Las Vegas trip report - 7.3.15-7.9.15 The one with John's 40th birthday!

We headed to Las Vegas for the second time this year for another 40th birthday, this time for John. When it came down to deciding what he wanted to do for is birthday Las Vegas was at the top of the list. Out flight was on time and uneventful and we actually landed a bit early.

We had decided in advance to skip the taxi line and reserve a town car for transportation to the hotel. The driver was a bit hard to find at the airport, but she was very nice and got us there pretty quickly. We got a bit lost downtown and we ended up driving through First Friday festivities. 

We checked in at the Rush Tower desk and we thought we had called ahead to upgrade to the Gold Tower, but we were booked Carson and got a free upgrade to Gold anyway. However, the first two nights we were in a room with two beds. We were able to switch to a King room on Sunday. The Gold Tower was recently remodeled too, and they did a nice job. The rooms look similar to the Rush rooms now and are very comfortable. The AC units are much quieter now as well. 

view from our first room

After check in we went to the Rush lounge to grab a drink, but it was quite busy, so we just headed down to the Golden Gate to get things started. We played blackjack for a long time and I was up a bit and John was down a bit. We ended up walking down to the 4 Queen for a bit. We played some video poker and I played $0.25 Top Dollar. I think we ended up turning in for the night around 2am.

Decent hot on Top Dollar, too bad it was not a dollar machine though. 

Saturday morning we were up by 9am and headed to breakfast at Magnolia's Veranda at the 4 Queens. John had seen a deal on their website that you get a buy one get one free entree during your birthday month, so John went to get that comp. 

bacon, eggs, hash browns, sourdough toast

bacon, eggs, hash browns, sourdough toast

After breakfast, we headed back to the room to get ready for the day. Next, we went to the El Cortez and played a few slots.

We tried to get Millionised, but failed. Rats. 

John had a pretty good win on the game even though he did not hit the big jackpot.

Next, we went over to Main Street Station to play some video poker at the Boar's Head Bar. No great wins to report. John grabbed some ice cream at Lappert's on the way over. They had some interesting Hawaiian themed flavors.

We decided to try the new bar and restaurant on Fremont east called Therapy for happy hour and some snacks.

The smash, pretty close to a Sinatra smash. And pretty good. 

Shot of the room from the back corner looking toward Fremont. 

oxtail empanadas, Very tasty. 

chicken meatballs, not bad.

We did not order a ton of food at Therapy, but what we had was good enough to make me want to go back and try more items. And the drinks were solid, so that is a major plus. I'd put it in the recommend column. Seems to be a nice addition to Fremont East. It is certainly better than the icky dollar store that used to be in that spot.

We walked through Binion's and played a few slots there as well, then went back to the room to freshen up and change clothes for a night on the strip. We took a taxi to the Venetian as we had dinner reservations at Aquaknox. We ended up having a few drinks at the Bourbon Room and watching amusing old 80's hair band videos. The bartenders were pretty chatty and fun as well. So it made paying an arm and a leg for drinks a bit more bearable.

Bourbon Room. Raspberry blush and a beer.

We played a bit of bubble craps and headed over to Aquaknox for our dinner reservation. We had originally planned to go to Lakeside at Wynn, but they had some silly long pants dress code for men, so we cancelled that. No dress code at Aquaknox. The food and service were phenomenal too. I was so impressed by our waiter, I made sure to tell him and the manager was right behind him and heard me as well, so that worked out well. Sometimes in Las Vegas service can be so lacking, which is disappointing to say the least.

Oyster starter for John

amuse bouche

John had the sablefish

asparagus

I had the barramundi

complimentary dessert/ drink

After dinner we walked over to Rhumbar at the Mirage to try and get a spot on the patio to watch the fireworks. We ended up making some new friends who were there for a wedding and sitting with them.

We couldn't really see the fireworks at Rhumbar, should have gone elsewhere or ran out to the sidewalk. I think the street was closed for awhile too, so you could walk out there as well. Awhile after the fireworks ended we grabbed a taxi at the side door of the Mirage and headed back downtown to the Golden Gate for a blackjack session. (Golden Gate cocktail waitress note: our favorite waitress Jan is apparently on some sort of medical leave, so we did not see her at all this trip. Hope she comes back soon! Also, one of my favorite dancing dealers, Penny, said she was quitting and her it was her last week as she is getting married soon. So congrats to Penny!)

