Sites in Sight

Here are some things that I saw in Las Vegas.

A Holiday Motel, not an Inn, but has the same shape sign as the original Holiday Inn.

The Colorguard getting ready to present the flag at a local awards ceremony.

Do I really have to write a line about this colorful fellow?

Do I have to write a line about this colorful woman?

The world's largest gift shop? Maybe. Who knew there could be so much junk made in China and then shipped so far to be sold for $10 or less?

The Stratosphere, once the tallest amazing tower that looked down on the old Las Vegas Strip. Now, it is just another tower needle that is dwarfed by the mega-hotels down on the lower Strip.

Paris? No, Las Vegas.

The view.

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Site Seeing

Oldtown Las Vegas

Some photos of our trip to the old downtown Las Veags - Freemont St. It is alive and well, and exactly what you would want in Oldtown Las Vegas. There are a lot of junk shops, carts selling junk, and casino's with buffet and steak dinner deals.

The largest TV in the world is the ceiling of the Freemont St Arcade.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

After moving away from Los Angeles, LAX, where the HK's spent a lot of time before TSA shut down access to the gates except for travelers, I forgot all about the HKs. I wonder what they were doing on the Las Vegas old strip? They were not chanting, they were not handing out flowers, they were not doing anything. Do you think they were secretly wanting to gamble, drink alcohol and get their baby a new pair of shoes?

The Cowboy. He is now under the cover of the largest TV, and no longer outside.

Golden Nugget. Who has to keep up with all the lightbulbs?

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Freemont St

We were Golden

We spent time in the old part of glitzy Las Vegas. With the Stardust demolished to dust, where were we going to eat to be totally "old school" Las Vegas? Well, we found the Golden Nugget, one of the oldies but goodies. When I was about to walk into the place, I was expecting to see the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino decorated in the era of the Rat Pack, but with 50 years of wear. I was expecting a worn-out ratty carpet, buzzing fluorescent lights, old worn out felt on the gaming tables, many broken slot machines, cigarette burn marks on everything, and leathery faced employees who have seen better days.

To my surprise, I found a modern, clean, and exciting hotel and casino that would appeal to most anyone who was looking for a Las Vegas vacation. The Golden Nugget was not completely over the top and expansive like the modern lower strip hotels and casinos, but it was large enough to have a little for everyone. We ate at the Golden Nugget buffet and had a view of the pool.

One option at the buffet was roast beast.

On the other side of the room was the dessert counter.

I opted for some of the roast beast, green beans and sushi. There was a sushi guy rolling some sushi, but 1/2 way through my roll, I asked him for just salmon sashimi. He looked at me, a bit annoyed, and then plopped a few slices of salmon on my plate.

Because this was my 2nd buffet outing, I really had to step back from the dessert table and pick wisely. I opted for fruit and jell-o. The berries and jell-o were good. The papaya was not as ripe as I would hoped.

Well, I and my dinner mates pigged out again, so we had to walk it off. To my surprise, we made to down to the pool area. It was really cool! It is a small pool, in Las Vegas terms, and it is located in the center courtyard of the Golden Nugget. There are pool chairs in the shallow part of the pool, so sunbathers can stay cool in the water, but be above water for sipping on a tropical drink. The coolest part of the pool is the giant aquarium in the middle of it. I think that the water slide goes right through the aquarium, for fishy fun.

I really liked going to the Golden Nugget because it is still standing as one of the original and famous casinos in Las Vegas. I like the history of the place back to the days of when gambling, booze and alcohol were "racy". It has not torn-down and mega-rebuild like so many others, rather it has updated the insides. It is like updating the counter tops in your kitchen without changing the structure of the kitchen. I keep hoping that the Golden Nugget continues on holding down the tradition of the old Las Vegas Strip!


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Golden Nugget

Best Buffet on the Strip

The Aladdin Hotel and Casino has a buffet that was voted #1 buffet in Las Vegas by the Las Vegas Review Journal. Not the tourist, not media, but a poll of Las Vegas residents who read the Review Journal. As a matter of fact, there were local Las Vegas people in front of us in line, who always bring out of town guests to this buffet, to show off the best Buffet in Las Vegas. I would have to agree with the poll because there was a great variety of food, 8 stations that represent 8 regions of the world, the food was fresh, the recipes were tasty, and the restaurant was roomy.

As everyone knows, I love food, but the older I get, the less calories I need to eat to maintain my weight. Heading into the #1 buffet in Las Vegas was a little scary for me, thinking that I would dive into heart-unhealthy, fat ladened food. To the contrary, I ate very healthy here! There were lush fresh fruit to choose from. I love pineapple, and here is what the pineapple looked like. It was ripe, juicy and sweet. I loaded that on my plate!

At the Mediterranean station, there were olives, feta, taboulli, babaganoush, hummus, fresh grilled lamb and chicken, and other yummies. There was a fish station with bake sole with spinach, shrimp, mixed seafood stir-fry, sushi rolls, and smoked salmon. There was an Asian station with select dim sum, teriyaki, and fried rice. There was a Mid and South American station with fresh salsas, salads, tortillas and taco ingredients. There was the European station with pasta, ravioli and grilled veggies. Of course there was the American-USA station with mac & cheese, and other stuff, but I got stopped by the mac & cheese because I love mac & cheese.

Here is my plate. I feel it was fairly healthy with smoked salmon, a couple shrimp, grilled asparagus and eggplant, one tiny scoop of white cheddar mac & cheese, pineapple and a Chinese pork bun. Everything was really good, except the pork bun, which I did not eat.

