BLVD is the new three-story retail complex on the Strip across from City Center that replaced the old Hawaiian Marketplace. It’s a slick-looking destination that spans 700 feet of Strip frontage and includes 400,000 square feet on three floors, including a large rooftop terrace (the “Overlook”). It appears more prominent than it actually is so far, with only eight stores (ABC, Abercrombie and Fitch, Adidas, H&M, JD, Lululemon, Pandora, and Puma); Puma has three interactive experiences on the second floor. The world’s largest In N Out Burger is under construction on the roof.
The only eatery at BLVD so far is How Ya Dough’n Pizzeria, also the only open business on the third floor; it launched in mid-December. Curious about BLVD, In N Out, and How Ya Dough’n, we visited on the pizza place’s first day. You walk to the south end of BLVD, where an escalator delivers you to the third floor; you meander a bit around to the front of the terrace until you come to the pizzeria.
The huge two-story In N Out Burger has a ways to go; other in-progress storefronts on the third floor appear to be more food outlets. As of now, however, How Ya Dough’n is it up there. When In N Out opens, people will walk by the pizza, but currently, it’s far off the beaten path and we wonder how long it can survive the status quo.
The back story is a young couple in south Florida, marooned by the pandemic, started making pizzas for family and friends; when they “discovered” sourdough, it was the game-changer and they opened their first location in Boynton Beach. The BLVD venue is their fourth.
Three menus over the cash register are all the same: small and hard to see (no paper menus when we were there to get a closer look). Also, bring your credit card — no cash accepted. They sell only pies, no slices; the 12-inch has four. The two kinds of pizzas come with tomato sauce and the usual cheese, pepperoni, and meatballs, while the no-sauce are just cheese and toppings, such as pistachio, mushrooms, garlic/honey, and sausage. The 12-inchers are $14-$20, the 16s are $28-$30 — gourmet pizza prices.
They also sell four salads and “hot stuff,” wings and meatballs (all $16-$18).
We got a 16-inch half-pepperoni and half-meatball. Three of us agreed that they were a bit stingy with the toppings. Also, the big-sell sourdough crust, apparently super-popular in south Florida, was decent, though barely sour, especially compared to Yukon Pizza’s 120-year-old starter dough (where the most expensive large is $22; see LVA 6/23 for our review). How Ya Dough’n’s $29 ($36 with tax and tip) was definitely a Strip tab. Finally, we walked in, but if you have to pay for parking, add $20 to the bill and it’s yet another example of stunted value and questionable quality in Big Casino Land.
A very interesting article (for me anyway), just posted in The Economist on the lengths smart money bettors go to once they’ve been ID’d. Mostly referring to UK betting, there’s plenty of info for U.S. bettors too.
I don’t consider myself “smart.” Possibly enlightened. Maybe swimming with the smarts, happy being a catfish, a scuffler.
When North Carolina opened sports betting, like any half-conscious advantage player, I took every sign up, netting over $1,000 (then used my NFL futures strategy, which I’m told is NOT smart, though I won three out of four seasons, then stopped).
But what really struck me in the article wasn’t just the inventive covers smarts used to avoid detection and get their bets in (like using beards, especially whales), but how thoroughly the books could detect and ID a square or a smart by the first bet, or sooner.
Did you use a debit card (square, good) or e cash? (smart, bad). Male? Or female? (Bad.) Type of bet placed? When was it placed? At posting? Bad. Are your bets smarter than the house’s from day one? (Very bad.)
Though illegal in some states, the smarts’ bets were restricted immediately.
The continuing automation of gaming makes it harder every day to implement advantage plays. It becomes increasingly important not just to play smart, but also coy or with covers. Or both. Using every advantage you can.
A Huntington Press book on blackjack strategy focused on how to effectively throw off the house by making certain bets that LOOKED square, but barely affected the player’s edge. Taking the minimal loss in edge was worth it compared to the reduced house heat.
In sports betting, a simple strategy is to throw in parlays. They’ll leave you alone.
