemaker with a fun “Sequins and Sneakers” private dinner at Sparrow + Wolf just off the strip. It was so delicious! We enjoyed a full raw bar, an entire suckling pig set up (just amazing to see!), and amazing wine, champagne, and a full table of desserts. The whole night was just spectacular.

Tastemaker outdid themselves with this show and I couldn’t be happier to have attended. I absolutely felt it was worth the trip and I’d invite any of my other blogger friends to consider taking the leap and attending Tastemaker 2026 in Las Angeles, CA next January.

Overall, our trip was wonderful, timely, and just what I needed to get home, get motivated again, and get back in the kitchen. I am so excited to start putting everything that I learned into practice here on A Toasted Crumb for you guys! Stay tuned for more growth, more excitement, and of course more fun!

-Amber

And if you’re still here – check out these fun new snack recipes that just dropped this week!