San Gennaro Feast

Last Wednesday we went to PT’s Pub for a frothy cold beverage, I ordered a Peroni and Frank had a Widmer. Peroni is the sponsor of San Gennaro so in order to promote the festival PT’s had free admission tickets to be given away with any Peroni drafts.

We didn’t plan on attending the Feast, but with free admission why not check it out. We went Thursday night around 7 o’clock. Parking across from the entrance was five bucks. Instead, we opted to park near Allstate Insurance which was about equal distance, but it was free.

Upon entering we were immediately pestered by hawkers, but once we made our way around the corner we were free to peruse all the tasty eats available for sale.




We made the loop around the food booths; we were a bit overwhelmed between the crowds and the offerings. When in that situation the last thing you want is to choose poorly.

I didn’t care to have any deep-fried fair food, I wasn’t interested in the Greek food, it was an Italian festival after all; but after another whiff of sausage and peppers I was sold. The first booth, off to the left, smelled the best, however, when Frank inquired about the heat of the sausage, he was told it was mild, but a hit of Tabasco would liven it up. Not that answer we were looking for, we wandered over to the other booth to the right of the main entrance. Eight bucks for a sandwich was pretty steep, but when in Rome – right? The sausage was topped with a heaping pile of onions and peppers. The onions smelled wonderful. We looked for a seat so we could dig in, but none were found. We gave up and stood off to the side where no one would bump into us. Frank dug in first, two bites later, he said was awful. Just terrible. He left the rest for me, and he set off to try a chicken parmesan sandwich from a nearby booth. They wanted $12; it made the crummy sausage sandwich seem like a deal. Needless to say he passed on it. He returned to me in an aggravated state, I was starved I came with a huge appetite so I ate a few bites of that awful sandwich just to tide me over. I regretted it, I was left with a greasy salt fest in my mouth. By then we were both over the feast. It was crowded, hot, and we chose poorly. We left.


We drove to John Cutters and had dinner there. I had a nice fresh caprese salad and Frank had their signature Krolly sandwich. We should’ve skipped the ordeal and went there from the start. I think we’ll simply appreciate the San Gennaro fireworks, next year, and leave the Feast for others to enjoy.

Fight night

There are a few occasions each year when Sin City sees an influx of crowds, New Year’s Eve and Superbowl are expected, but fight nights - those are special. The rich and famous, and fans alike will flock to Vegas to witness the battle. There is a unique energy to the city when boxing takes center stage, and I have no doubt it’ll be present again when Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez enter the ring, this Saturday night.

Admittedly, I never had much interest in Boxing until HBO started airing “24/7” it is a brief documentary that follows the fighters during training for the weeks leading up to the fight. By watching you gain perspective, you learn about the fighters, their style, commitment and drive, you develop an emotional attachment. In turn, when the fight rolls around you have vested interest in the men in the ring. It’s one of the greatest marketing ploys I can recall. It sells Frank and I each time. We watch the “24/7” series and then purchase the fight on PPV. Mayweather vs. Marquez will be no different.

Undefeated Mayweather Jr. has a record of 39-0. Making Marquez a solid underdog, he’s proved himself back home in Mexico, but it’s doubtful he has what it takes to become the Welterweight Champion. This fight was scheduled originally for July, but it was postponed due to a rib injury Mayweather suffered during training. Perhaps, the delay will prove to be beneficial to Marquez? But that remains to be seen.

In “24/7” we are shown that both men are family oriented. They’re both strong fighters. Mayweather Jr. is arrogant, but with a 39-0 record I think he’s earned the right to be pompous. His speed is unreal, and frankly I believe his skills are unmatched. Marquez will need all the help he can get to win this fight. If that means drinking his own urine so be it. Yes, he really does. He believes it replenishes his body with vitamins and nutrients. Whatever it takes, I suppose.

Friday, HBO will re-air all previous episodes of “24/7” Mayweather vs. Marquez. Check it out, if you haven’t seen it. It’s wildly fascinating. Then, you can get suckered into watching the fight on PPV like us. Seriously, though, it should be a great match-up.

Yet, another sign...

that summer is ending. San Gennaro Feast is back. It comes to Las Vegas twice a year, once in May to kick off summer and again in September to ring in fall. Yesterday, was opening night, the festival will run through Sunday. We enjoyed the 9-minute firework display they put on last night.

Lake Las Vegas

Saturday, I went out to Lake Las Vegas for a farmer's market. Fresh produce gave me a reason to go, the charm of MonteLago Village gave me a reason to stay.