There are areas in electronic game software that appear to deploy additional randomization when the software detects betting patterns particularly in e-roulette.
When e-roulette first came out, many games were deployed without software pattern-detection settings. Certain bias patterns occurred that could be exploited — for almost two years. Eventually, the house turned on the pattern-detection software, probably because the game wasn’t earning “enough.” Then when you played that same machine, as soon as a betting-pattern bias was detected, the ball speed changed. End of pattern.
Reading the manufacturers’ manuals revealed that the software was implementing “cheating-prevention” techniques almost as bad as old-school magnets.
I’m deploying strategy. So are they. Mine’s advantage play. There’s is illegal. Beyond calling Gaming Control, there was little I could do to stop it, except continue my relentless pursuit of advantage play … elsewhere.
They want losers. Period. In reality, I’m neither a square nor a smart. Just a scuffler. My goal? I don’t like to gamble. I like to win money. Play as long as possible, win some and lose as little as possible. The house doesn’t like that either.
Example: Just came back from a week in Vegas. My trip was free. The secret? Stay under the radar.
Las Vegas dining didn’t move in a single direction in 2025. While Strip casinos leaned harder into luxury and high-profile experiences, neighborhood restaurants told a very different story — one shaped by geography, resilience, and a growing emphasis on permanence over novelty.
Rather than offering a traditional year-end list of the “Best Restaurants,” this series looks at what the year’s most significant openings reveal about larger trends. (You can find recommendations in over 100 categories at Neon Feast.) When put in the proper context, new openings say a lot about where their neighborhoods are headed — or would like to be.
This second installment focuses on neighborhood dining, where the biggest developments clustered in specific areas rather than across the city as a whole. From the accelerating maturation of the Arts District, to Carson Avenue’s slow recovery from prolonged construction, to the explosive growth of The Bend, these pockets of activity reveal how off-Strip dining continues to evolve — often in ways that feel more grounded and more local than anything happening on Las Vegas Boulevard.
The Arts District
As Arts District development accelerates at a breakneck pace, the neighborhood continues to grow as a drinking and dining destination for both visitors and residents. And while its footprint has expanded in all directions, the heart and soul remain the five blocks of Main Street between Wyoming Avenue and Charleston Boulevard.
Burgers at Holsteins Credit Chris Wesling
The Las Vegas–born Holsteins, which operated for 15 years in The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas before shuttering in May of 2024, has brought its gourmet burgers and boozy shakes to a Main Street location between Velveteen Rabbit and Good Pie.
Downtown pioneers Jerad Howard (Vesta Coffee) and Dan Coughlin (Le Thai, 8 East) have joined forces to channel the essence of their favorite Utah snowboarding bar at Viking Mike’s Alpine Yurt Bar, on the corner of Main Street and Utah Avenue.
Chef Natalie Young has closed Eat on Carson Avenue to focus on Echo Taste and Sound — an audiophile’s dream listening lounge that doubles as a restaurant and bar, on the ground floor of the Colorado Building at the corner of Main Street and Colorado Avenue.
And the chef who put this neighborhood on the culinary map has made major moves to consolidate much of his growing empire within a few blocks of where it started. After moving Esther’s Kitchen to a larger location in 2024, Chef James Trees made some serious moves over the past 12 months. His gorgeous French bistro Bar Boheme joined its smaller sister bar, Petite Boheme, on Main Street and Imperial Avenue. And his experimental Ada’s Food & Wine relocated from Tivoli Village to the original Esther’s Kitchen space on Imperial Avenue.
Some Bites from Bar Boheme, CREDIT: Jose Salinas
Fremont East / Carson Avenue
Carson Avenue has long been the unofficial Restaurant Row of the Fremont East District. Unfortunately, the city’s plans to make that title official have been delayed, in part due to continuing construction to prepare the street for a new bus route. As a result, it’s been a tough couple of years for the neighborhood.
Neighborhood stalwarts 7th & Carson and Carson Kitchen have carried on through the construction and continue to be two of the area’s best restaurants. This year, however, they’ve gotten some new neighbors that are worth noting — many replacing spots that couldn’t wait out the construction.
