Las Vegas Afternoon Adventure at The Venetian: Black Tap Craft Burgers, The Sphere Experience, and Minus5 ICEBAR #weekendgourmettravel #lasvegas #vegasfun #whathappensinvegas

This Summer, The Weekend Gourmet enjoyed a quick getaway to Las Vegas for some serious FUN! After a busy few months relocating back to the Houston area from San Antonio, we definitely needed to let off some steam...so Vegas was a perfect destination! Our home base was The Venetian Resort. It was a great location, near a TON of great restaurants and attractions. From the glamourous, ornate lobby and public spaces...to the wide variety of onsite dining, shopping, and gaming? We literally had everything we needed for a great stay within The Venetian Resort's huge resort complex!

Today, I'm sharing our itinerary for an afternoon of adventure based at The Venetian. We started with lunch at Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer, then we headed to Sphere for a mind-blowing immersive movie experience, and we wrapped up our afternoon with cocktails at the uniquely "cool" Minus5° ICEBAR. Best of all? We enjoyed all three activities without ever stepping foot in the 110℉ scorching Vegas Summer heat! Black Tap and ICEBAR are both located inside the Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian. Sphere is connected to The Venetian via a convenient air conditioned indoor pedestrian walkway. This is an afternoon of fun that any Vegas visitor can enjoy...and it's family-friendly to boot!

We started our afternoon fun with lunch at Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer for creative craft burgers...and their signature over-the-top Crazyshakes® milkshakes. Black Tap is located steps from The Venetian's casino area, just inside The Grand Canal Shoppes. Black Tap started in New York and has expanded to seven locations -- including Las Vegas. We started our meal by sharing the Hot Chili Fried Pickles appetizer. The pickles were served hot and super crispy...with a definite spicy kick. These addicting little bites are served with cooling house made buttermilk-dill dressing for dipping. With one bite, we couldn't stop eating them!

This big-flavor appetizer was a great start to our meal. Next up? It was time for burgers! Michael chose The Wagyu Steakhouse Burger. This award-winning burger features a half-pound Wagyu beef burger, spicy pepper Jack cheese, bacon, crispy fried onions, A1 sauce, and roasted garlic mayo. It's definitely a two-napkin burger...so flavorful!

For my burger, I opted for the bun-less Black Tap Burger Craft Salad. It includes a medium cooked prime burger patty topped with melted American cheese and bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, a dill pickle spear, scallions, pickled red onions, and a tangy-spicy Special Sauce.

This hearty entree salad has all the flavors that I love in a traditional bacon cheeseburger...with more healthy veggies and fewer carbs. The tart pickled onions really cut through the richness of the burger, cheese, and bacon. I really appreciated that Black Tap offers this salad option! 

For dessert, we ordered a pair of Black Tap's signature Crazyshakes®. These over-the-top milkshakes are creative...and incredibly fun! There are a ton of yummy options to appeal to any flavor profile you may want. Flavors on the menu include the Cookie Shake, Brooklyn Blackout, Cookies & Cream, Cinnamon Bun, and Strawberry Shortcake. We chose The Cakeshake® and the New Yorker. We even got to watch our Crazyshakes® 

being assembled in the open-concept prep area. It was a blast to watch our colorful, stacked shakes being created from start to finish. Black Tap's decadent Crazyshakes® are perfect for sharing. But? Since "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas"? We decided to order two shakes for twice the fun! Were we up for this challenge? 

Michael picked the New Yorker, a strawberry shake served in a glass with a vanilla-frosted rim flavored with crushed graham crackers. This shake is topped with a slice of strawberry cheesecake, whipped cream, and fresh strawberries. Richly decadent, this shake is perfect for anyone who loves berries...and cheesecake!

The Cakeshake® was my pick. This cake batter flavored shake is served in a vanilla-frosted rimmed glass decorated with colorful rainbow sprinkles. It's topped with a slice of Funfetti cake, more rainbow sprinkles, whipped cream, and a cherry on top. If you love cake...this is the Crazyshake® for you. It's also a perfect option for a Vegas birthday celebration!

The first order of business when our Crazyshakes® were served was to determine the best way to eat it. While there are likely many ways to enjoy these shakes, this is what worked for us. We personally found it easiest to move the cheesecake and cake slice on top of our shakes to small plates on the side...then take small bites of them as we sipped the actual shakes. Crazyshakes® are literally like having two desserts at once...so they're quite rich. I definitely recommend our strategy to order two shakes and enjoy a bit of both!

Photograph from Sphere Las Vegas

With that, our lunch at Black Tap was over. Next up was The Sphere Experience to watch Postcard from Earth. Getting to Sphere from Black Tap/The Venetian is super easy. From the casino area, signs will direct you to the convenient indoor pedestrian walkway that connects The Venetian and Sphere. The walk is just over a mile and takes 15-20 minutes. Along the way, there are employees holding large signs that direct you specifically where to walk. If you're not familiar with Sphere, it's a state-of-the-art 360-foot domed entertainment venue. The exterior is a 580,000-square-foot programmable LED display that shows a wide range of eye-popping visuals that constantly change.

