Yet another fun-filled one week trip to downtown Vegas. Linda (wife) and I hit a few new restaurants and a new hotel (The D), and spent a few days with the inlaws. It was a "non-winning"trip, as they say, down about $900 on about $49K coin-in, for about a 1.9% loss, most of which was mine (Linda got the quads, not me). Good year for coupons, by the way, total yield between the ACG and the MRB was $274.
WEDNESDAY
We got a late start on Delta, first flight to Atlanta was delayed so we got stuck with a 3hr layover (got some Krystal burgers anyway), got to The D after 4pm via the WAX. Hot day, 112 when we got in; yeah, but it's a dry heat. Kind of like living in front of a blow dryer. We'd never stayed at The D before and had given them minimal play, but still got two nights comped up front; maybe they liked my casino credit application. Anyway, the remodel is really nice, great room (the window covering over the building really ruins the view, though), lots of cool casino art, good music (not too loud on the second floor where we played), friendly staff.
Almost all of the good VP is coin droppers on the second floor; I mostly played the dollar BP progressives, also the three-way quarter BP progressives at the Vuebar, and someNSUD. I honestly don't miss the coin droppers, a full bucket is cool, but so is a three-figure TITO ticket.
Dinner was at Andiamo, with the inlaws. Excellent dinner overall (thanks to Kevin for the recommendation), great service. Menu is fairly orthodox Southern Italian with some excellent steaks. We had fried calamari and the giant meatball (I've seen bigger) for starters, both done very well. The lobster bisque was ordinary and a bit too salty, but the steak (tomahawk ribeye) was fantastic, definitely the best steak I've ever had downtown.
The steaks came with a sauce that the chef came up with, "zip sauce,"kind of a subtle, savory vegetable beurre blanc. I'm not much of a fan of steak sauces, but this was truly a great enhancement that only intensified the flavor of the steak with minimal flavor of its own.
Long day, played some more after dinner, caught the 9pm VivaVision show (BonJovi, the guys on my niece's lunchbox) then bedtime.
THURSDAY
Cold spell today, down to 110. Played VP all morning, then met the inlaws and their local cousins at the Golden Nugget for lunch; this is the only place they stay and play, and my mother-in-law has tons of food comps. We ate at The Claim Jumper, their coffee shop (formerly Carson ST Cafe). Had a pretty good Maui burger (I always try to get plenty of Hawaiian food in Vegas). Back to The D for the afternoon (played some on their 17/10 LDW machine, which has a 101.60‰ return, but nickels get boring pretty quickly). I did run down to the El Cortez (or, the El Cortex, as my spell check calls it), played some Multistrike JoB and got flushes on three lines, also a free White Castle burger.
We all went to see Mike Hammer at the Four Queens that evening. Fun show, certainly worth the $14 we paid with the coupon. Okay magic, lots of fun, very small, intimate venue. Dinner afterwards was at Pizza Rock, place was hopping. Had two pies, a Cal Italia and a Sam Giancana. Tasty.
FRIDAY
Last day at The D. We had used the MRB FP coupon, I got $50 FP that I turned into $60. Quick lunch at American Coney and moved to the Four Queens. Played a little (I like TITO), then went to check out the Mob Museum. Really interesting and well done, lots of Vegas history as well. I spent about 2 1/2 hours, could have easily spent 4 if I weren't in Vegas.
Friday was El Cortez Day, too. Had a good time on the DD blackjack game. One interesting moment was when one of the players went to the bathroom and the game was held up; Linda asked the young, innocent dealer what the delay was about, to which she matter-of-factly replied, "He's taking a dump." Dinner was our last at Roberta's (AKA The Flame), we'll see what the new restaurant will be like. Anyway, Linda was our server as always, we always look for her. Had onion soup and a surprisingly ordinary ribeye steak; Linda (wife, not waitress) had king crab, a much better choice. Back to the Four Queens, got beaten up pretty bad until I got a straight flush, then a quad on DB. Bedtime.
