Question of the Day - 11 April 2017

The shrimp cocktail was and probably will be a Golden Gate product.

Indeed, the Golden Gate shrimp cocktail has been part of the fabric of Las Vegas since it was first served in 1959, four years after the Golden Gate opened. After all, shrimp cocktails were — and still are — a mainstay of San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf, and the Golden Gate of course has a San Francisco theme.

It was in the very first Las Vegas Advisor Top Ten in February 1983.

It sold for 50 cents for 32 years; the price was raised to 99 cents in 1991. According to LVA rules, it dropped out of the Top Ten for a bit after the price raise, but returned to the Top Ten for another 17 years, until the price was raised again to $1.99.

For a QoD in 2006, we learned that 217 pounds of little Bay shrimps were consumed daily at the Golden Gate at that time. It was a major loss leader and the casino lost upwards of a quarter-million dollars a year on the shrimpies.

Then, in 2012, the deli/bar in the back of the casino, where the shrimp had been served all those years, was remodeled out of existence and the cocktail was served only in the restaurant.

So, Du-pars had nothing to do with the shrimp or the secret cocktail sauce. It's not available at the Suncoast Du-pars.

Golden Gate says it's working on a way to bring the shrimp cocktail back, probably in conjunction with the new restaurant that opens at the currently eatery-less hotel-casino.