:: Life on Planet Dan-E ::

:: Tuesday, August 12, 2003 ::

It’s been a good ten years since my last trek out to Las Vegas and I was curious as to see how much it’s changed. Well, it’s brighter, flashier, and a bit more gaudy. And I enjoyed almost every minute I was there. (I’ll explain the “almost” later on.)

Instead of a hotel I stayed at my friend’s parent’s house (who happened to be out of town that weekend). I’ve heard that the newer hotels are posh but this house was very nice. Big TV, comfy bed, A/C, a decent pool, and fridge stocked with sodas. We left Friday night and arrived about a half past midnight. After changing he took us to a place called “Palms.” A nice enough hotel/casino… actually they’re all hotel/casinos… that he likes since his luck is usually good there. He tried to explain craps to me but I just ended up watching him and making flirty eye contact with one of the girls working the chips at the table. He left on the plus side and we just walked around a little bit with our free beers. We ended up at another place eating an $8.99 prime rib dinner (which included a beer =)) at 3:30 in the morning. Only in Vegas would this feel normal. And only in Vegas would an $8.99 prime rib be pretty good.

We spent most of Saturday afternoon doing stupid touristy stuff, walking from hotel to hotel. Did I mention that it was 110 with 30% humidity the whole weekend? We visited Paris, Aladdin, Mandalay Bay, Bellagio, and the Venetian, but not before placing bets on the day’s baseball games. Since I’m having some decent success with my fantasy baseball team, I thought I'd do ok here. We had lunch at the Venetian at this one Italian place. We started off with a salt cod dish of some sort, which was pretty good. I ate a proscuitto, basil, and mozzarella pizza, which was excellent. I probably liked that hotel the best since it houses some pretty good art work on the walls and ceiling in some parts of the shopping area. I don’t know how closely it approximates the paintings in Italy but I thought it was cool. Just before leaving he wanted to play the “Wheel of Fortune” slot machine. He’s had average luck with this machine in the past but I don’t know if it was just stupid beginner’s luck but he told me to spin a few times and guess what… we won. Big. I was having an excellent weekend, let me tell you. He dubbed me his new good luck charm.

We went back home to relax for a little bit before our big night out. I took a quick dip in the pool to try escape the heat. Our plans for that night was visiting his favorite steakhouse, heading out to the Hard Rock, and then visiting MGM Grand and New York-New York.

The steakhouse was called Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse. Remember what I wrote about Fleming’s Steakhouse a couple of weeks ago? Well, this place was slightly, yet noticeably better. The beefsteak tomato salad was good, the creamed spinach was scrumptious, and the Porterhouse Steak was absolutely divine. I ordered it charred rare, as I usually do and luxuriated in every bite, all 24 ounces worth. The quality of the steak was excellent, and the kitchen did a terrific job of cooking it up exactly the way it was ordered. A nice, crusty outside complementing the glowing red, juicy inside. You couldn’t ask for a better cut of beef. The wine was another California Cabernet, this time something called Plumpjack. It was a little fruitier tasting than the Trilogy we had last time and, befitting its price, it was quite good. About that price, he said to me “don’t make this a habit.” Nah. I’m still a beer guy.

We tried our luck at the Hard Rock but we weren’t able to duplicate our afternoon success. Fortunately we came back enough to leave almost even. The highlight of that place was seeing a display case of one of Stevie Ray Vaughn’s guitars. That was a very ethereal moment for me.

The MGM and New York were nice but luck wasn’t very nice there either. I didn’t play but my buddy tried his hand at craps and couldn't get anything going. It seemed the guys at that table were throwing nothing but sevens. Geez. About that “almost” part. I hated watching him lose money like that and there were several times I wanted to yell “g@#d da^^it, stop throwing sevens!!!” It’s ok though. He came back to even later that night at the black jack tables.

There was this nightclub called Tabu that he really wanted to visit. I was skeptical at first but he needed a lift after what happened so I agreed, though I didn’t think we get in since this place had an “upscale and trendy” dress code and I happen to be neither (I'm not necessarily referring to my clothes). We finally did get in, and I was kinda reminded of why I don’t go clubbing. Not that this was a bad place, if anything it was pretty classy. But I don’t usually care for rooms packed with people while being inundated with extremely loud, monotonous, bass-heavy dance music. I mostly stood around with my beer while he walked around and did his thing. After a while, I moved around a little bit to check things out (that and I wanted another beer). It occurred to me then that I really don’t have a clue as to what to do at these types of places. It was virtually impossible to talk, I can't dance, all the seats were taken, and I don’t know if it was couple’s night but all the good-looking chicks were there with their boyfriends. So I went to the bar and flirted a little bit with the bartender (an attractive blonde) while ordering an overpriced beer. Now, I don’t care if it’s from Belgium or that it’s flavored with raspberries. Twelve freakin’ dollars?!? Gawd. I think she was impressed that I ordered that particular bottle since it seemed the most popular drink there was Corona. Either that or she thought I was a high roller. (Nah.) She just seemed to be paying more attention to me than most other guys, even coming back a few times to ask me how my beer was. She even mentioned that it’s the only beer she can drink. Yes I’m fully aware that she could have simply been working me so I'd buy more drinks – meaning more tips for her – but two was enough for me and... frankly I don’t care =P

Afterward, he tried blackjack again and ended up ok. The funniest part of that session was that the dealer thought I was his bodyguard. He’s not a big guy and while I’m not huge, I’m a gorilla next to him. Not as hairy but almost as ugly. It didn’t help that he played along. I guess guys with a lot of money being escorted by a bodyguard isn’t unusual there. I got another laugh about that later. What happened was I got bored and walked over to the bar to watch SportsCenter. The dealer pointed out that his “bodyguard” was leaving and he replied “it’s ok. He has to feed.” I should point out, he gets really funny when he's had a few.

Sunday was relatively uneventful. We started off with another round of baseball parlays, which we both lost by one game. Last time I listen to him. We had a delicious Sunday brunch buffet that had all the standard breakfast fare as well as various meats, Mexican food, Chinese food, and seafood. I had a slice of their prime rib and let me tell you, no buffet this affordable has any right serving prime rib this good. Ironically, that was the only buffet I went to all weekend.

I walked around Caesar’s Palace afterwards debating whether or not to purchase some new sunglasses with my newfound riches but decided against it when I couldn’t find the Oakleys that I liked. Our last meal at Vegas was an Irish Pub that caters to Pittsburgh Steelers fans during the football season. Rumor has it that this pub was originally built in Dublin and was brought over and rebuilt brick by brick, panel by panel. True or not, I loved it. THAT is my kind of restaurant. Friendly, casual, and lively atmosphere, good food (my corned beef sandwich was very nice) and a very impressive number or Irish and British beers on tap. If there’s one place I’d want to come back to in Vegas, this is it.

Can I tell ya? I had a lot of fun. Vegas isn’t really my kind of town but I needed to get away for a little bit and it turned out to be a great weekend.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 12:31 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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