Apocolypse Now! on Fremont St. (TR)

*** Apocoplypse Now! Downtown ! ***



Can you guess the location?
It's 8:00am and you're hungover after a bad night at the tables. You reach for your coffee freshly brewed atop the Keurig machine and
open your room door to a fresh breeze of ....muffler fumes, dumpster gas, ....and..... pis. Where are you?
Thats right! The El Cortez Pavillion suites! I spent my first three nights in one of these gems on my latest Vegas trip.

The El CO Pavillion sits adjacent to the casino parking garage and all rooms are accessed from the outside which makes it
incredibly convenient to transport that dead hooker from your bed to the trunk of your Impala.





Kidding aside, the pavillion rooms might be one of the better values downntown.
They've upgraded the interior to now include a keurig machine, big tv, room safe, optical door locks, and a small fridge.
And check out the charming features inside...fancy shower head, granite countertop, antiquey light fixture.







walking around the outer terrace gives you some nice views of downtown.






All in all a great deal. These rooms normally sell at a significant discount to the tower and I cant see any reason.
The only downgrade is the Pavillion does not have a king bed option whereas the tower does.

Besides - your neighbors in the Pavillion are alot more interesting. Look at the little gift my friends in the next room
left for houskeeping. A good life lesson here: fireball and lasagne don't play nice together.

***** DONUTS *****

It kinda defeats the purpose of a morning jog if you wind up here.




Fremont St continues to expand onto neighboring blocks
with new bars, restaurants and hipster joints. This super-chic donut bakery is on Carson St just a couple blocks away from EAT (closer to the casinos).
Donuts tend to be about 3 times the size of the ones you get a Dunkin ....so bring a big apettite and an insulin shot.

***** For life, liberty and the pursuit of free parking *******


I'm currently enforcing a personal boycott at all MGM properties due to their policy of charged parking. However, I did want to see the new attraction at NYNY "the Park".
Its free to walk around there and I parked at the Tropicana so I did not violate my principals.



From what I saw its just a collection of eateries and outdoor art exhibits - not even as many as The Linq.





They say the anchor of the park is the new T-Mobile arena which promises to feature big name concerts...but for me the star attraction
is the giant naked chick.


I went during the day which was a little underwhelming. I am told the action picks up significantly at night with lots of paid performers working the crowds.
They aren't like the dressed up bums you see on Fremont St; they are prefessional entertainers hired by MGM to perform in the park. I'll check it out next year.

***** BATTLE OF THE TRI-TIPS *****



The small coastal city of Santa Maria, CA is known for its mild weather, beautiful landscapes, and agricultural bounty. In the culinary world they are credited with
a regional favorite known as the tri-tip roast. Basically its a special cut of sirloin near the bottom that is by default a little tough (think brisket) but when its
cooked properly can be a real delicacy. The trick is dry rub the roast and then baste it with a mustard glaze over a very hot grill. The result is its signature
crust on the outside with succulent medium rare red meat in the middle. Traditionally its served with piquinto beans and garlic bread.

I've never been to Santa Maria but I've watched several YouTube videos to learn the recipe. Two places in Vegas claim to make a mean tri-tip so I decided to put them
to the test.

Tri-Tip stop #1....Claim Jumper (at Golden Nugget) $25
Claim Jumper is a chain in the Landry's restaurant group. They have a location in the Golden Nugget. I knew before I even got the food that it was going to be
subpar. Their menu is about 20 pages long. You can order just about anything here - but its almost impossible to serve quality with a menu that diverse. So how
did they do?