The San Diego–based Sayulitas chain has replaced the plant-based VegeNation, blending Mexican and Filipino flavors in what it affectionately refers to as “Big Ass Burritos.” And the Colorado-based Chili Shack has taken over the space at Carson Avenue and 7th Street that previously housed Eat by Chef Natalie Young.
Ghost Noodles at Pachi Pachi
A block to the west, the renovation of the old Post Office building continued this year, with a pair of Las Vegas–based operations joining its culinary lineup. Pachi Pachi is a truly unique jungle-themed concept restaurant designed by the man who created The Golden Tiki, offering some truly Instagrammable dishes (try the Ghost Noodles) and décor (pose in front of the giant pachinko machine). Just next door, Baguette Café brings the French breakfasts, sandwiches, and parties that have made it a hit at locations in Henderson and the Southwest.
The Bend
The area surrounding the curve in Interstate 215, between Durango Drive and Sunset Road, exploded onto the culinary scene in 2023 and 2024, thanks to impressive restaurant collections at both Durango Resort and the UnCommons development. But 2025 brought it to a new level, as The Bend — located just across the freeway from those two — brought a huge collection of restaurants and bars online.
Butcher and Thief — Carson Kitchen co-creator Cory Harwell offering a steakhouse experience at family-friendly prices.
Evolve Brewing — the first brewery from the Aces & Ales craft bar chain.
Freed’s Dessert Shop — sweet treats from the famed Las Vegas bakery.
Marafuku Ramen — a San Francisco–based chain specializing in Japanese noodles and bar snacks.
St. Felix Las Vegas — a Hollywood import that combines nightlife and dining for the party crowd.
Union Biscuit — a locally owned breakfast and lunch spot specializing in Southern biscuits and gravy.
With Love, Always — the latest smashburger spot from the Las Vegas–based team that also developed the Sorry, Not Sorry gourmet ice cream chain.
The Great Greek — a local chain offering casual, counter-service Greek cuisine.
While the areas above provided some of the most high-profile neighborhood restaurant openings of the year, they didn’t monopolize the conversation. In fact, the two most exciting off-Strip restaurants of the year, at least in this author’s opinion, opened elsewhere.
When Chef Oscar Amador and his partners decided to close EDO Tapas in Chinatown to focus on other new and existing restaurants, he wasn’t ready to give up the intimate space where it all began. So he converted the Jones Boulevard restaurant into a new solo endeavor. Amador Cocina Fina offers creative and elegant fine dining that draws on Spanish and Latin influences, but is never afraid to surprise its audience. It will likely serve as a workshop for the chef to develop new ideas for the other, larger restaurants he has planned for 2026.
Some Dishes From Amador Cocina Fina
In the Desert Breeze Park neighborhood, Chef Dan Krohmer (Other Mama) decided to shutter his breakfast and lunch restaurant Chamana’s Café in order to create an exciting new concept called Durango Social Club. At times, Krohmer uses it to showcase his latest culinary ideas. But when he’s not in the kitchen, the popup spot/culinary incubator invites guest chefs to showcase their own ideas. In the few short months since it opened, Durango Social Club has hosted a fine-dining residency called Lilli by former French Laundry chef Tyler Vorce, a smashburger takeover by the team at In Limbo, and Toddy Shop – The Little Indian Bar food by Hemant Kishore.
For more on restaurant trends in 2025, please check out:
As regular readers of mine know, I play somewhat regularly at Harrah’s Cherokee even though it is more than 2,000 miles away from where I live. The primary reasons are: $5 NSU, daily Next Day Bounce Back (NDB), and significant monthly mailers if you play there enough. The mailers usually include monthly cash, weekly cash, a $200 spa credit, and some food credit.
Other sizeable promotions they periodically have are: NDB multiplier days, Tier Credit multipliers, and Reward Credit multipliers. Bonnie’s and my trips usually last 10 – 14 days or so and we typically get one or two of these periodic promotions during our trip.
