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Las Vegas
JACKPOTTTT!!!!
4/20/11 - Yeah, right! I wish!
Mom always thinks I'm good luck, and since I was coming along with her for the first time since I was a little kid, she thought for sure, one of us was gonna strike it biiiggg!!! But then again, every time she comes, which is about once a year, she always thinks she's gonna strike it big! Meanwhile, Kumi is so darn competitive, she thinks she's gonna win simply because she has to win at everything! Wifey's the only adult I know who gives the beat-down to our little nieces and nephews while playing Sorry or Stratego! And yeah, I guess hidden deep-down, somewhere inside my generally idealistic mind, I can't say I didn't have at least a glimmer of hope as well - the last time I played, as a kid when they were still using coins, I started with a few coins, then filled a whole bucket's worth, then won two whole buckets more! Of course, I quickly and subsequently proceeded to give it all back - one bucket to my brothers, one bucket to mom, and one bucket to the $5 machine! Yep, lost it all real quick, but only after drawing a small crowd with all my winnings! Fun, fun, fun!!!
Like I said before, the only reason I came to Vegas was that Kumi has never been here before, and mom has been begging me for over a decade - plus, the $499 price through Vacations Hawaii, for airfare, hotel, shuttle, and meals for 5 days and nights was close to ridiculous. Even more ridiculous, I hear it actually dropped down to $399 during a short window! Either way, that's cheaper than a 30-minute flight and short stay on Kauai, Maui, or the Big Island!
And sorry to say, just like when we were in Scandinavia and especially Norway, the most expensive country in the world, we couldn't afford the hottest spots around. It'd be nice hitting the culinary jackpot at places like Joel Robuchon, Thomas Keller's Bouchon, or Emiril Lagasse's Delmonico, but that surely wasn't gonna be happening, not this time. When? Who knows? All I know is that this was the cheap trip, slipped-in through the back-door, off the map, without paid vacation time. I know it's highly disappointing news for any foodie site, but yeah, we did use most of our food coupons, and you know what that means - California, Freemont, and Main St. restaurants! Whoopeee!!!
But hey, even though we actually did pay for our meals at the slot machines, when you consider "Free" food (sometimes $2-$3) and $1 beer over the course of 5 days, I'd call it all a wash, yes? Besides, a huge buffet available for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, just downstairs and next to the casino for ultimate convenience, has its benefits. At least for Downtown, Main Street's Garden Court Buffet is considered the best buffet around, especially during seafood nights - gimme all-you-can-eat snow crab, and I'm aaalll good!!!
We all personally know plenty of hard-core Vega-files, and the ones I know all speak of Main Street Station as the best of your coupon choices. Me? I would beg to differ. To tell you the truth, I wasn't really impressed by their buffet. I thought it was comparable to any in Waikiki, only their fruits, Asian items, and fresh fish choices weren't nearly as good - no poke and pineapples, after all. Every morning, I kept hoping for more varieties of fresh fruits to off-set all the other unhealthy meals, but I guess in certain areas, it's tough competing with tropical Hawaii!
Though I've heard many saying California's main restaurant is not worth the time, I believe it held one big advantage over Main Street - there's no buffet outside of a salad bar, but only made-to-order dishes! While a fancy buffet may carry the allure of sensory overload and Wow-factor, when you're dining day after day, mass-made foods grow old real quick, and you just may be craving for a meal made fresh, just for you! At California, there's a special menu section offering scott-free items (or close to it) for coupon book holders, and one of those I highly recommend is their butterfish, though they do charge $2 extra with coupon. Knowing that all of these Downtown hotels cater to Hawaii tourists, they not only have dishes like butterfish, which was excellent and presented in generous portions, but also saimin (never tried) and thick-cut short rib, kalbi-style (not bad at all)!
Top-left, clockwise: miso butterfish, batter-fried mahimahi, thick-cut short rib, and Prime Rib.
But if there's one recommendation that is an absolute must with your coupon books, it's the Prime Rib. And not just any Prime Rib. On your very last night, you have to request your "Last-night Prime Rib." During my many years working Waikiki Hotels and Convention/Ballroom sites, I've tasted lots and lots of the stuff, but this one was simply the best I've had anywhere. It was ridiculously soft, ridiculously juicy, and ridiculously tasty. You heard it from me - try it, or you snooze you looz!
An even less-mentioned coupon-eligible restaurant is located a short walk over, at the Freemont Hotel, where sits Paradise Cafe. It was much smaller, but still not bad. The prime rib was good, and the availability of any kind of fresh crab, even stone crab, always helps:
Meanwhile, I've been told that the Aloha Specialties restaurant at California did some pretty ono kine local grindz, but their saimin and fried saimin are really bad, while their burgers not much better. Perhaps I should have ordered kalbi, teriyaki chicken, locomoco, or other types of plate lunch stuff!