Read more at Living-Las-Vegas, Lake Las Vegas: A great escape.

Football is back

The first week of NFL football is under our belts. Football season is different here in Vegas than it was back in Chicago. I used to never care much for football. I’d watch the occasional Bears game, and the commercials, food and beer were the highlight of Superbowl. Family was big on football squares, I only played a few times. My football experience was pretty limited. Then, we moved to Las Vegas, and it all changed.

Suddenly, football mattered. It’s amazing how much fun the games were when you had action on them. I quickly learned to never be a fan a specific team, only a fan of my wallet. Lack of loyalty to any particular team made it easier to pick winners. The first couple years, we played in the Palms and Orleans football contests, and made weekly parlays. Then, Frank got into fantasy football, and I discovered online pick’em contests. The added interest in each game made every week of football more exciting. We attended Monday Night Football parties and watched the NFL Sunday Ticket at home on Sundays, and each week we hoped our picks came through. It was fun.

Last year, Frank started his own fantasy football league and joined another. I also dabbled with fantasy football in a free league, and continued to play a few pick’em contests. We had action on the games everyway imaginable. We had football parties at the house, we’d root for our team or player of the week. It was a wild ride.

This season, we have three fantasy leagues, three eliminator leagues, and two pick’em contests between us. Plus, for week one, we had a few teasers and a couple parlays. Most of the tickets didn’t cover but the one winner softened the blow and it left us with only a fifteen dollar loss. I got my ass kicked in fantasy, but Frank held his own leading both of his matchups. That’s where it counts, he has money riding each week – I don’t. We’re sitting pretty in the rest of our contests. It was a good start to the season. Let’s hope many successful lucrative weeks lie ahead.

Last look at summer

When I was at Bellagio last week I noticed the lobby has been changed over to fall decor, warm colors and cornucopias abound. I've walked through the Conservatory's summer display a few times, but I never took any photos to share. The display will surely be changed over to fall soon, so here's a last look at Summer.

Possibilities...

You never know what is possible until you try.

I’ve been sharing my experiences here and on a few message boards for years. My blog was started simply as a place to keep things straight. We were always on the go and I needed a place to log our adventures and experiences just so I could recall the details. Questions about things do, places to see and recommendation requests are never-ending when you live in America’s playground. Every month, friends, family or friend’s of friends travel here. My love of Las Vegas easily makes me their go-to girl.

Frankly, I love it. I share my experiences in hopes I can help someone have a better vacation, more enjoyable free-time or aid them in getting the best bang for their buck. I want visitors and locals alike to have the best Las Vegas experience possible. I started out writing for myself, but I’ve gained an audience thanks to HurricaneMikey, VegasMessageBoard and a handful of friends.

With that, and encouragement from friends I inquired about writing for Living-Las-Vegas.com and they welcomed me with open arms. I took on the new challenge and started blogging there, today.

Click here to read my first post, Help feed America by feeding your belly, where I discuss Restaurant Week and the 2009 Great American Dine Out that’ll take place later this month.

You can read and bookmark my LLV blog here. Also, check out other writers and bloggers on the site, too. They offer many different perspectives about life in Vegas.

I hope you join me over at Living-Las-Vegas.com and continue to follow me here. Lastly, let me take a moment to say I appreciate each and every one of you that stop by to read about my latest tidbit. Thank you!

Farewell to summer

Labor Day weekend always seems sadden me. I never want summer to end…even living in the desert. I realize perfect weather is on the way, but I’ll miss the long days filled with plenty of warmth and sunshine, lazy afternoon’s poolside and barbeques.

We had a great weekend, we wrapped up restaurant week, drank and had laughs with friends, went shooting and got stranded in the desert, took a cruise to Mt. Charleston, caught a movie, ate at favorite haunts, and even spent an afternoon in the pool soaking up the sunshine.

Shane drove in from Phoenix, his visit was leisurely not a single vehicle repair was planned. He got into town late Friday evening, meanwhile Frank and I watched lightning from the cave mountain near the house after our lackluster dinner at DJT.


We met him at the house, and headed to PT’s Pub after he got settled. The guys played pool while I hung at the bar trying my luck at Keno. Later, they joined me, and we caught up over beers.

Saturday, we had breakfast at the Original Pancake House. Gouda omelets. No need to say more. We got a slow start to the day, eventually we headed out for an easy off-road drive. The guys wanted to shoot some clays and I wanted to test out the new camera.