Then, there was the dessert case. I hate wasting food, so I debated on whether to eat dessert or not. Well, I decided to take one bite and be happy with that. I opted for a chocolate cheesecake, and here it is. It was REALLY GOOD! Yes, I only had one bite that I really enjoyed a lot. The next morning, I was kicking myself because I was in Las Vegas, I might as well have indulged because it is Las Vegas, the "Land of Excess". I should have eaten the whole piece of cheesecake. I should have! The next day, I opted to eat dessert to try to make up for not eating the delicious chocolate cheesecake. All the 2nd place had was chocolate cake in the chocolate department, s I ate the cake. It was not the same as the creamy dense goodness of the chocolate cheesecake, and I actually do not like cake that much. So here I am, still thinking about the delicious chocolate cheesecake I had at the Aladdin Hotel and Casino Buffet. Take my advise people, if you go there, and they have chocolate cheesecake, and you like chocolate cheesecake, JUST EAT IT! It is very tasty good!

The lights at the entrance to the Aladdin

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Las Vegas Cheap Eats

Is it possible to eat on the Las Vegas Strip for cheap? Rachel Ray eat your heart out! Yes indeed, it is possible to find a meal with a drink under $5 inlcluding tax and tip. Yes, you read that right. Here it is. One of my friends and I woke early enough, and took a 65 minute walk around the block. You have to understand, that blocks on the strip are about 1 mile square, or about 4 miles around the block. We passed by "Slots A Fun", not Slots o' Fun, or Lots of Fun, but "Slots A Fun". The allure of the slot machines that take pennies and nickels, and food counters saying pizza, subs and hotdogs were too much for us to pass up! We shuffled back to the hotel, collected the others, and walked back to Slots A Fun for our lunchtime meal.

We were not sport fans, but we felt welcomed into Slots A Fun for some fun there! I immediately queued up to the hotdog line, $0.99 per 1/2 lb hotdog, and add $0.50 for a laddle of chili on top. Onions, pickles and relish were free. That would be $1.49 for my meal! And, the best part about it, at the bar, there were $1.50 margaritas. How can you pass up a lunch for under $3 on the Strip?

Here is my lunch in all its glory! A 1/2 lb hotdog smothered in chili and sprinkle of onion. All that for less than $1.50! Amazing!


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Cheap Eats Las Vegas

Las Vegas Asian

I got a really early start on my trip to Las Vegas. I got to the airport early, my plane was on time, and I got into Las Vegas by 10:30 am. There was about a 1/2 hour time delay with the airport shuttle, the driver forgot to give luggage to riders who got off at an earlier stop, and we had to double back in traffic to find the luggage-less people. I finally settle into my hotel, and I look for a magazine for places to get lunch. The hotel book says, "Ask the concierge." I travel down to the front desk, and I ask where I might be able to get some good Japanese sushi or really good Chinese, as Nashville is lacking in quality in these two foods. The concierge said, "Oh, the best place is P. F. Changs! You can take the trolley bus to get there!" OK, no tip for the concierge because P. F. Changs is not that good, and is a freakin' chain that is Chinese food answer to O'Charley's trying to an Irish Pub. Disgusted, I walked outside to wait for this trolley bus that runs every 10 min. and that everyone talked about. 1/2 hour later, I found myself walking to the closest monorail stop. Finally at about 1 pm, I was finally on the move away from the hotel to lunch.

I took the monorail to the Flamingo, and crossed the street to the newly built Ceaser's. The Ceaser's has the biggest mall with Jimmy Choo's shoes, a casino with penny slots, a bunch of restaurants to choose from. The one that caught my eye was Hyakumi off the Ceaser's conference center and casino floor. Hyakumi is not listed in any of the fliers or where to eat tourist books that I picked up along my walk, so I would have never found it if I just did not start walking around the strip. The concept of this restaurant is 1/2 Japanese and 1/2 Chinese food. They had Japanese sushi, tempura and udon, and they had Chinese roasted pork, roasted duck, fried rice and noodles. The best part was that the dishes were not too terribly expensive either.

There were quite a few Asian people eating at Hyakumi's. I suspect that they were all yearning for a little home cooking fo noodles, and rice after eating all sorts of other foods during their trip to Las Vegas. Perhaps they all had hopes like me for getting a little Asian soul food before departing the Ceaser's hotel and conference center.

So, I opted for a few pieces of sushi and a noodle soup bowl. The sushi I opted for were my favorites of yellowtail and salmon, and I also got fatty tuna belly toro. I cannot get toro anywhere in Nashville, nor anywhere for 200 mile radius. If I could, I would not trust eating it anyway. Hyakumi's toro was very rich and buttery. The toro was possibly the best toro I have had in over 25 years, and I am not exaggerating. The toro standard is the memory of toro I had in Boston in the 1980s at one of the first sushi and finest bars in Boston. At that time, we would go fairly often, and the chefs got to know us and give us the best trimmed pieces of fish. Ceaser's Hyakumi's toro tuna was just that good. When I go back to Las Vegas, this little restaurant is on my list to visit again, so I hope it is there!

The bowl of soup I ordered was supposed to be thin Chinese wheat noodles with baby bok choy and sliced roasted red pork. I asked for them to make my soup with white udon because it is my favorite noodle for soup, and Hyakumi's was glad to do that. They parked the giant bowl in front of me, and I was in heaven! The bowl looked like a bowl of soup you would be able to get in a New York Chinatown noodle soup shop (except I asked for udon). I heard a couple other diners around me say, "Oh, that big bowl of soup looks awesome!" It was. I cannot find red roasted pork in Nashville anywhere, and my failure to be able to cook it in my own home has been sad for me. I was happy and pleased to be able to eat it as my first meal on my Las Vegas vacation!


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