A fortune cookie that came with dinner a couple of weeks ago said, "A couple of extra bucks could be floating in your direction." I was going to throw it out but put it in my wallet instead. Significant? Perhaps. It was a mighty good trip, in many ways. This was our semi-annual seven day trip, I think the third in a row at the same casinos (three nights at Main Street Station, two at Four Queens, two at Palace Station), and it was a good one all around. Linda (wife) and I were there for the week, and the in-laws (Joyce and Ken) were at the Golden Nugget for our first four days. Played like crazy, about $57,100 in action, we wound up $1380 ahead, for a 4.1% win. Linda hit a quarter progressive royal for about $1060, so we would have been up even without that. Before cashback I was up $7.60 myself; I had the opportunity to quit after a set of quads for a total ten cent net gain for the trip, which would have made a better story, but I got greedy. Coupon yield between the MRB and the ACG was good for 2017, about $380.
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WEDNESDAY
We had stayed at the La Quinta near the airport in Tampa the night before, made the 7am Southwest departure easier. Uneventful flight, took the WAX downtown and met Joyce and Ken at American Coney for a chili dog (full of ventricular goodness, but they don't advertise it that way), then checked in to a north view room at MSS. Maybe one of the last with an unrenovated shower, haven't seen one of these since around 2008. Shower head was at throat level and the cold water flow was about 100x that of the hot. Had a good start between dollar JoB at the bar and triple-play BP for quarters (hit quad 4s, quad Js and a dealt FH first session). Did some walking around, spent a lot of time when we were downtown watching them demolish the poor old Las Vegas Club.
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Lots of good memories there, like my first W-2G, my first quad deuces (on an old Downtown Deuces coindropper), my first 6am cheapo prime rib dinner at the Great Moments Room. I've never seen a slower, more painful death than the LVC. Anyway, got a spam musubi at Aloha Specialties to tide me over until dinner. The four of us took the new free Downtown Loop bus to Dona Maria's, it was good but perhaps not as good as previously. Good queso fundido, good pork tamal, fair fish a la veracruzana; Linda was underwhelmed with her chili relleno this time. It's a shame. Anyway, back to MSS, got a bunch of quads on the BP triple-play and some early shut-eye.
THURSDAY
Rainy and cool (like high 80s) this morning, very odd. Had a good start at the bar, then took my first shot at spin poker (maybe my last, too, it's too hard to see what hands you're getting, although I suppose you can get used to it). First hand I got quad 5s, quickly turned $100 into $204.50 and considered quitting my job and doing this for a living.
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Then some 5-play BP, got two sets of quad deuces, lots of other quads. Lunch was a treat; Linda ate at the coffee shop at the GN (Claim Jumper; about as impressive as any other Landry's restaurant) with Joyce and Ken, and I walked a few blocks north on Main ST to El Salvadoreno. I'd always wanted to try this place and I was really impressed. Nasty neighborhood, kind of reminded me of the walk from the El Cortez to the Western in the olden days. It was a great restaurant, though, real ma-and-pa home cooking kind of place. Had a pupusa, a chicken tamal and a plato tipico (steak, rice and beans, cheese, fried plantain). Fantastic. This will be an off-the-beaten-path favorite for me, up there with Aloha Specialties.
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Anyway, back to MSS, up and down all afternoon, but enough down to take a marker. Dinner was at Prime, our first of two splurges this trip. Took Uber to Bellagio, got a table on the terrace overlooking the fountains (a real treat).
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Food was traditional steakhouse, all excellent; had the ribbons of tuna appetizer, French onion soup, a really fantastic, memorable dry-aged ribeye (top-notch quality, and they know how to age a steak), gratin dauphinoise, mushrooms.
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Really a nice place, but I would still give the edge to Craftsteak. Don't get me wrong, Prime was an excellent experience, but Craftsteak is an excellent meal. I think the beef is a bit better and the preparations a bit more innovative. Took Uber back to MSS, played a bit more before bed.
FRIDAY
Tough day today. Started with one of those notorious $100 cups of coffee, then couldn't hit anything all morning. Played the dollar BP progressive (up over $5K now), got beaten up and then heard some music; the guy right next to me hit it for $5026, didn't even bat an eye. Went back to 5-play BP, got quad aces but nothing else exciting. Walked Linda over to the Union Plaza, she and the in-laws wanted to eat at Pop-Up Pizza. Wandered around a bit and found a small but cool historical exhibit out in front of Oscar's. Went back to the Cal and hit Aloha Specialties, always great. Had the new Hawaiian plate, with poke, beef stew and a laulau.