We were not feeling the greatest Sunday morning, but we got up and went to see about switching rooms. We were moved up a couple floors and into a king room.

no more flowered curtains around the bed

new furniture

view from room

new vanities

new shower doors

We took a taxi to Mon Ami Gabi for breakfast but by the time we arrived it was already lunchtime. The wait for a table was non-existent if you were willing to sit inside. 

steak sandwich

The waiter let me order breakfast anyway.

We wandered through Planet Hollywood and over to Cosmopolitan. We played a few slots and then found a $10 3:2 blackjack table and played for awhile. I didn't do well, but John certainly did. We will have to put the Cosmo on the list for decent blackjack. At least on Sunday afternoons. We were both really tired yet, so we went back to the hotel to take a nap. Why be a hero when you are on vacation, right? 

We got going again in time to get to the SLS in time for the US/Japan Women's World Cup final. Didn't miss too much anyway. 

Umami Burger is a nice place to watch sporting events and we got right in too. 

simple salad

sauces for burgers and fries

John had the California burger

onion rings

amazing tater tots!

I had the Manly burger, which was topped with house beer-cheddar, bacon lardons, smoked salt onion strings, house ketchup and mustard spread.

The burgers were OK, I think I liked the tater tots far better than anything else. this is a great place to watch sports though. have to remember to come back here again for that.

After the soccer game, we played a few slots and wandered around but nothing much caught our attention so we took the monorail down to The Linq. Of course the ticket booth was closed, so we could not use the BOGO MyVegas comp. (We had a few MyVegas awards to use and we did not redeem any except for a free t-shirt at Palace Station on the day we rented a car. The MyVegas value is not there anymore and we did not make it down toward MGM, NYNY or Monte Carlo at all this time.)

We wandered around and watched a Bellagio fountain show and walked through the conservatory. The display was a new under the sea theme and really very cool.

After the gardens we took a taxi back downtown and went to Main Street Station to play blackjack for awhile. We went to bed pretty early too.

But we were up early the next day and feeling much better than the day before! We hit DuPar's for breakfast, which was excellent as always. Not a bad way to start a Monday.

We sat by the pool at the Golden Nugget for awhile. It got hot pretty fast, though it was not bad if you were in the water.

After stopping back at the room to get ready we went down to the El Cortez for a bit of blackjack and to pay the Millioniser. We did not get Millionised to our shock and horror.

We had lunch at Pizza Rock and it was quite good once again. We had the sausage and stout pizza this time.

Sausage and stout pizza

We had double booked ourselves at the Downtown Grand as the room offer came with a few freebies we wanted to take advantage of. The room was nice, but we didn't pack up and move over here or anything. We also used some free slot play at the DT Grand. 

DT Grand room

bathroom DT Grand

We went down to Atomic Liquors for a couple drinks. great bartenders. 

We stopped in at the Container Park as I had bought a Groupon for Jin Ju chocolates. the chocolates were amazing and they even packed the bag with cold packs so they would not melt in the heat.

We also had a Groupon for the Vanguard Lounge. The drinks were top notch once more and there were actually a few other early birds in there with us.

We stopped back at the room as it was raining a bit. We've never been in Las Vegas for rain, so it was interesting to see. The rain didn't seem to affect things on Fremont too much, but I guess there was some flooding in other parts of the city.

GG in the rain

We played blackjack at the Vegas Club and Golden Gate for the rest of the night, so the rain was not a big deal to us. The Vegas Club was not horrible this time either. We had fun playing there and the dealers were actually competent. We had a night time snack at American Coney before we turned in for the night.  I forgot to take a food photo before eating and you don't want to see the empty containers anyway.

Tuesday morning we got up bright and early as we had a car rental reservation. There is a rental desk at the Golden Nugget so it was very quick and easy to pick up and drop off the car and pretty affordable as well.

Since we had a car, we went to The Peppermill for breakfast. It was quite busy and there appeared to be a wait, but we got seated almost immediately.

indoor foliage at Peppermill

omelet and hash browns, the hash browns were really great too!

eggs, sausage and hash browns

warm blueberry muffin was excellent also

parting shot of the Riv, might be gone next time around!