Our trips are usually scheduled so we cross weekly or monthly time periods. On one Sunday each month, you will receive free Reward Credits for swiping at a kiosk. The beginning of the weekly benefits sometimes begins on Mondays, so we might begin our trip on the last Sunday of one month, and stay long enough to still be there for at least the first Sunday of the next month. That gives us two monthly rewards and a few weekly ones as well. It also gives Bonnie two separate $400 spa days during the trip, and food for several days each month.
During each week, the casino usually has two or three “piddly” promotions — such as play 250 points between noon and six p.m., swipe your card at the kiosk, and collect $25 in free play — or spin a wheel at the kiosk — or collect a gift card — or $20 food credit, or something else relatively small.
There is no way that I would make an extra trip to collect one of these small rewards, or even come one day early or stay one day later for a gift that small. But if I’m already there, I make sure I pick them up.
Playing at the Caesars Sports Book while I’m there is also a “If I’m already there . . .” situation. I’m not a sports bettor per se, but betting there is a fairly efficient way to convert Reward Credits to cash. I could convert those RCs to free play in the casino at a 50% rate, but doing so by betting sports does it at a 95% or so rate. And Bonnie and I each receive a free monthly $150 bonus bet in North Carolina in addition to collecting one each month in Nevada.
As I write this, next Saturday is a “Hot Seat” promotion where every 15 minutes between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. two players are rewarded with free play. The amount of free play ranges from $250 if you are a Gold member to $1,000 if you’re a Seven Stars member.
While rewards like this would be nice if they’re collected, there will probably be between 500 and 1,000 players playing during the promotion, so the chances of an individual player being called are pretty small. I suspect that if you multiply the size of the prize by the probability of collecting it, this promotion isn’t much different EV-wise than one of the piddly promotions discussed above.
But since I’m already going to be there and I play more than three hours daily, I’ll plan to be playing at a machine during that promotion. I don’t expect to be called this time, but over an entire career, I’ve put myself in these positions hundreds of times and sometimes have collected.
Our “normal” dinnertime when we’re in Cherokee is 6:30 p.m. But that Saturday we’ll eat before or after the Hot Seat promotion times. Bonnie and I are flexible enough in our schedule that eating at different times on different days is no big deal.
The following Saturday is some kind of Christmas show for which we have tickets. There will also probably be a drawing in the casino where they call names every 15-30 minutes between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Bonnie and I will both have more than an average number of tickets in the drum because we’ve played a lot for several days before the event. We might be in the casino playing (and listening for our names) until 6:30 p.m. or so and then go to the show. Even when they’re giving away $10,000 or bigger prizes, multiplying that times the probability of being called gives us a small EV. Not negligible, and actually higher than most of the other players there, but still small.
Taking Bonnie to the show provides me with more value than sticking around for each drawing. She’s a really good sport for accompanying me while I’m “living my dream life” and when there’s something to do that is enjoyable to her, I try to find a way to do it.
I don’t know if they still have it, but on Friday afternoons between something like 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. they used to have a Seven Stars “meet the hosts” mixers with decent enough food and free drinks. This is similar to an “If I’m already there . . .” moment, but the inclusion of alcohol makes it slightly different.
If I’m done with my play for the day, I might well enjoy the food and have a glass of wine or two. Or if I’m not done for the day, I might have a glass of wine, watch a movie in the room, and go to bed early — and then get up at 3 a.m. to finish my play before the casino day ends at 6 a.m. For me, this is a perfectly acceptable plan. But playing $5 NSU immediately after having a drink or two is not an option for me.
Most of my readers are not $5 NSU players at Harrah’s Cherokee, but other casinos have their own “If I’m already there . . .” promotions periodically. Having a plan on what to do with them is part of a successful gambling career.
If you haven’t been to Las Vegas in a year or more, the restaurant scene you remember is no longer quite the one that exists today. But the changes didn’t move in a single direction. In 2025, different parts of the city responded to very different pressures.
