We're back from our semi-annual Vegas trip, it was a non-winner but that was softened by a couple of jackpots. More fun when you win, but still lots of fun when you lose. It was just Linda (wife) and me this time, first time in at least ten years that we didn't have friends or family along. This was almost certainly our last stay at MSS, we had two nights there then two at Four Queens and two at Palace Station. Total action was $56.5K, net loss was $655 (1.2%).
TUESDAY
We stayed at La Quinta near the airport in Tampa, makes for an easier morning the next day. I grabbed lunch at Arco Iris, maybe the best Cuban restaurant in town, had arroz frito (Chinese food is big in Cuba) with lechon and caldo gallego. Dinner was a good Cuban sandwich from Florida Bakery.
WEDNESDAY
Easy Southwest flight; with the grounding of the MAX 8s, all the nonstops were cancelled, so we had to go through Nashville, but that was easy enough. Quick Uber to MSS, we had two nights; this was the second time in 14 years that I've paid for a room (the first time was when I screwed up and booked us during the Super Bowl), $25 plus the stupid resort fee. Bastards. Linda is still Sapphire until the end of the year, so she's still getting a big 0.05% CB; she had 11x points on Wednesday, so that helped. She ultimately got $23 CB; I checked, she earned $21 on Wednesday and $2 on Thursday. Anyway, I played on her card some, got quad aces on the BP machines right away for $200, so that serves them right. Had an early dinner at Market Street at the Cal, had some okay chicken katsu. Good NSUD session after dinner, Lappert's for a chocolate macadamia ice cream cone, early bedtime.
THURSDAY
I spent most of the day at the Union Plaza, gave them about $3700 coin-in, we'll see if that generates any offers. Up and down all day, mostly played JoB with a little Bonus Deluxe (no quads, that was a drag); one session went well, with a SF and a quad, turned $100 into $400. I also had $100 FP there from some Facebook contest that I didn't even remember entering, that was a treat. Lunch was back at the Cal, at Aloha Specialties, probably my favorite restaurant in town; had an Aloha Bento (teriyaki ribeye, Korean chicken, pan-fried mahimahi, hot dog, rice with furakake, kamaboko, takuan). Also took a shot at the TDW machine back at MSS, got a stupid natural SF but no quad deuces. Hot as hell today, by the way; the high was 116, and it was well over 100 every day. Dinner was at Chicago Joe's; I've been wanting to try it for a long time, and really wanted to like it, it's very old-school, been there since the 1970s. Cool location, an old converted house, nice ambience. Very old-fashioned menu, some recipes have obviously been unchanged since they opened. Unfortunately, the food wasn't good at all. The stuffed artichoke was a treat, but everything else was very poorly executed. I had some very mediocre pasta e fagioli (basically overcooked bean soup with no pasta and little flavor) and veal Angelo (nice scaloppini, essentially stewed with artichokes and wine). Linda's fettucini alfredo was very thin and watery with almost no flavor. It's a damned shame. Back to MSS, had a losing DB session, and bedtime.
FRIDAY
Moving day to Four Queens. Paid the stupid bill at MSS and moved over, started playing. Not good, took a serious beating with the usual markers. Some iffy people over there; when I was checking in, some woman wanted to use my credit card and give me cash later, also saw security walking some guy to the back room in handcuffs. Got a couple of coneys at American Coney at the D, also got a couple of fairly good tacos at Santos Guisados, a cool (but some might consider it blasphemous) new taqueria at 6th and Carson. More beating after lunch. Dinner was at Redwood Grille, hadn't been there for a while, and they've seriously upgraded since. Very good dinner, we'll definitely be back. Good French onion soup, nice ribeye, fantastic flatiron steak (Linda), creamed spinach, potatoes. Very pleased with this place. We had comped tickets for Hypnosis Unleashed, the show at Binions, that was a blast. Small showroom (the old downstairs coffee shop on the Binions side), nice intimate show. More losing after the show, and that was that.
SATURDAY
Got some coffee for Linda from the McDonald's at the D, saw a guy getting 86ed for pawing through the garbage and trying to get a refill with a discarded cup. More lousy VP, but I decided to take a shot at the dollar DB machines. Lost $100 quickly and decided to throw in another c-note. First hand was trip 4s, second was quad 4s for $400, that sure hit the spot. We had a quick lunch at Lanai Express, had a forgettable Chinese combo meal (Linda had an equally forgettable cheeseburger) and some 99 cent shrimp cocktails (you get what you pay for). Did a little better this afternoon, got some much-needed quads. Dinner tonight was the high point of the trip, Kame Omakase, a good sushi restaurant on Spring Mountain that does two omakase (chef's table) seatings for 10 customers per night. This was one of those meals that I'll think about for the rest of my life, everything was memorable, best possible quality, completely uncompromising. Started with some interesting appetizers; then lobster sashimi with uni, caviar and gold leaf; orange clam tataki; misoshiru with king crab and steamed lobster cake; nice variety of nigirizushi (sea perch, golden eye snapper, amberjack, king salmon, uni with Hokkaido scallop, geoduck clam, bluefin tuna, bluefin otoro, bluefin jaw meat, shrimp, Spanish mackerel); then risotto with dash, sea trout roe and uni; seared A5 wagyu beef (oooh!); a slice of green Japanese peach; green tea soba with lobster, crab, Manila clams and uni sauce; a strawberry sudachi cake with kojicha ice cream. Absolutely wonderful experience. A little pricey at $195, but that's only half of those quad 4s, so I'll be back to spend the rest of it. Anyway, back to Four Queens, up and down all evening.