Photo from The Venetian Las Vegas Resort

NOTE: Because I have residual walking endurance issues due to my stroke, I was grateful to discover a disability checkpoint with wheelchair attendants at the halfway point of the Venetian-Sphere walkway. From there, I was wheeled directly to our seats. Sphere also has special Accessibility Services for people in wheelchairs...and for people like me who have reduced mobility issues.

The two-part Sphere Experience lasts approximately 95 minutes. For the first half of the time, visitors can view holographic art and chat with a robot as they head to their seats. The remainder of the time is spent watching Darren Aronofsky's  

Postcard from Earth. This multi-sensory movie was filmed in lifelike 18K resolution and is shown on the World's largest high-def screen. No matter how I describe the in-person Sphere experience...I fear it simply won't be adequate to do it justice. I will say this: watching a movie inside Sphere is a mind-blowing once-in-a-lifetime experience. The screen goes from floor to ceiling. For reference, the interior is tall enough to fit the Statue of Liberty inside! The screen also completely wraps around your field of vision. The end result is an immersive movie-watching experience. Here's a short video snippet I shot from our seats to give you some idea what the scope of the movie is like:

Postcard from Earth is a true multi-sensory experience. Special enhancements include seat haptics -- vibrations coordinated with screen activity, the sensation of movement coordinated with screen activity, flashing lights, visual effects, a few loud noises, and atmospheric simulations (fog, scent, and wind). The end result is a feeling of being an actual part of the movie. I've never experienced anything like it before! Just look how vivid and lifelike this huge close-up shot of a praying mantis is:

Whether you visit Sphere to see Postcard from Earth, a concert, or other special event...it's simply a must-see experience for any Las Vegas trip! Ticket prices vary depending on which show you see...the date/time you visit...and where your seats are located. For example only: we had tickets for a weekday afternoon Sphere Experience. Our seats were just right of center in the 200 Level -- which is located just above the stage/floor area. Our tickets were $79 each plus taxes and fees. Truly worth every single penny!

After our visit to Sphere, we made our way back to The Venetian to enjoy some late-afternoon drinks at the uniquely fun Minus 5° ICEBAR. It's located on Level 2 of The Venetian's Grand Canal Shoppes. What a fun way to beat the Las Vegas heat! Literally everything inside ICEBAR is made of ice...the walls, seating, bar, and even the glasses you drink from! Choose your admission package at check-in. Then, you’re given knit gloves and a parka or faux fur coat to wear. Some packages also include a souvenir cap. Once you're warmly dressed for the -5℃ bar (that's 23℉!), it's time to enter an icy wonderland! 

Once inside, you order from a bar made entirely of ice. The drink menu features lots of great cocktails options -- as well as alcohol-free mocktails and hot chocolate! Then, you sip your mixology creations from glasses made entirely of ice...while sitting at tables/chairs or couches also made of ice. It's such a fun and unique experience that's perfect for a Vegas getaway. As you chill out and enjoy your drinks, upbeat music plays in the background. Admission includes two Ice Cocktails per person, and most people stay inside the chilly bar for about an hour. There are several options to visit Minus 5° ICEBAR. Our package was the V-ICE-P Experience & Polar Passport ($79 per person).

This top-of-the-line experience includes faux fur coat or parka and gloves, souvenir ICEBAR logo knit cap to keep, two Ice Cocktails, and re-entry with coat at all THREE Las Vegas ICEBAR locations. We stepped inside, ordered our first round of drinks: Irish Cream hot chocolate for me...and a fruity tropical cocktail for Michael. We sat on ice chairs at a table made from solid ice...and toasted to our trip!

Not staying at/near The Venetian? No problem! There are two other Minus 5° ICEBAR locations on The Strip -- at The LINQ Promenade and The Shoppes at Mandalay Bay. For those who don't drink alcohol, ICEBAR offers several hot chocolate and mocktail options. They also have a beverage-free package that's perfect for people who just want to cool off from the Vegas heat. Visiting Vegas with the kids? No problem! ICEBAR has family-friendly admissions for kids ages 7-12 until 900 each evening.

With that, our fun Las Vegas daytime itinerary was complete by 600 p.m. That gave us plenty of time to go back to our spacious suite to rest up a bit before getting ready to enjoy a little Vegas After Dark!

Disclosure: The Venetian Resort provided us a suite upgrade and provided us with a variety of complimentary amenities. Black Tap and minus5° ICEBAR also provided us with complimentary visits to accommodate this feature. All opinions are solely my own. Unless noted, photographs are The Weekend Gourmet original source material.