Rather than compiling a traditional year-end list of the “Best Restaurants,” I’ve chosen to look at the trends behind the biggest openings of the year. (I already cover recommendations year-round at Neon Feast.) Because the city’s most ambitious projects say a lot about where Las Vegas dining is heading.
This first installment focuses on Strip casinos, where 2025 made one thing clear: despite persistent claims that Las Vegas has priced itself out of relevance, ultra-luxury dining had a banner year — driven by resorts that continue to invest heavily in spectacle, exclusivity, and once-in-a-trip experiences.
Money Talks On The L.V.B.
The Fotuna, which docks at Carbone Riviera
While all the talk about Las Vegas becoming unaffordable has been greatly exaggerated, there’s no denying 2025 was a big year for opening ultra-luxury restaurants with serious price tags, within resorts that have always catered to the Platinum Card crowd. Yes, there are still deals to be had on The Strip. But they weren’t what got the headlines this year.
Waterfront Seafood
Wynn Las Vegas raised the bar on Las Vegas seafood early in the year, with the May opening of Pisces on the shore of its Lake of Dreams. The gorgeous dining room is bathed in shades of gold and blue, with shimmers of brass and glass, and luxurious touches like yachtsman chairs covered in fish skin leather. Chef Martin Heierling’s menu utilizes only the finest ingredients, flown in from around the globe, while Wynn’s mixologist Mariena Mercer Boarini provides world-class signature cocktails.
Pisces
Not to be outdone, Bellagio introduced a world-class seafood restaurant of its own in 2025. Carbone Riviera debuted just in time for the annual arrival of the Formula 1 crowd, in the space that was once home to Picasso. The collaboration with Major Food Group (known for its celebrity clientele), the restaurant features a beautifully renovated interior, al fresco dining on a waterfront dock, and a private mini-yacht to take the resort’s luckiest VIP guests on a cruise around Bellagio’s lake, for a once-in-a-lifetime perspective on the hotel’s famed fountains.
Carbone Riviera
Where’s The Beef?
If you’re looking for world-class steak, The Venetian opened several amazing beef-focused restaurants in 2025.
José Andrés’ award-winning Bazaar Meat relocated to the resort after leaving its longtime home in Sahara Las Vegas (previously the SLS). The new space, built for the celebrity chef and philanthropist on the ground floor of the Palazzo tower, includes a modern lounge, a main dining area with open kitchen and a patio on Las Vegas Boulevard, as well as phenomenal private dining spaces. The menu remains a perfect reflection of Chef Andrés’ dedication to the art of raising, aging, and cooking beef, with some avant garde touches like the famous foie gras cotton candy and air bread stuffed with cheese foam and topped with wagyu beef.
Some of the dishes at Bazaar Meat
The Venetian also welcomed a Las Vegas outpost of Cote — the only Korean barbecue restaurant to ever earn a Michelin star. Offering guests the chance to cook a selection of USDA Prime and Japanese wagyu on their own smokeless grill, it’s unlike any other steakhouse on The Strip.
To continue the theme, the Los Angeles-based BOA Steakhouse chain returned to Las Vegas after a multi-year absence. Their new spot is in the Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian.
For Something Completely Different
While the restaurants above take steak and seafood to new levels of luxury, steakhouses and seafood restaurants have been staples of Las Vegas for a long time. Those who want something that’s both new and different may want to look at Resorts World and Aria.
Stubborn Seed
Resorts World welcomed Chef Jeremy Ford’s Michelin-starred concept Stubborn Seed in 2025, and it was quickly recognized as one of the most original restaurants ever to open in Las Vegas. The wow factor comes from the chef’s tasting menu, with mind-expanding dishes like a sweet champagne-citrus macaron topped with Kaluga caviar, and sea urchin panna cotta with yuzu gelée and orange granite. But you shouldn’t overlook the a la carte menu, which offers more familiar options, including a fantastic smashburger.
Aria closed out the year with the much-anticipated opening of Gymkhana – a Las Vegas spinoff of London’s Michelin two-star Indian restaurant, and The Strip’s first big gamble on Indian cuisine. It’s been sold out since opening. I hope to have more on it when I’m finally able to get in for a seat.