And finally, the other big restaurant at Main Street is Triple 7. It is fun, well-decored, and typical of Mainland micro-brew's in every way. Sorry Greg, but for some reason, I didn't get around to ordering a big Western burger, as I hear the burgers are pretty darn good. Here's what we did try:
Garlic fries, oysters, deep-fried calamari, prime rib, and pepperoni pizza
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Actually, the only thing good here was their pizza. The fries were horridly dry and cold upon presentation, the oysters were ok, the calamari, waaay over-battered, the prime rib dry, and my goodness, what am I doing coming to a place like this and ordering sushi???
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The salmon was very bland and the rice, absolutely horrific. My fault for trying.
Whatever the case, I was still happy with the place, as you can't beat the atmosphere and good draft, especially their house Pale Ale, which was hoppy but much milder than most in its class, making for easy drinking all night long. A few tall one's, along with pizza, burgers, and ambience, and that's all I ever need!
There's only one other restaurant, outside of fast-food or a quick salad or sandwich, that we experienced of note, but we'll wait another time for that story, if ever. Otherwise, there is some excitement to speak of Downtown, if not a bit old-school and cheesy compared to the Strip. Pass the shady set of characters on the short walk from California to the Freemont St. Experience, and by day, it's a domed street fronted by many of your big players Downtown - Freemont, 4 Queens, Binion's, Golden Nugget, etc - and oh, yeah, the ABC store to stock-up on all your cheap bottled water needs!
By night, however, the place transforms into an electric wonderland of colors and a wide, open sidewalk filled with entertainment, dancing in the streets, and general revelry! Worth a look-see, for sure! All pics taken without any digital darkroom effects whatsoever, BTW!
That's not to say we didn't hit the Strip. There's a good bus shuttle between there and Downtown where we were staying, so we spent two whole days on the new side, walking from hotel to hotel. I kinda regret not opening up the wallet a little more with all the great restaurants and bars everywhere, and also not catching a show for Kumi to see at least once (I prefer New York-style plays to Vegas-style shows!), but like I said, this was supposed to be a quick, cheap vacation for us - we're still saving for another big one later!
With all the incredible eateries around, this is definitely not the best place to test your monetary disciplines!
One spot in particular, found in the maze of cool corridors at Ceasars, was especially eye-opening and almost over-the-top amazing. I checked on Yelp for its reviews and found them mixed, but whether or not you like their fresh-made, hand-pulled noodles, Beijing Noodle House #9 is quite the site, and if only we decided to actually eat at any of these spots, you can bet I'd be here, even if just for the atmosphere itself!
I don't know why, but I kinda thought the classic, older hotels like Luxor, Excalibur, Ceasars, Mirage, and New York, NY would be showing signs of aging by now, but I guess renovations are constantly done, and they look as new and as sharp as ever! And some of these relatively newer ones like the Venetian, Wynn, and Mandalay Bay? Wowee!!! Pretty darn incredible! Anyone out there know how they compare to Macau casino's?
Vegas is one cool place indeed. Before leaving, here's a few more random shots:
Tulips at Bellagio
Fountain at Venetian
Inside shots at New York, NY
Kumi at the Fashion Show Mall and Sweet Dreams
Ceasars Palace
Canals at Venetian, outside and in
Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay
Dry-aging USDA Prime Beef at Gallagher's, New York, NY
Gardens at Bellagio
Hey, hey - you all have a great and wonderful week! Been checking out a slew of new spots in Honolulu! Tell you all about 'em soon!
Oh, I'm not really posting comments anymore, but I've been going back and forth with Alan (not Big Al!), who was kind enough to pass-on some info that may be useful for those out there. He goes there like, every few weeks, so he should know! We've been mostly saying how the buffet at Main Street isn't so hot, and the Prime Rib at California is great, especially at the Redwood Bar & Grill (though it's not a coupon item at Redwood, and comparable in price to Hawaii). Read on for his other recommendations at Suncoast and California hotels below. Thanks Alan!
Take care and Aloha from Vegas!
Alan's Comments on Vegas:
Sun Coast Casino
The suites are big and very nice. Even better appointed and “classier” than the suites at the Cal. They also have all kinds of stuff there for entertainment (besides gambling). They have a 24 hour, 24 lane full bowling alley. They have a full blown movie theatre with the typical snack and candy counter – candies, hot dogs, popcorn, etc. My wife got some popcorn, even though she did not see a movie. They have a very large and nice pool and bar, they have a 100+ video game arcade for the kids, and they have a spa and a fitness center.
Now for the food places. They have a full blown bakery with very good stuff. I did not eat, but noticed some gigantic muffins and turnovers. My wife bought half and half a dozen muffins and turnovers to take to a friend at the Cal the morning we were leaving the Sun Coast. They have push carts on the casino floor with sandwiches, hot dogs, hamburgers, etc. etc. etc. They have a very nice buffet – about on par with the Main Street buffet, but without “local kine” dishes. They have, of course, coffee shop. We ate one dinner at the Oyster Bar – typical Seafood Restaurant, but we ate sashimi (very good and fresh – I had hamachi, maguro, and smoked salmon). I had a couple nigiris and my wife had a shrimp tempura roll. She also ordered a plate of pan fried breaded oysters – very nice and good.
