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Aria Room and Board
December 18, 2009
"Not another City Center article. It's too much. It's just too much. It's just a damn casino, not a cure for cancer. Dear God, make it stop!" I hear you, and I empathize. Please take the gun out of your mouth and relax, though. Remember Encore? This too shall pass. I've yet to mention guest rooms or mid-level dining -- which is more or less my sustenance, so indulge me. Early this morning I investigated a Deluxe (read: "standard") room at Aria. Before I go any further, I would like to point out that the procurement of this room was a complete clusterfornication for the room guest. The gentleman who procured the room, let's call him Sugardick Von Hugenpecker, was set to check in at the stroke of midnight this morning. He called, then called again to make sure that the room would be available at midnight. He was assured that it would be, yet when he arrived ... Read the full blog post...
Evaluating Aria
December 17, 2009
I really wish that Aria had opened on December 1st along with Vdara and the rest of the properties. I am aware that this would have been a logistical nightmare, but I can't help but feel that it would have somehow made a better first impression. As I lined up for the Vdara ribbon-cutting, I was psyched. I had a dopamine surge, and that point, a sculpture of a turd in the middle of the hotel lobby would have looked divine. Even during the Crystals and the Mandarin Oriental openings just two short days later, this was a feeling that I was never quite able to recapture. When you come down off of a high, you're not going to get it back by doing just a little bit more. To the contrary, your synapses adjust and you need to do more just to get back to where you were. To put this in more simple ... Read the full blog post...
City Center Phase III: The Mandarin Oriental
December 5, 2009
City Center. Four days, three openings. Friday was the Mandarin Oriental's turn, and this represented the final City Center opening until the "Big One", Aria on December 16th. Before I go any further, I'll cut to the chase a bit and state that, of the three openings so far, Vdara was the most exciting because it was when I popped my City Center cherry. Each subsequent opening had a "been there, done that" feel to it. It's not a critique, just a statement of the inevitable. Upon arrival to the opening ceremony at 10am, I was given a fan-shaped USB drive with the official Mandarin press kit on it. I found this to be a great idea. I was given some sort of printed document during the Vdara opening, but I'll be damned if I can find it at this point. As cliche' as it sounds, I really do have a paperless office. Looking ... Read the full blog post...
City Center II: Crystal Clear
December 3, 2009
Well, it was bound to happen. My first shrug of Vegas 3.0. I went, I saw, I conquered ... a shopping mall. Okay, perhaps "conquered" is a strong word but it sounds better than "and then went home". Crystals, the new City Center shopping mall opened today, and I spent about two hours checking the place out. The verdict? Well, I may as well have been on a different planet. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice mall. Very nice. Far too nice for me apparently. As I was led on a tour of the property, I was greeted with the following stores (among others): Louis Vuitton. I've heard of it, but never set foot inside of one. I'm not even sure what they sell. Assouline. "Using human feces to power the cars of tomorrow!" Seriously, never heard of it. Ilori. Never heard of it. Bally. I hear Slick Rick likes their shoes, but I thought they made pinball machines. Mikimoto. The new ... Read the full blog post...
City Center Arrives
December 1, 2009
About one year ago, a little hotel called the "Encore" opened, and the expectations for the property seemed unreasonably high. For some in the media, it was the biggest thing to hit Las Vegas, but I took a slightly more reserved approach. As nice as Encore was, I knew that it was essentially Wynn II, and I was already eyeing something far more significant a full 11 months away. Fast forward to today. Instead of fanfare the likes of which has never been seen before, a much more subdued opening took place at the new Vdara Hotel & Spa. Granted it wasn't open to the general public, but the expectations of those who were present seemed a little ... subdued. Despite being in what seemed to be a clear minority, I remained excited about what I was about to see. In my opinion, this opening was far more significant than was the Encore. ... Read the full blog post...
I Want To Be a Part of It
November 8, 2009
While Circus Circus and the Excalibur are traditionally regarded as “kids properties” ... New York New York actually gives them a run for their money. While nothing can match the Adventuredome for sheer number of rides, the Manhattan Express is probably the best individual roller coaster in the city, and the Coney Island Emporium may very well be the best arcade. People may scoff at the idea of video games and Whack-a-Mole in “Sin City”, but two million of us still live here, and the majority of our visitors have children. I firmly believe that a small-but-measured amount of family-friendliness will be necessary to bring back the big crowds, and to that end it is probably in the best interest of the properties to hold onto their existing amusement infrastructure. For every person who hates an arcade, there is another person who hates a douche-lounge, so all of these concepts will simply have to ... Read the full blog post...
Meat You Can't Beat
October 18, 2009
There is probably no worse fate in Vegas than to get a visit from a relative who arrives on Friday afternoon and stays until Sunday evening. It's the sociologic equivalent of a prostate exam performed by the Tasmanian Devil on crack. Unfortunately, yours truly is currently suffering this fate. After spending Friday night doing the typical tourist thing, “there's the Bellagio Fountains”, “there's the Stratosphere”, “there's a bus that will take you to El Paso … go ahead, get on it, the ticket's on me” -- I crashed and slept late for the first time in five years. Once everyone had awakened on Saturday, we were presented with the usual visitor dilemma. “Where should we eat?” I suggested the Wynn Buffet. “Oh god, I ate there last time and it was awful!”, said our visitor. “Really?”, I said with some surprise. She went on to explain that something was too wet, too dry, too hot, or too cold, ... Read the full blog post...
Tee and Aay
October 2, 2009
When I first noticed that the Hilton was getting a new topless show, I was pleasantly surprised. Campy topless shows have been part of the Vegas culture for as long as I've been coming here, and I viewed their relative decline in the middle of this decade as an overall negative for the city. As far as bang for your buck, nothing beats the pure cheese and silliness of a low-budget Las Vegas skin production. Boob shows are one of the last true bastions of Vegas-only culture. Every city has nightclubs, every city has bars, every city has strip clubs. Few places have shows like our one hour T&A offerings. Along with their equally silly cousins, impersonator shows, I think Vegas should hold onto to these particular institutions for as long as they can. They are part of what defines us. Sure, all of the boob shows share far more similarities than differences (topless ... Read the full blog post...
Breakfast and Blackjack
September 30, 2009
There are a couple of folks from out of town (I include Henderson in that designation) visiting Las Vegas today and somewhere along the line it was decided that an informal breakfast was taking place this morning at the Peppermill. Given that each step I take feels as though someone is shooting me in the knee with an AK-47, it made perfect sense for me to walk to this small gathering. Face it, there's a little bit of masochism in all of us. The Peppermill is one of those places that looks horribly out of place on the Las Vegas Strip. It is a stand-alone structure in the middle of a parking lot in a configuration reminiscent of a suburban Denny's. In slightly better economic times the mill was the subject of frequent rumors that it was operating under the ever-present threat of the wrecking ball, but such concerns have been put to ... Read the full blog post...
Hard Rocking The Strip
September 19, 2009
The new Hard Rock Cafe on the Vegas Strip opened two weeks ago, and after months of passing it by while it was under construction, it was finally time to get a glimpse of the Boulevard's newest attraction. I got off the train at the MGM, wound my way through the casino, headed north on the sidewalk, and when I got to the Cafe I was immediately stopped at the door by a nice looking young lady. “Welcome! Can I help you with anything?”, she asked. “This is my first time here”, I said, “I just came to check the place out.” “Fantastic!” said the lady, “We're glad to have you here, be sure to take plenty of photographs!” Wow. Try getting that reception anyplace else in Las Vegas without dropping 500g's first. I know the place is new, and this is probably as good as service will ever get, but still … I was ... Read the full blog post...
