Question of the Day - 03 September 2014

No offense, but if this is your idea of a raucous good time, remind us to book a dental appointment next time you're throwing a party. We jest!

Taking these in the order in which we called them, here's what we were able to ascertain with regard to the status of the specific projects you pinpointed:

• The "retail-tainment" (we just knew some marketing wiz would rise to the challenge of naming this new phenomenon) complex that supplanted the Sirens of TI show at Treasure Island was, the last we heard back in April, slated to open this month. However, a call placed to the front desk yesterday did not elicit much information at all and was more of a back step: The opening date has been revised, vaguely, to "later this fall," CVS remains the only named tenant, and we were told more than once by staff that "they haven't told us anything yet." So, your guess is as good as theirs is right now.

• The new Chili's, the first on the Las Vegas Strip (the seven-year veteran at Las Vegas Outlet Center is too far south to count), has debuted! It opened on Monday, while the rest of us were enjoying a day off. Located directly across Las Vegas Boulevard from Aria, it's on the second floor, adjacent to the Hawaiian Marketplace. Regular hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. weekdays, or until midnight on the weekend, but it's a "by-volume" restaurant, meaning they won't close until the customers dry up. There's no delivery service, but there's a to-go section and you can pre-order by phone (702-795-1087).

• The bizarre Bazaar at Bally's has been somewhat shrouded in mystery since the idea was first announced more than two years ago (the first time we addressed it in this column was back on Sept. 17, 2012). This is perhaps appropriate for an outdoor retail complex that professes, ambitiously, to be modeling itself on some of the world's most historic and evocative markets and gathering places, including Morocco's Marrakesh Souk, Jerusalem's Grand Market, and Istanbul's Grand Bazaar. The entire project seemed to be somewhat eclipsed by The LINQ and the (first) remodeling of Imperial Palace into the Quad, and we confess we have never fully believed in it (especially after we saw the initial scary scaly technicolor renderings, that somehow still bring to mind a hellish day-glo vision of dead Koi and at which point we were very happy to dwell in our denial.) But construction is underway and the last we heard some tenants are due to open for business this fall. We're still struggling with the whole concept of how street kiosks vending Swarovski-encrusted iPhone cases and over-sized novelty cocktails fits in with the ancient Moroccan-souk thing, but we are at least intrigued to find out!

• With a touted $3.9 million price tag, New York's upscale fast-food restaurant concept has come a long, long way since its 2004 beginnings as a humble hot dog stand in Manhattan's Madison Square Park. Las Vegas' Shake Shack will occupy just over 9,000 square feet on the northern corner of New York-New York, taking up part of the space vacated by The Sporting House. It's an eco-friendly affair, utilizing "lumber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council and tabletops built from reclaimed bowling alley lanes," among other measures, we learned from the Eater Vegas blog, and will feature an exclusive-to-Vegas range of "rich and creamy frozen custard concretes" (that earlier dental-office quip might have us laughing on the other side of our face after one of those those!). The last we heard (which was recently), it's on-track to open some time in December.

• Finally, after a prolonged and deafening silence (see "QoD" 7/23/14), there's an update -- albeit another vague one -- on the new Border Grill coming to the Forum Shops at Caesars. As proof that it's really happening, they held a job fair last month and the latest word is that our second Border Grill will open sometime in October -- watch "Today's News" and the "Dining" section in the LVA newsletter for updates). Meanwhile, in celebration of the Mandalay Bay venue having been singled out by Vegas Seven magazine for serving the best margaritas in Las Vegas (where the competition is pretty stiff), the popular Mexican cantina has unleashed a free-margarita-with-purchase-of-an-entrée coupon, valid through 9/30 at that specific venue, only.

As to "other cool happenings" -- or promised/hinted-at possibilities -- there are many, so allow us to put our thinking caps on for a wee while and we'll respond to the second part of your query in a subsequent QoD (which will make our annual Progress Report Card for LVA a little less onerous when the time comes, so thanks for goading us into a jump start!)