SATURDAY
Took a walk over to the Union Plaza this morning to play a MP coupon. It's a real shame, the place continues to go downhill. Island Sushi is gone now (gonna miss them) and there's some sort of timeshare promo center on the third floor. Back to the Four Queens, first of many really bad days, bleeding green. I did have a big hit on the Megabucks machine, 15 big ones. Back to the Claim Jumper for a last lunch with the inlaws (had a very competent chicken pot pie) before they headed back to the airport. They had a good trip; they only play slots, mother-in-law was up about $2K (90 years old and she was staying up playing until 4am), sister-in-law up a few hundred. On slots. That's a real kick in the ass for a VP player. Anyway, back to the Four Queens again, also a little Multistrike over at the El. There's a small exhibit of gambling memorabilia from all of Jackie Gaughan's old casinos, pretty cool and worth a look.
[img width=450 height=600]https://i59.tinypic.com/6918wj.jpg[/img]
Dinner was at Doña Maria's, great as always, had queso fundido, a chili relleno and a pork tamal.
SUNDAY
Moved to MSS today and got settled in. MSS is pretty much our home casino, always good to be back. Had a quick lunch at the Cal Club (chicken teriyaki plate) and got to playing. I decided to try that Treasure Chest VP (thanks for the analysis, Kevin!), got a $35 quad, then played some JoB at the bar.
The plan was to go up to Texas Station, wound up taking a cab. Fun place, very good DD blackjack, did okay. Also played a little FPDW.
Dinner was at Austin's, a very pleasant surprise. Not high-end, but all very competent and satisfying food. Had oysters Rockefeller (love those Washington oysters) onion soup, an excellent ribeye, twice-baked potato. I like this place a whole lot better than Billy Bob's, Waverly's and similar midrange steakhouses.
Back to MSS, lots of wasted deuces on NSUD, smoked a Nish Patel Thunder corona (forgettable) then bedtime.
MONDAY
Spent the day at MSS today, up and down all day. They should invent a Quick Trips game, so you can get paid for things like 7734Q, had a whole lot of that. Played mostly JoB today, also some NSUD, DB, also took my usual $20 shot on TDW but no quad deuces this time. Also ran down to the Fremont and played some Pick 'em, broke even. Had a 99¢ shrimp cocktail there, not as good as the ones at the Golden Gate, but it had that special 99¢ flavor.
Lunch was a nice combination saimin at Market Street, dinner was the buffet at MSS (not what it used to be). Horribly underquadded this trip, but finally got my first in about 48 hours this evening (aside from an annoying $5 natural quad on NSUD). Screwed around with a few slots as well today, Goldfish and Li'l Red.
TUESDAY
Decent start today, made about $100 drinking coffee; wish I could do that every day. Took a walk over to the Las Vegas Club, it's worse over there every time I go. Exactly two players in the joint, nothing playable, no food, no nothing. It's a real shame, it's such an historic casino. I did see one odd picture among the remaining sports memorabilia, a photo of Joe Louis lying in bed being visited by Frank Sinatra, looks like he's on his death bed, although he actually didn't die until about two years later (looks really sick in the photo).
Up and down this morning, got beaten up on NSUD but pulled ahead with a wild royal and a quint.
Today was the day for a Holy Pilgrimage. Word on the street is that Suncoast has a broaster, and they're hard to come by in Florida. So, we took the northbound WAX. Nice casino, big and roomy, like a nicer and less cornball version of Sam's. They had 7x points, also a free lunch buffet for $300 coin-in. We played it through on ACE$ BP; I'd never played that before and the EV is a little better than the base game. Never got ACE$, or even ACE. Did get $AC, which was amusing, at least.
The buffet was okay, nothing special; they had some embarrassingly awful Jewish food (kasha varnishkes, lokshen kugel, tzimmes). The broasted chicken was good, anyway. Played some more after the chicken, got two quints in a row on NSUD.
Back downtown, lots of cliffhangers back at MSS. Got beaten up bad on JoB, down from $200 to $20, then got a dealt straight flush.
Switched over to DB, down from $40 to $2.50, then got dealt quad fours. Gosh! Quick snack back at the Cal Club, had an unusually mediocre bento, even the rice was dry and undercooked. Perhaps the chef had gone missing. Had a swell coconut macadamia fudge ice cream cone at Lappert's,though. Played some more, one more cliffhanger, bailed out by a quad, then bedtime.
WEDNESDAY
One last mediocre JoB session this morning, the a run down to the Plaza to buy some NHL futures, and to Aloha Specialties for my usual last-morning breakfast, a Spam musubi.
Checked out, WAX back to the airport and an uneventful flight home.