- right off the bat the price is too high. $25. This is not an expensive cut of meat
- Side dishes ae baked potato and veggie of the day. Not really the traditional sides.
- Meat has no crust. Felt like it was slow roasted like prime rib.
- Grade C-

Tri-tip stop #2...Live Fire Q (locals joint) $16





Live Fire Q is on Sunset Rd way down on the southeast side. Its very close to Barley's. Live Fire Q specializes in the tri tip roast
and New Mexican fare (or so they say). I'd be the judge of that.
- The price is much better at Live Fire Q.
- Side dishes are in line with the traditional serving and are delicious. The Garlic bread was awesome.
- However much like Claim Jumper the meat had no crust. Slow roasted. It did not taste bad - but its not done correctly.
Very disappointed since these guys are suppossed to be experts.
- Grade B-

**** The Tuscany's New Pub ****

I was a little miffed when I heard the Tuscany was closing the Cantina (they made a damn good margarita) but now that I've visted the replacement I think I'm fully on board
with the change. PUB 365 is the new eatery at Tuscany. Hundreds of craft beers abound and there's about 50 of them on tap.
Go during Happy Hour to score one for $3.65...or just play the bartop VP and get em free. They even have a few of those new NITRO infused brews that are super smooth.

This is just the beer menu.


The menu is predominantly man-food with giant sandwiches and burgers.

Tuscany continues to be one of the best places to earn and spend comps. Go on Saturdays and Mondays for 10x/7x points on Slots/VP.

***** The Chart House at Golden Nugget. *****

Here's a good tip - go to Costco and buy a Landry's gift card for 20% off its face value. $100 gift card costs $80. You can use it at any of Golden Nugget's restaurant
like I did at the Chart House....or you can use it to pay for your room at Golden Nugget.

Blackend Swordfish Oscar style


The inhabitants of the giant aquarium in the Chart House watch while you eat one of their relatives.

***** The Wyndham Grandview *****

This timeshare property is right next door to Southpoint. You'll need a rental car or alot of patience with the bus line if you plan on visiting the strip...but the property itself
is posche and loaded with ammenities. Rooms are well appointed condo units. I spent the second half of my trip here.

***** Misc observations: *****

- I'm a little frustrated with El Cortez's VP bars. More than half the machines have buttons that dont work or stick. I started looking for a new home base downtown.
Maybe MSS.
- Southpoint is a great casino in most respects but the craps table has suckass 2x odds. WTF? The tourist traps on the strip are better than that.
- The Palace Station Oyster bar offers up oyster shooters at 3 for $12. Thats 3 premium oysters and 3 shots of top shelf vodka/tequilla for $4 each.
Premium oysters by themselves normally go for that price so the top shelf booze is like - free! And tasty too!


- The Palms has officially been taken over by Stations. The reduced the Bistro Buffet price and took away the free wine. It still seemed ok but I suspect it will become
another FEAST buffet like you find at all the other Stations.
- I tried Crapless Craps at the Stratosphere. Despite it being a less favorable game - I actually managed to do pretty well at it. Regular craps was ice cold for me all week.
- The New Lucky Dragon property will be opening soon. There was a guy on a crane hanging the sign as I drove past. Its near the intersection of Sahara and Las Vegas Blvd.
Its not a huge place but that might be a good thing. Hoping it will be ready to go next year. Wouldn't it be something if you could actually walk somewhere from the Strat?
- I popped into the Fiesta Henderson for the first time in about 5 years. They've really spiffed it up nicely. It used to be a little run down. Now I'd put the interior
in the same league as Green Valley Ranch. I watched game 6 of the World Series at one of their VP bars.
- You'll have to wait until after dinner if you plan on using your Ellis Island matchplays for anything but blackjack. Craps and roullette dont open until 6pm.
- I went back to In-N-Out for the first time in about 6 years. I just dont get it. People rave and rave and rave. It tastes like McDonalds to me. Even when you dress
up everything monster style...

YAY! PJ was loose in 'Vegas!
Always entertaining.

Your TR from years ago had me rolling on the floor.
That fiberglass hot dog man with the weird grin gets kicked in the nuts.
GO PJ, GO!

Nice report.
I like the rooms on the second and third floor of the El Cortez that you can only access via the staircase by the craps tables. Especially 2200 and 3300. Until a few years ago, these were the property managers apartments so they are not typical hotel rooms.
Also, unless it just occurred, the Grandview isn't a Wyndham property, it's a Vacation Village. Great place to stay, if you have a car.