I was a speaker at Blogworld in Las Vegas last week, so I was able to squeeze in a trip to my favorite city. I’ll actually be taking two more trips to Vegas before the end of the year. I’m attending Pubcon, and I’ll be there for New Years.
Vegas is still my favorite place on the planet. I stayed at the New York, New York this time. I hadn’t stayed there before, so I thought it was worth trying. Overall the experience was mixed. On one hand I loved the lounges there. I’m a child of the 80’s, so a band that does nothing but cover Journey, Bon Jovi and Def Leopard is something I would enjoy very much. And the band at the New York, New York was really amazing. There is also the Irish pub with dueling pianos that is great. It’s the way all Irish pubs should be while not in Ireland.Â
I didn’t eat much at the New York. I caught a slice of pizza on the way back to the room after the show. It wasn’t bad. I also had Chinese for dinner there one night. The General Tso Chicken was so-so.
The room at the hotel was a decent size. Clean by most standards. Small, non-Plasma tv in the room with a crappy picture. But the real problem is that damn roller coaster. In hindsight I should have considered that a hotel with a roller coaster running along the entire outside of it may cause a bit of a noise problem. Had I been in Vegas purely for fun, I may not have been in my room at 2am to hear the screams, but I had to get up at 8, so I really didn’t enjoy it.
I had lunch at the House of Blues in Mandalay Bay. The food was good. Not great, but good. They seem to have a really popular Prince cover band playing there, and I would love to see them when I have time.
I made sure to hit Alize at the Palms again. If you haven’t been to this place, you are missing out. I think this may be the best food in Vegas. And they are great people. I loved their coconut suffle so much that I called ahead the week before to make my reservation and asked which day they serve it. I was told that it’s their suffle du jour and they would have it for me which ever day I liked. Not only did they keep true to their word, but I didn’t even have to mention it. I had the rack of lamb, which was amazing, and of course my desert. The only downside is the wine guy. He is a bit pushy and really doesn’t take no for an answer. He kept badgering us to make sure to get wine. I wanted to scream out that I was in recovery or something, but I just gave in and ordered a cheap half-bottle that made him look at me with disgust. And the French wonder why we don’t like them?
Just as amazing as the food at Alize was the Love show at Mirage. For as many times as I have been to Vegas, you would think that I would had caught a Cirque show. But this was my first. I’m a huge, huge Beatles fan, and I have wanted to see this show since it came out. I was not disappointed. I guess between Cirque and suffle, I should take back the thing I said about the French above. They aren’t all bad.
I headed down to Freemont street on my last night. I walked around a bit and tried a deep fried Twinky and Oreo. Both were great. Guilt would only let me have about 1/3 of each, but they were outstanding. Although I have to say that walking around Freemont is a very different experience as the Strip. I guess you get a different crowd in a hotel that charges $39 compared to $200+. On a side note I did run into my friend Charlie with his girlfriend and guests from out of town. Charlie is fortunate enough to live in Vegas, so this is all old news to him. His guests told be Le Reve was great, so I think I’ll have to add that to the list for my next visit.
Overall the trip was great. I met some really great new friends, and tried some new places. Every time I visit Vegas I become more sure I need to have a place there. Prices are so low that it seems crazy to not look into it. I think I’ll have to check that out next month.
[tags]las vegas, alize, new york, blogworld, love, beatles, cirque du soleil[/tags]