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Back to the MSS bartops for a while, hit a straight flush for $250 but did lousy otherwise.
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Walked over to Downtown Grand and gave them a couple hundred in play to see if anything happens (the place seems busy enough at the pool and the bars but not in the casino). Dinner was at Market Street at the Cal, I had the butterfish misoyaki, not bad as far as Market Street food goes. Joyce had gotten some comped tickets for 52 Fridays over at the GN, so we saw BJ Thomas. He's still plenty talented and it was a good show, although not our first choice for a retro act (we saw the Buckinghams last trip, that was a great show; thanks, Joyce!). Back to MSS, stopped at Lappert's for a Kaua'i Pie ice cream cone (chocolate, coconut and macadamias in Kona coffee ice cream), then bedtime.
SATURDAY
Moving day, to Four Queens today. We got a nice renovated room, 1928; some loud and very hateful frat boys next door, but they left soon, hopefully got beaten up somewhere. Linda and I both had $200 FP, she turned hers into $265 on 50c JoB, I turned mine into $250 on the dollar DB machine, always a wild ride. Up and down all morning, mostly between dollar JoB and quarter DB (no longer a progressive, still old machines with that annoying glare that I've come to love), also some short-pay 100-play for pennies, that was a little bit of fun, but you miss the volatility. Magnolia's with Joyce and Ken for lunch, had some good lentil soup and a salad (we have tons of food comps, you really can't avoid that). Hit quad 4s on the DB after lunch, a few good JoB sessions, up overall. Lots of the Young and Clueless in the casino, maybe noisier than usual; there were a bunch of frat-boy types screaming every time they won a blackjack hand. Watched a few of them play, one split 4s vs a dealer 10, then stood on 12 on one of the hands. Sheesh. Then there was some guy next to me playing DDB, holding all sorts of stupid kickers like two 5s and a jack; I swear, once he held a 6-A offsuit. Oy! Dinner was quick, Linda and I went across the street to El Buen Pastor. Nifty place, seems kind of out of place on Fremont ST, the carne al pastor is good but everything else is authentic but kind of average. I had a huarache that was a bit thin and flabby. Played a bit more afterward, did okay, then bed.
SUNDAY
I ran down to the El Cortez this morning, played one of the Downtown Deuces coindroppers for a while, got a wild royal but nothing else too great.
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I stopped at the Fremont on the way back to the Queens, hit the Vulture of the Year award on an Ultimate X machine: found an abandoned 7x multiplier on a quarter triple-play crappy deuces schedule, got dealt three deuces. Couldn't get the fourth, but got two SFs, including one on the 7x line, for a $150 hit. Yay!
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Lunch was at Pizza Rock, got some really nice fried artichokes and a quattro carne pizza, baked in the 900 degree wood-fired oven for about 90 seconds, really nice.
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Got kind of beaten up after lunch, got pissed and decided to take a shot with my own money on the dollar DB machine. Worked out nicely, got a couple of full houses, then got dealt three 4s and connected on the fourth for $400.
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Cashed out for $600. Did okay for the rest of the afternoon, went over to Binions and played enough to get two spins on the Mother Lode game, got a free drink and a fanny pack (Linda is thrilled). Back to the Queens, got a royal on 100-play ($40 is kind of nice; hope I didn't waste one of my lifetime allotment of royals), then went to Top of Binions to use up some of our Four Queens food comps (a host can write you a non-refundable voucher; I guess the alternative would have been 20 prime rib dinners at Magnolia's, but we hadn't brought the dog with us).
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Friendly folks and a nice view, but food was just fair this time. I had a nice arugula salad, Linda had some very good escargots. I'd been thinking about the chicken-fried lobster for months, and this time it just wasn't it, kind of tough and really not very flavorful. Linda's scallops were pretty good, though.
MONDAY
Moving day, to PS. Took Uber, got a room right away. Major renovation going on, the garden rooms are gone (including the room where OJ got popped), construction in the front as well. Parts of the casino under construction as well. The new bingo room is gorgeous, if you're a bingo fan (we're not). Anyway, we had lunch in the Grand Cafe; they have a really good, house-made chicken fried steak, not the usual frozen piece of crap that you get outside of Texas. It was still house-made but not as good as before, too heavily breaded and the cream gravy wasn't all that good. I'd probably take another chance at it in the future, although there are plenty of other good food options at PS and nearby (I love Food Express, their Chinese restaurant, but it was closed due to the construction).