For more on restaurant trends in 2025, please check out:
As luck would have it, we were in Chicago last week. That’s when, in a stunning display of spinelessness, Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) opted to neither sign nor veto the city budget. He dove under the desk. In that act of moral cowardice, Johnson tacitly assented to one move that screws over Bally’s Chicago and another that sticks it to legal OSB operators.
Bob and Richard sit down with Gary Kondler to talk about taxes for gamblers after the big beautiful bill. It may not be as bad for some of us as we all thought. Spoiler alert – but some gamblers are just screwed.
Nom Wah has expanded to Las Vegas, having opened a few months ago at the new food hall at the Rampart (now known as Resort at Summerlin). Nom Wah is the oldest continuously running restaurant in Manhattan’s Chinatown, New York City’s first Chinese tea and dim sum “parlor,” which debuted in 1920. The brand has two other locations in New York, one in Philadelphia, and one in Shenzen, China. The original venue was featured in a scene in the 2014 film The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
The Resort at Summerlin Nom Wah is a bustling little eatery, with a 12-seat counter, a handful of tables along the wall, and more tables out in the hallway next to Jade Asian Kitchen and Noodles.
The menu is small but mighty, offering classic and modern Cantonese dim sum. Nine dumplings ($9-$12) include pork/chicken soup, chicken and cabbage, shrimp, pork and shrimp shu mai, and edamame; spring rolls, scallion pancakes, and turnip cakes are $7-$9.50. Egg fried rice, lo mein, and wonton noodle soup ($13-$15), along with crispy chicken, Peking duck, and chili tofu buns ($10-$14), round out the choices.
chicken and cabbage dumplingsshrimp siu mai
You mark your selections right on the long paper menu in the usual dim sum fashion, then sit back and watch the chefs in the open kitchen do their magic. The food comes piping hot right off the grill or out of the pots and the service is so fast that steam rises from the dishes as they’re set in front of you.
We sampled the scallion pancakes, which were the essence of crisp, the exquisite chicken and cabbage dumplings, and the shrimp siu mai. Sitting at the counter watching many other dishes being prepared and served, next time we’ll be sure to try the wonton soup, duck buns, and noodles or rice, all of which looked tasty and abundant.
scallion pancakesPeking duck buns
We took home one of each of our dishes and should confess that they barely made it in the door; we couldn’t wait to relive the 105-year-old experience and everything traveled well. Our bill came to $30.35 (with tax, without tip).
While there, we also checked out Pearl Oyster and Crudo Bar and Ai Pazzi (both a fast-food pizza place and Italian restaurant) and we’re more than ready to try those too.
Cafe Landwer traces its origin all the way back to 1919 and Berlin, Germany, where Moshe Landwer opened his first coffee roastery and cafe. In 1933 for obvious reasons, the family emigrated to Tel Aviv and opened Palestine’s (now Israel’s) first coffee roaster and shop. The first modern Café Landwer restaurant opened in 2004, also in Tel Aviv, and started expanding globally shortly thereafter. The brand debuted in the U.S. in Boston in 2018 and has steadily grown, with 15 locations in North America, including the most recent opening in Las Vegas last April in an attractive storefront in Summerlin (on W. Charleston just west of Durango); it’s in the space formerly occupied by Chinglish Cantonese Wine Bar.
Cafe Landwer serves Israeli-Mediterranean-Middle Eastern cuisine for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Breakfasts include the “Famous”: two eggs, chopped salad, tzatziki, guacamole & salsa, skordilia (thick Greek dip, like hummus), feta cheese, Greek yogurt with berries and granola, honey, and strawberry jam, and bread; and the vegan omelet, with chopped salad, guacamole, salsa, matbucha (tomato-chili dip) , baba ganoush, artichoke, cherry tomatoes, plant-based yogurt with berries and granola, skordilia, silan (date honey), strawberry jam, and pita (both $21). Also on the breakfast menu are two Benedicts ($19), three shakshukas ($17-$29), waffles and pancakes, breakfast parfait, and avocado toast ($13-$16).