What's that in the desert?


A water heater. You got to love the irony.


We had our fun, we had a few hours until our dinner reservations so we decided to head home and rest up a bit beforehand. However, the Suburban had other plans. It refused to start, the battery lacked juice. Fortunately, we weren’t too far from home only a few miles. Walking was an option, but Frank called a friend to meet him where the desert meets civilization, he then rode back to the house and return with the Jimmy. Shane and I hung by the Suburban hoping someone would come by and we prayed no flash floods came through. We were 0-1. I suppose we lucked out. Frank showed about 45-minutes after he set off by foot. After a few tries they were able to jump the battery and we were on our way. We had just enough time to shower and head to the Luxor for dinner.

Dinner was good, we considered dollar blackjack at the Sahara, after, but the crowds in for the holiday were ridiculous. Instead, we decided to return home and hang by the house.

Sunday before we met LVCFO/AZFBA members for a cruise to Mt. Charleston, we took a drive through Red Rock. It was gorgeous, the early morning sun highlighted the vivid colors of the mountains.





Our baby, followed by Shane's




Then, it was onto the meet. Both groups are for people who drive f-body vehicles, Camaros and Firebirds.

Reminscent of an inside-out Oreo


One of these things is not like the other, one of these things doesn't belong...


We were delayed by an hour waiting for others to show, but we had a great time cruising up the mountain.








We stopped for photos outside the ski resort. Pretty girls in a row.




Then the group went to Famous Dave’s for lunch while we stayed on the mountain for a picnic. We ate, and then tossed Frisbees around before heading back. The ride down the mountain is always a good time.


Sunday night we had friends over for a fantasy football draft. Afterwards, we made a few pitchers of margaritas while we played Yahtzee.

Monday came much too quickly. We went to breakfast at Hash House a Go Go. It’s been featured on every food tv show, and it seems to be great for business. It’s always been a hopping place, but Monday was insane. We waited a half hour for a table, plus another thirty minutes for our food. Thankfully, the brown sugar flapjack and pork tenderloin benedicts did not disappoint.

Back at the house Shane and Frank worked on the Suburban’s battery. So much for no vehicle repairs. Not too long after that Shane headed home, and Frank and I hit the pool. We picked up a solar cover a couple weeks ago, it makes a world of difference we’re maintaining temps five degrees higher than before.

We topped off the weekend by catching Extract at Rave Theaters. Eh, it seemed to lack a point. Then, we walked over to Yardhouse for dinner. Food was great as usual; Frank had the house amber and hefeweizen, and I tried the Bitburger Pils and Redhook Slim. The latter had nice body for being a light beer, I really enjoyed it.

With that, Labor Day weekend was just a memory.

Restaurant Week: Tender

Our seventh Restaurant Week meal was our last. We had a friend join us for dinner at Tender inside Luxor. I made same-day reservations directly with the hotel. We arrived at 8:00, but it took a few minutes for them to get a table ready. The lounge, bar and dining room were all packed to the brim. We were led to a round-table for six, despite us only be three diners. However, it’d be too cozy for three to share the high-back booths that lined the room.

We quickly got our drink order out of the way. We snacked on fresh slices of bread: multi-grain, sourdough and olive, while we perused the menus. We found both menus appealing; we opted to order from each. My selections were from the restaurant week menu, Frank and Shane each ordered daily specials and we also ordered five cheese selections to get us started.

The cheese we chose were the following: Bermuda Triangle goat, San Andreas sheep, Bandich and Purple Moon cheddars, and Marieke gouda. The plate was served with baguettes, honeycomb, walnuts, dates and cherry fig chutney. As a group we enjoyed all the cheeses with the exception of the Bermuda Triangle. It was awfully bitter and sour. None of the accompaniments made it any better. My favorites were the San Andreas sheep, and the Bandich Cheddar. Both were creamy with bold flavor.


Next, I had mixed greens salad dressed with black currant balsamic vinaigrette; it was topped with artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes. The dressing had a great balance of acidity and sweetness. I thought it was great.


Our entrees followed not long after. Shane ordered the ribeye tasting trio: bison, American Kobe, and Angus beef. The bison was the standout, it was lean yet tender and it had a bold meaty taste. The Angus was the second best and the American Kobe came in last, it was grizzly and very fatty.


Frank chose the seared halibut with fettuccine in an alfredo-mushroom sauce. The halibut was a bit dry, I think it was overcooked. The sauce and fettuccine were excellent.