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Mostly played dollar JoB and a quarter triple-play BP progressive, did okay for the most part. There's also a single multistrike machine with FP quarter BP, lots of volatile fun, was up and down and hit a cold streak and lost $100. Decided to walk down to Lucky Dragon, I had wanted to check the place out. About a mile walk in 100 degree heat, no place for dames. It's a small but very nice casino, very nice staff, very Chinese vibe, great looking restaurants (didn't have time to eat there, perhaps next trip). Casino was kind of dead, though, not sure how they're doing overall. VP is all very short pay. Took the SX bus back to PS, played some more. Tonight was splurge #2, probably the high point of the trip, Bazaar Meat at SLS. Took Uber over, SLS is a gorgeous, very modern casino, nothing all too playable, though. I did play my last $25 MP out of the ACG on BJ, lost it; not a good year, I lost 5 out of 5 $25 MPs. Anyway, Bazaar Meat. What a fantastic restaurant! Executive chef is Jose Andres, who trained with Ferran Adria at El Bulli in Spain, one of the best restaurants in the world and a hotbed of molecular gastronomy. Bazaar Meat is very meat-oriented, lots of beautifully aged meat everywhere, clear Spanish influences and some really interesting molecular cuisine; everything was perfect.
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We started with a few small plates, including cotton-candy wrapped foie gras (worked really well), some gazpacho shots, traditional and molecular olives (wow!), smoke and ice oysters (unbelievably good); Linda had an excellent, simple tomato salad.
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So many good options; I chose the "vaca vieja" ribeye tasting, this was an 8 year old Holstein steer. Absolutely fantastic, certainly in my top 5 lifetime beef experiences. Tremendously deep and complex flavor, a qualitatively different flavor than well-aged beef (this was very skillfully aged as well), a bit chewy but not at all tough. It's interesting, our friends Doug and Linda2244 in Minnesota get their beef from a packing plant in South Dakota, the depth of flavor is similar; that's probably why Linda2244 won't bother with steak in Vegas. The vaca vieja makes other steaks seem like steak-flavored meat.
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Linda (wife) got a rack of lamb, also excellent, and we had some grilled leeks for a side, also a nice dessert sampling. This was a fantastic restaurant overall, we'll definitely be back for another splurge. Anyway, back to PS, did pretty well on the triple-play BP progressive, then bedtime.
TUESDAY
Good day overall, and a very good day for Linda. I started on the pai gow tables, played for a little over an hour, wound up ahead $5. Fun game; no great hands, just a few pairs here and there. Worst hand was a 2-1, but I wound up with a push; I consider that a win. Did okay on VP, up and down but ahead overall. I ran across the street to Maui Rose, a little Hawaiian place that seems popular for people working in the area, always a treat.
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Had a chicken katsu bento (chicken katsu, tempura, California roll, misoshiru, salad) and some gyoza, then I walked over to In-n-Out and brought some cheeseburgers back for Linda. Frankly, I don't see what all the hype is about In-n-Out, it's an okay fast-food burger, nothing really memorable. When I was in college here in Florida, everyone was crazy about Coors beer, people would bring it back from road trips out west and sell it for $20 a six-pack (this was in 1973, so that's like $5000 now). They finally started distributing it here east of the Mississippi, and nobody even bothers with it. I think it's like that with In-n-Out. But anyway. Played some more in the afternoon, and got a call from Linda, she hit on a four-card royal at the casino bar, progressive was about $1060, she was thrilled and that made for a very profitable trip. TITO ticket, too, not a hand-pay.
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We both did pretty well for the rest of the day; I took another shot at the MS-BP machine, got a few good hits including a top-line full house, made some money. Also got beaten up on the triple-play BP progressive but then got bailed out with quad 4s (lots of quad 4s this trip). Dinner was at Little Tony's at PS (Tony Gemignani's other pizza place), got some calamari and a good but slightly doughy and undercooked Old Chicago pan pizza.
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Played some more after dinner, up and down, including a major cliff-hanger on dollar JoB, bled $100 down to $15 in maybe 90 seconds, then got quads and some FHs, cashed out $200 and ran. Finished up on the triple-play BP, final tally after the week was up $7.60 for me, before the cash back.
WEDNESDAY
Up early and ready to leave. I had breakfast at the Oyster Bar around 5:30am, had some good cioppino, enjoyed talking to the chef. Linda slept.
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Finished packing, took the PS shuttle to the airport, uneventful flight home (I did ask for a private search at airport security, I was carrying a lot of cash that I didn't want to be taking out in front of everyone). Got home around 7pm, a lot nicer than the usual 1am.
It was a really great trip, a non-loser, I like that. We've had plenty of back-to-back losers, perhaps this will be the first of several back-to-back winners. Lots of good gambling, lots of good hits, lots of good food. Next trip in February. Yay!