Lunch consists of pita sandwiches like falafel, shawarma, smoked salmon, and schnitzel ($13-$18) and hummus bowls, while for dinner there are salads ($16-$21), pasta ($18-$21), and such entrees as kebabs, schnitzel, branzino, salmon, and vegan stir fry ($18-$32).
One thing we can say for sure is that no matter what you order, it’s very big food.
We tried the short rib shakshuka, which comes with chopped salad, a half-avocado, tahini, and fresh-baked challah (half a loaf straight from the oven). The short rib was cooked to perfection and the shakshuka, a spicy tomato-pepper stew topped by a fried egg, couldn’t have been more authentic and piquant. Even though we were stuffed halfway through, we were positively compelled to finish; we simply couldn’t stop eating. We did take home the tahini and half the challah.
We also ordered the bourekas to sample. This is an Israeli puff pastry filled with soft cheese and served with sides of a hard-boiled egg, radish slices, zhug (a Yemenese hot sauce), pickles, and tahini. We took that home whole and had as dessert for lunch and dinner that same day.
All in all, this meal wasn’t exactly a bargain; the bill, excluding tax and tip, came to $44. Next time, we’ll get the shakshuka sans short rib and skip the bourekas ($20). Still, it was the best, biggest, and most exotic breakfast we’ve had in many a year.
Back in my town after a long hiatus, I was greeted like a conquering hero by the hosts and band at the Pinky Ring and Royal and Pedro at Downtown Grand. And, thank you very much, open wallets. A successful trip is when you keep putting Jacksons BACK in the safe.
Oh, and I didn’t end up in the ER or UMC Hospital.
I also didn’t get to the Plaza or South Point (hence, the title of this post), but like Ahnold, “I’ll be back” soon.
Now folks, Santa Vegas has a wunnerful wunnerful present for you. It’s the RIO and a flood of 9/6 Jacks or better everywhere. 9/6 at all bars! It’s like 20 years ago. And all over the casino floor! You may like Deuces Wild (too high a variance for me), but I love to “play long time” and 2-for-1 on two pairs on 9/6 really stretches it out. Of course, hitting lots of full houses and (this trip) ONLY five 4-of-a-kinds (awwww, Bobby, we’re weeping crocodile tears for you) makes for this very happy scuffler.
So, people, go to the Rio. Haven’t asked Anthony if there will be another RIO no-resort-fee coupon next year, but this year’s saved me hundreds.
Years back I wrote a “Santa Vegas” article about my Golden Week coupon good karma adventures, giving away end-of-year expiring MRBs. This year again, I had another good karma incident — picking up an antique from an online auction over near Durango. The 92-year-old lady didn’t want to sell the item I won, so I gave it back to her. Immediately after, I was meeting Bobby Wilson for lunch at the (AWESOME) Durango and walking in, I immediately won over $200. Karma? Whatever, I’ll take it.
BTW, their food court is off the chart. Great $10 burgers, a Hawaiian spot with Bruno Mars pic, awesome noodle and oyster bar.
Now for the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Rio wins the super-good prize for this trip, hands down (tapping the 9/6 hold buttons).
As for the bad and ugly, I don’t know what they’re thinking at Downtown Grand. I love staying there, but they keep pulling the good games. The two-story ad facing Fremont says $1 blackjack and $5 roulette. The $1 electronic BJ is gone. (Is live still $1?) Meanwhile, roulette was $10. And please reopen Freedom Beat. At least the matchplays are still viable.
Four Queens pulled or downgraded their 9/6 bank. They still have $.25/$1 9/6 over by the FISH slots. Again, I love Four Queens, but come on.
Out in Henderson, Emerald Island pulled their bank of full-pay Double Double Bonus. Sigh. Still a great diner and Rainbow next store was fab as always. Their Super Multipliers? Incredible.
Overall, a great trip. So Happy New Year, people. Share with others. Spread joy.