I had Hawaiian blue prawns over rice pilaf with Andouille sausage and Louisiana gumbo. The prawns were cooked well, the Andouille was nicely spicy and the gumbo was tasty, too. I enjoyed the dish. I only wished there was more Andouille sausage.


Lastly, I was the only one to receive dessert. I sampled the cinnamon monkey bread. The caramel sauce was runny; the bread was overcooked and hard. Only the absolute inside was gooey and appealing. I left the rest behind.


Service was good throughout the meal. Tender met our expectations. It’s a nice option within the Luxor.

Restaurant Week: DJT

We chose DJT at Trump for our sixth Restaurant Week meal. Once again reservations were made with OpenTable, we were seated promptly at 7:00. The dining room is gorgeous with marble, mirrors, private and oversized booths. Our server quickly took our drink order and brought over menus. We learned that DJT regularly offers a $29 prix fixe dinner menu every day of the week. We opted to order off that as well as the restaurant week menu.

We got started with a basket of bread: olive, rosemary and cranberry ciabatta were our options. The bread was a bit dry, but it was tasty enough to polish it off.

Our appetizers followed, Frank had curried squash soup with apple slaw. It was silky; it had a touch of heat which was off-set by the sweetness of the apple. I selected heirloom tomato salad with mozzarella and basil. It was a different interpretation of a caprese salad, instead of leaves or chopped basil, it was emulsified with olive oil. Only the cheese was amiss; there were only a few chunks and it could’ve been better if fresh or Buffalo mozzarella was used.





Next, Frank was served his filet atop mashed potatoes, drizzled with a wild mushroom sauce. The filet was cooked well. However, the cut was run of the mill. I had shrimp etouffee with fettuccine. It was the first time I came across an etouffee on a menu, I just had to try it. Sadly, this wasn’t the best version of the dish. If it were, it seems I’m not a fan. The shrimp were overcooked, the pasta was sticky and the roux was heavy yet bland.




We finished with dessert. Frank’s choice was carrot cake and I settled on the chocolate dome with berries. Neither was particularly noteworthy. The carrot cake was more cream cheese frosting than anything. You’d need an extreme sweet-tooth and love of cream cheese to enjoy this. The dome was better. It was chocolaty with a hint of richness. Overall, it too was pretty nondescript.




Service was good until the end of our meal. We waited thirty minutes to close out our bill. We also found our server awkward and a bit obnoxious. Up until the bill he hung around too long; it felt like he was constantly hovering. As you can likely guess, we were not fond of DJT. I cannot recommend it.

Restaurant Week: Circo

We went to Osteria del Circo for our fifth meal during Restaurant Week. We had reservations at 7:15; we were seated a few minutes after we arrived. Our table overlooked Lake Bellagio, with a view of Flamingo, Bally’s and Paris. We were able to watch the fountains dance every fifteen minutes.

Olive bread, Crusty Italian and Rosemary Foccacia made up the bread basket that got us started. Our server also poured us a small bowl of the clearest olive oil I’ve seen and wonderfully bitter-sweet balsamic vinegar. I could’ve made a meal out of this alone. As you probably guessed, we did ask for seconds.

Frank and I both had salad for the first course. His was romaine with Bagna Cauda Dressing, which is essentially a Caesar Salad. It was delightful, the romaine was crisp and it wasn’t overly dressed. I had field greens with shallot vinaigrette; it was topped with the most wonderful Parmigiano Reggiano that’s ever passed my lips. The flavor was bold and the texture was a bit gritty. I savored every last shaving.


For the main course Frank had ravioli stuffed with ricotta, spinach and Swiss chard in a sage butter sauce. Pure bliss. I have no other words. The raviolis were perfectly cooked pillows filled with the most luscious creamy mixture, the sauce added to the richness of the dish. Surprisingly, as decadent as it was it wasn’t excessively rich. My entrée was grilled sea bass with fennel and zucchini. The fennel was braised it what I believe was vinegar, since it had a pickled taste. The fish was incredibly fresh and tender. It was quite good, but it was outshined by Frank’s ravioli.



We each ordered tiramisu for dessert. It was served with coffee gelato. We were also given biscotti compliments of the chef. We sampled tiramisu at dozens of restaurants but none measure up. Circo’s tiramisu must be made by angels. It was light, silky and brilliantly creamy. We were relieved we ordered two and there was no need to share. Bite after bite, I wished it didn’t have to end, but like all good things it did.

The ambiance was lovely, the food was superb and the service was attentive; Circo exceeded our expectations.