Overall, it was a fun trip, in spite of the serious underquadding and resultant loss. Saw lots of new things and had a much-needed break from normal life. Or maybe Vegas is our normal life. Anyway, back to income-producing life for a while; next trip in February!
WEDNESDAY
We got a late start on Delta, first flight to Atlanta was delayed so we got stuck with a 3hr layover (got some Krystal burgers anyway), got to The D after 4pm via the WAX. Hot day, 112 when we got in; yeah, but it's a dry heat. Kind of like living in front of a blow dryer. We'd never stayed at The D before and had given them minimal play, but still got two nights comped up front; maybe they liked my casino credit application. Anyway, the remodel is really nice, great room (the window covering over the building really ruins the view, though), lots of cool casino art, good music (not too loud on the second floor where we played), friendly staff.
Almost all of the good VP is coin droppers on the second floor; I mostly played the dollar BP progressives, also the three-way quarter BP progressives at the Vuebar, and someNSUD. I honestly don't miss the coin droppers, a full bucket is cool, but so is a three-figure TITO ticket.
Dinner was at Andiamo, with the inlaws. Excellent dinner overall (thanks to Kevin for the recommendation), great service. Menu is fairly orthodox Southern Italian with some excellent steaks. We had fried calamari and the giant meatball (I've seen bigger) for starters, both done very well. The lobster bisque was ordinary and a bit too salty, but the steak (tomahawk ribeye) was fantastic, definitely the best steak I've ever had downtown.
The steaks came with a sauce that the chef came up with, "zip sauce,"kind of a subtle, savory vegetable beurre blanc. I'm not much of a fan of steak sauces, but this was truly a great enhancement that only intensified the flavor of the steak with minimal flavor of its own.
Long day, played some more after dinner, caught the 9pm VivaVision show (BonJovi, the guys on my niece's lunchbox) then bedtime.
THURSDAY
Cold spell today, down to 110. Played VP all morning, then met the inlaws and their local cousins at the Golden Nugget for lunch; this is the only place they stay and play, and my mother-in-law has tons of food comps. We ate at The Claim Jumper, their coffee shop (formerly Carson ST Cafe). Had a pretty good Maui burger (I always try to get plenty of Hawaiian food in Vegas). Back to The D for the afternoon (played some on their 17/10 LDW machine, which has a 101.60‰ return, but nickels get boring pretty quickly). I did run down to the El Cortez (or, the El Cortex, as my spell check calls it), played some Multistrike JoB and got flushes on three lines, also a free White Castle burger.
We all went to see Mike Hammer at the Four Queens that evening. Fun show, certainly worth the $14 we paid with the coupon. Okay magic, lots of fun, very small, intimate venue. Dinner afterwards was at Pizza Rock, place was hopping. Had two pies, a Cal Italia and a Sam Giancana. Tasty.
FRIDAY
Last day at The D. We had used the MRB FP coupon, I got $50 FP that I turned into $60. Quick lunch at American Coney and moved to the Four Queens. Played a little (I like TITO), then went to check out the Mob Museum. Really interesting and well done, lots of Vegas history as well. I spent about 2 1/2 hours, could have easily spent 4 if I weren't in Vegas.
Friday was El Cortez Day, too. Had a good time on the DD blackjack game. One interesting moment was when one of the players went to the bathroom and the game was held up; Linda asked the young, innocent dealer what the delay was about, to which she matter-of-factly replied, "He's taking a dump." Dinner was our last at Roberta's (AKA The Flame), we'll see what the new restaurant will be like. Anyway, Linda was our server as always, we always look for her. Had onion soup and a surprisingly ordinary ribeye steak; Linda (wife, not waitress) had king crab, a much better choice. Back to the Four Queens, got beaten up pretty bad until I got a straight flush, then a quad on DB. Bedtime.
SATURDAY
Took a walk over to the Union Plaza this morning to play a MP coupon. It's a real shame, the place continues to go downhill. Island Sushi is gone now (gonna miss them) and there's some sort of timeshare promo center on the third floor. Back to the Four Queens, first of many really bad days, bleeding green. I did have a big hit on the Megabucks machine, 15 big ones. Back to the Claim Jumper for a last lunch with the inlaws (had a very competent chicken pot pie) before they headed back to the airport. They had a good trip; they only play slots, mother-in-law was up about $2K (90 years old and she was staying up playing until 4am), sister-in-law up a few hundred. On slots. That's a real kick in the ass for a VP player. Anyway, back to the Four Queens again, also a little Multistrike over at the El. There's a small exhibit of gambling memorabilia from all of Jackie Gaughan's old casinos, pretty cool and worth a look.