We did a bit of shopping and touring around town. We maybe should have had a better plan, but it was interesting to see new parts of the city. 

We had a delicious lunch at In n Out since we had the car. 

We tried to get Millionised at Arizona Charlie's, but no luck. 

John and the rental car at Red Rocks casino. That is a nice area, but goodness, it is far away from everything else. There is an upscale shopping area just across the road as well.

on the road again

We also stopped at Frankie's Tiki Room on the way back downtown.

I got a cool tiki glass this time, should have last time too.

We returned the rental car and decided to play blackjack at the Golden Nugget for awhile. I think I broke even at best. So we went over to try playing at the Plaza instead. We had a great dealer, but they started a dueling pianos show right behind our table, which was loud and awful in so many ways, so we left when the dealer went on break.

We decided we'd better eat a little something, so we went to Triple George down by the DT Grand. 

great espresso martini

amazing sourdough bread

The calamari was excellent

Next, we went over to the Downtown Grand to try playing blackjack there. Found some awful players there. Sigh. I think John used some slot play that came with  the room offer also.

sorta quiet at DT Grand as usual

                                                     The new bar at the Fremont casino

We went to the Golden Gate and closed out the night paying blackjack there. I'm not totally sure how late we stayed out. Not that late. 

Since it was John's birthday on Wednesday he chose DuPar's for his birthday breakfast. 

famous DuPar's pancakes

turkey sausage I think

We sat by the pool at the Golden Nugget for awhile and later on went down to the El Cortez to try and win the Millioniser again. No go. We wandered around stopping at The D and The Golden Nugget.

We decided to try Bocho, a newer sushi place on Fremont East for lunch. We both ordered the bento box lunch special, which was a good deal at $15.95 per person. 

miso soup

 Bocho bento box with sushi and sashimi

interior of juice bar next to Bocho

After lunch we walked down to Main Street Station for some video poker. I finally got one four of a kind, but that was the best I did. 

We stopped at the Cal and then stopped back at the room for a bit. We casino hopped downtown and both played roulette for the first time at the Golden Gate. I won twice in a row when my number hit, so I did great. John didn't win that I can recall. 

We stopped at the Plaza and the Vegas Club to play some blackjack. I almost forgot, we saw Todd Bridges playing craps at the Plaza too! I guess his crappy show is still running at the Plaza, which was a shock to me!  Anyway, that was our big celebrity sighting of the trip. If you can call him a celebrity.  Next, we headed to Vic and Anthony's for John's birthday dinner reservation. 

I started with shrimp cocktail.

John started with oysters.

we split a ribeye steak

blue cheese butter for my steak

side of mushrooms

John's birthday desert of creme brûlée.

The food and service were excellent once more and I am glad we went back. Vic and Anthony's is certainly the best steakhouse downtown and the food and service reflect that.

We were tired and full and had an early flight at 7am so we headed back to the room and went to bed early. We had to be up at 4am to make our 7am flight. The flight home was uneventful and arrived on time. It was nice to be home so early, but I was exhausted the rest of the day.

World Street Kitchen food truck - new menu item

The World Street Kitchen food truck is still hitting the streets and putting out great food. I stopped by last week to try a new menu item. Don't worry, they still have all of your favorites like the Yum Yum Rice Bowl and burritos. They just rotate the menu daily.

I had the shrimp ceviche tostadas. The shrimp was marinates in citrus with onions and tomatoes and had great flavor. It was topped with corn, avocado, cilantro, guacamole and lime crema fresca. It was a nice light lunch for a hot summer day.  This was very flavorful and I hope they have it on the menu again soon.

Here's a link to a previous post on the food truck:
http://whereshouldwegomsp.blogspot.com/2012/06/world-street-kitchen-food-truck-yum-yum.html

World Street Kitchen
www.eatwsk.com
Twitter: @eatwsk1

Crescent Moon Pizza

Awhile back Minneapolis St Paul magazine printed a list of the best pizza in the Twin Cities area. Most of the places listed we have been to before, but one in particular was new to us and looked interesting, Crescent Moon Pizza’s football pizza.