One morning, we ate the buffet to try it. Lots of items, but nothing spectacular to write home about. But they had a few things that I ate a lot of that I liked. They had lox and bagels with real lox, cream cheese, tomatoes, capers, red onion slices, etc. and a big bowl of pickled herring in sour cream sauce. I ate a lot! And they had a whole, smoked, bone-in baked ham, which was super delicious!
They have an Italian Restaurant whose menu looked great, but we had a hosted dinner with the boss at the Steakhouse, so I wasn’t able to eat my Italian favorites – Osso Bucco, Veal Chop, or Veal Scallopini. At the SC Steakhouse, I had bone-in rib steak, veggies, brussel sprouts with bacon, baked potato, and for an appetizer I had oysters on the half shell. My wife had the same entrée but she also had baked oysters Rockefeller. She had chocolate cake for dessert --- very good and nice dinner. I had a couple of 25 year old Macallan scotches for my cocktails and I brought three bottles of super premium wine from home to share with the other dinner couple and the boss. All-in-all, good eats all around.
California Hotel and Casino
Just wanted to tell you that when we went to the Cal, we had Mother’s Day brunch at the Main Street Buffet. I mention this because they had their typical big buffet, but a couple of special things for Mother’s Day. They had oxtail stew (I had two bowls, like six tail segments), turkey, roast loin of pork, prime rib, and also something I really enjoyed – they called it Peking duck, but it really wasn’t. It was duck quarters (leg and thigh sections) basted with some Chinese BBQ sauce (I could taste the Hoisin sauce) and baked. I normally do not like Hoisin, but this one was cooked just right and tasted great. And I ate a big plateful of chow mein too – their chow mein is pretty similar to gon lo mein, so I liked it with hot Chinese mustard.
So again, just giving you an “eating” update.
Alan
The suites are big and very nice. Even better appointed and “classier” than the suites at the Cal. They also have all kinds of stuff there for entertainment (besides gambling). They have a 24 hour, 24 lane full bowling alley. They have a full blown movie theatre with the typical snack and candy counter – candies, hot dogs, popcorn, etc. My wife got some popcorn, even though she did not see a movie. They have a very large and nice pool and bar, they have a 100+ video game arcade for the kids, and they have a spa and a fitness center.
Now for the food places. They have a full blown bakery with very good stuff. I did not eat, but noticed some gigantic muffins and turnovers. My wife bought half and half a dozen muffins and turnovers to take to a friend at the Cal the morning we were leaving the Sun Coast. They have push carts on the casino floor with sandwiches, hot dogs, hamburgers, etc. etc. etc. They have a very nice buffet – about on par with the Main Street buffet, but without “local kine” dishes. They have, of course, coffee shop. We ate one dinner at the Oyster Bar – typical Seafood Restaurant, but we ate sashimi (very good and fresh – I had hamachi, maguro, and smoked salmon). I had a couple nigiris and my wife had a shrimp tempura roll. She also ordered a plate of pan fried breaded oysters – very nice and good.
One morning, we ate the buffet to try it. Lots of items, but nothing spectacular to write home about. But they had a few things that I ate a lot of that I liked. They had lox and bagels with real lox, cream cheese, tomatoes, capers, red onion slices, etc. and a big bowl of pickled herring in sour cream sauce. I ate a lot! And they had a whole, smoked, bone-in baked ham, which was super delicious!
They have an Italian Restaurant whose menu looked great, but we had a hosted dinner with the boss at the Steakhouse, so I wasn’t able to eat my Italian favorites – Osso Bucco, Veal Chop, or Veal Scallopini. At the SC Steakhouse, I had bone-in rib steak, veggies, brussel sprouts with bacon, baked potato, and for an appetizer I had oysters on the half shell. My wife had the same entrée but she also had baked oysters Rockefeller. She had chocolate cake for dessert --- very good and nice dinner. I had a couple of 25 year old Macallan scotches for my cocktails and I brought three bottles of super premium wine from home to share with the other dinner couple and the boss. All-in-all, good eats all around.
California Hotel and Casino
Just wanted to tell you that when we went to the Cal, we had Mother’s Day brunch at the Main Street Buffet. I mention this because they had their typical big buffet, but a couple of special things for Mother’s Day. They had oxtail stew (I had two bowls, like six tail segments), turkey, roast loin of pork, prime rib, and also something I really enjoyed – they called it Peking duck, but it really wasn’t. It was duck quarters (leg and thigh sections) basted with some Chinese BBQ sauce (I could taste the Hoisin sauce) and baked. I normally do not like Hoisin, but this one was cooked just right and tasted great. And I ate a big plateful of chow mein too – their chow mein is pretty similar to gon lo mein, so I liked it with hot Chinese mustard.
So again, just giving you an “eating” update.
Alan