[img width=450 height=600]https://i59.tinypic.com/6918wj.jpg[/img]
Dinner was at Doña Maria's, great as always, had queso fundido, a chili relleno and a pork tamal.
SUNDAY
Moved to MSS today and got settled in. MSS is pretty much our home casino, always good to be back. Had a quick lunch at the Cal Club (chicken teriyaki plate) and got to playing. I decided to try that Treasure Chest VP (thanks for the analysis, Kevin!), got a $35 quad, then played some JoB at the bar.
The plan was to go up to Texas Station, wound up taking a cab. Fun place, very good DD blackjack, did okay. Also played a little FPDW.
Dinner was at Austin's, a very pleasant surprise. Not high-end, but all very competent and satisfying food. Had oysters Rockefeller (love those Washington oysters) onion soup, an excellent ribeye, twice-baked potato. I like this place a whole lot better than Billy Bob's, Waverly's and similar midrange steakhouses.
Back to MSS, lots of wasted deuces on NSUD, smoked a Nish Patel Thunder corona (forgettable) then bedtime.
MONDAY
Spent the day at MSS today, up and down all day. They should invent a Quick Trips game, so you can get paid for things like 7734Q, had a whole lot of that. Played mostly JoB today, also some NSUD, DB, also took my usual $20 shot on TDW but no quad deuces this time. Also ran down to the Fremont and played some Pick 'em, broke even. Had a 99¢ shrimp cocktail there, not as good as the ones at the Golden Gate, but it had that special 99¢ flavor.
Lunch was a nice combination saimin at Market Street, dinner was the buffet at MSS (not what it used to be). Horribly underquadded this trip, but finally got my first in about 48 hours this evening (aside from an annoying $5 natural quad on NSUD). Screwed around with a few slots as well today, Goldfish and Li'l Red.
TUESDAY
Decent start today, made about $100 drinking coffee; wish I could do that every day. Took a walk over to the Las Vegas Club, it's worse over there every time I go. Exactly two players in the joint, nothing playable, no food, no nothing. It's a real shame, it's such an historic casino. I did see one odd picture among the remaining sports memorabilia, a photo of Joe Louis lying in bed being visited by Frank Sinatra, looks like he's on his death bed, although he actually didn't die until about two years later (looks really sick in the photo).
Up and down this morning, got beaten up on NSUD but pulled ahead with a wild royal and a quint.
Today was the day for a Holy Pilgrimage. Word on the street is that Suncoast has a broaster, and they're hard to come by in Florida. So, we took the northbound WAX. Nice casino, big and roomy, like a nicer and less cornball version of Sam's. They had 7x points, also a free lunch buffet for $300 coin-in. We played it through on ACE$ BP; I'd never played that before and the EV is a little better than the base game. Never got ACE$, or even ACE. Did get $AC, which was amusing, at least.
The buffet was okay, nothing special; they had some embarrassingly awful Jewish food (kasha varnishkes, lokshen kugel, tzimmes). The broasted chicken was good, anyway. Played some more after the chicken, got two quints in a row on NSUD.
Back downtown, lots of cliffhangers back at MSS. Got beaten up bad on JoB, down from $200 to $20, then got a dealt straight flush.
Switched over to DB, down from $40 to $2.50, then got dealt quad fours. Gosh! Quick snack back at the Cal Club, had an unusually mediocre bento, even the rice was dry and undercooked. Perhaps the chef had gone missing. Had a swell coconut macadamia fudge ice cream cone at Lappert's,though. Played some more, one more cliffhanger, bailed out by a quad, then bedtime.
WEDNESDAY
One last mediocre JoB session this morning, the a run down to the Plaza to buy some NHL futures, and to Aloha Specialties for my usual last-morning breakfast, a Spam musubi.
Checked out, WAX back to the airport and an uneventful flight home.
Overall, it was a fun trip, in spite of the serious underquadding and resultant loss. Saw lots of new things and had a much-needed break from normal life. Or maybe Vegas is our normal life. Anyway, back to income-producing life for a while; next trip in February!