We visited for a late lunch on a Sunday afternoon and it was not busy. We ordered a medium meat lovers football pizza. It is topped with afgani beef, chicken and gyro meat along with cheese. The pizza was quite large and had a sturdy crust and good amounts of all the toppings.

The sauces available for the pizza were very interesting. The best one was the green sauce. It had a strong garlic flavor and was pretty spicy, but tasted very fresh and flavorful. We even asked for some to take home with our leftovers. The white sauce tasted kind of like ranch and the red sauce was really, really spicy.

We went to the location on Central Avenue in Minneapolis. To order you go up to the counter and they call your name when the food is ready. There is a large seating area if you wish to eat in the restaurant but no one waits on you, everything is self-service. We found the prices to be quite reasonable for the amount of food received. The medium pizza was $14.00 and it was enough for two meals for both of us.

Crescent Moon Pizza/Bakery
2339 Central Ave NE
Minneapolis, MN
(612) 782-0169

1517 Como Ave SE
Minneapolis, MN
(612) 767-3313
http://www.crescentmoonfoods.net/RESTAURANT.html

Schell's Brewery & Dino's Pizzeria - New Ulm & N. Mankato, MN

We were down in Mankato recently for a graduation party recently and needed something fun to do for the afternoon. We decided to drive over to New Ulm and take the Schell’s brewery tour. Tours are offered daily in the summer at set times. Visit the website for details as times and dates change seasonally. There is a $3 admission charge, but you do get samples of a variety of beers and a large glass of your favorite beer at the end of the tour. We arrived 15 minutes before a tour started and that seemed to be plenty of time, though tour size is limited.

There is also an outdoor beer garden area where you can order snacks and tap beer. The selection of beer is limited however.

The grounds are quite pretty and you can walk around freely. There is a deer pen and peacocks wandering around. The gift shop has a wide variety of Schell’s logo items for purchase. It was a nice tour and a good way to spend an afternoon in New Ulm.

Later, we met our friends Tricia and Tom at Dino’s Pizza in North Mankato for dinner. I ordered some bruschetta for an appetizer, but forgot to take a photo of it. It was good with pizza crust to put the tomatoes on.

We ordered the taco pizza and it was surprisingly good. It was quite cheesy with a thinker New York style pizza crust. There were lots of toppings including tomatoes, onions, black olives, cheddar and mozzarella with taco seasoned meat. It was topped with lettuce, jalapenos and nacho chips with taco sauce and sour cream on the side. We ordered a large pizza and it was the prefect amount for four people.

The restaurant is pretty small, so be prepared to wait or arrive at off times to avoid the wait. It gets pretty busy on the weekends especially.


Schell’s Brewery
1860 SCHELL Rd
New Ulm, MN 56073
(800) 770-5020
http://schellsbrewery.com


Dino’s Pizzeria
239 Belgrade Ave
North Mankato, MN 56003
(507) 385-3466
http://www.dinospizzeria.com/home

Northeast Social

I’ve heard a lot about Northeast Social in the local media since it opened, but it is one of those places we’ve never made it to before. I recently realized they take reservations, which is always nice, especially for a smaller place, so I made one for a recent Friday night.

The room is lots of brick and high ceilings and the large windows in the front were open, even though it was a bit cool and rainy that evening. I was prepared with a jacket anyway.

We started with a couple beers, the list has lots of interesting local choices. I ordered the seared scallops appetizer. It included two large scallops on top of hoppin’ john, which is a type of bean. The scallops were cooked perfectly and the beans brought down the salt factor of the scallops a bit.

John had the bone in pork chop with honey glazed carrot and radish. The pork was coriander dusted and very tender with excellent flavor. He really enjoyed it a lot.

I had the seared tuna sandwich and fries. The fries were quite good, very hot and fresh. The tuna had pickled egg, napa slaw, avocado and basil aioli on it. It seemed like too many toppings to me. The tuna was good, but I ended up removing the pickled egg and some of the slaw, or rather it escaped out the back of the sandwich anyway.

The server was very helpful, giving us recommendations when needed and checking back with us often. This is a nice neighborhood spot, I think we would return, depending what is on the menu.


Northeast Social
359 13th Ave NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413
(612) 877-8111
http://www.northeastsocial.com/