SUNDAY
Moving day, to Palace Station. I picked up some NHL futures bets for Linda (nice to have the new Circa book downtown, they had the best odds on a few of the bets), then an Uber to PS. We grabbed a quick lunch at Salud, their new quick Mexican restaurant. It was fairly good in a pinch, nothing great; Linda had some good nachos, I had a few tacos and esquites (corn). Saw some guy in the casino, by the way, skinny nondescript guy in his 40s. Nondescript except that he had the same kind of moustache as Adolph Hitler. I thought those went out of style. Anyway, we played plenty that afternoon, Linda mostly played the BP progressive at the bar, I played some dollar JoB and quarter NSUD, also a lot of triple-play BP, didn't do well. I took my usual shot at the Multi-Strike BP machine, did lousy then hit a $107 hand, but then did lousy again and tapped out. Dinner was at Little Tony's. Honestly, we were a lot less impressed with it this time, I had a good but not really special calzone, Linda had good but not special chicken parmigiana. I played some more NSUD after dinner, long and interesting session, very up and down, also got a natural SF and a few natural quads (those always piss you off on deuces games). Down to my last $1.25, and hit the quad deuces for $250, yay!
MONDAY
Started on a triple-play Illinois Deuces machine, not the best EV but a lot of fun. Had a long session with lots of SFs, quints, WRs and more natural quads than I care to remember. Also screwed around a little on a nickel DSTP machine, that was fun. Did poorly on the JoB, though. Lunch was across the street at Maui Rose, a little Hawaiian place that does a lot of lunch business, always good. Had spicy pork bulgogi with two scoops of rice and one scoop of potato salad (of course), and a Spam musubi. Better afternoon, Linda and I played some triple-play BP, I got a SF and she got two sets of quad fours on one hand. Lost some more on Multi-Strike, then made a few bucks in the triple-play Illinois Deuces again. High point was a progressive royal for Linda at the bar, about $1050. I think this was her third royal, sure hit the spot. Dinner was at the Charcoal Room, nice place (nicer with coupons), we hadn't been there for about five years, and the food was better this time but things were still a bit uneven. Fairly good but very salty French onion soup, surprisingly good lobster bisque, some boring steak tartare tacos, very good Caesar salad (high anchovy levels!), a surprisingly lackluster grass-fed filet but a top-notch American wagyu New York strip (Linda chose better than I), forgettable cauliflower and twice-baked potato.
TUESDAY
Took a beating all day today, I had one roller-coaster JoB session where I quickly dropped from $200 to about $20 and then came back and cashed out even. Maybe that was free entertainment. Had one good triple-play BP session with a couple of premium quads, but nothing else special today gambling-wise. Lunch was at Orchids Garden, a really good dim sum place about two miles west on Sahara (took the SX bus for a dollar, pays to be old). Cart service, nice people, very good dim sum, better than most of what we can get in Florida. Had siu mai, bean curd skin roll, baked cha siu turnovers, turnip cake, fried won ton, stuffed eggplant. Back to PS. Dinner was at the Oyster Bar, which is always excellent; we didn't time it right at all, though, wound up standing in line for two hours. There were two women who were done eating but lingered for literally the entire two hours; we talked about Nancy Kerriganing them but figured we'd get in trouble. Anyway, we finally ate, had a dozen good Louisiana oysters, combo pan roast (excellent, with crab, shrimp and lobster) and some chicken gumbo that came out a lot spicier than ordered (poor Linda!). Lost some more after dinner, then bedtime.
WEDNESDAY
Time to go home. Had my free senior coffee at Starbucks, took the PS shuttle to the airport. Again, no nonstop, so we had a two-hour layover in Kansas City that turned into four hours since the incoming flight was delayed due to weather in DC. Had a surprisingly good dinner at the airport, though, at Pork and Pickle, a good KC barbecue joint (had a combo platter, with ribs, brisket and sausage). Finally got home around 1:30am.
Not a winning trip, but it would have been much worse without Linda's royal and my quad 4s. Still plenty of fun and a lot of good food and stories. Next trip will be in February, sans Boyd. Certainly Four Queens, probably PS, maybe South Point (I really liked it there last year), and we'll see what the Plaza sends. Thanks for reading!
