Summer In The City Part II

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It was time now to head back to the Borgata for dinner at Ombra. It ended up being John's treat as he was feeling pretty flush after taking 2,400.00 in a no limit game. Clearly Becky and John are our team's best undercover agents when it came to folling the Borg! Ombra is the sister restaurant to Specchio and is situated in their wine cellar. The ambiance was elegant and classic. We all had the seafood mixed grill which included swordfish, tuna, scallops and shrimp cooked Sicilian style. The chef was a little light on the seasonings and the tuna overcooked, in my opinion but otherwise it was grand. The 2 bottles of chardonnay we had with dinner were a fine accompaniment as were the roasted beets. I had an Insalata di Caprese (tomatos, buffalo mozzarella with balsamic vinegar) and JM had an Arugula salad with huge shavings of parmesan di Reggio. JM and I shared a delicious chocolate tart while John and Becky had the zeppoli. Cappuchino, expresso and a snifter of Opal Nero (black Sambucca) provided an excellent ending to the meal. BTW, were we quiet and dignified being Biff and Muffy? HELL NO! We had fun and other tables be damned!

From there it was back to the Sands (quick aside: saw my first Lamborghini not in a show room in front of the Borgata) to meet back up with Flip. Due to a miscommunication on my part, Flip had not realized he was also invited to dinner with us and had, instead, stayed at Sands and had dinner at their Steak house. Thank goodness, it was comped. I did and still do feel really bad about this! I owe you bud! Anyhow, Flip had a treat waiting for JM - tickets to see Joe Piscipo. We played a little more VP together at the same quarter machines, hootin' an' hollerin an' playin' wit' da pencils.... until it was time for them to queue up for the show. JM was down and switched from BP to Joker Poker. Good move!!! She hit 5 of a kind (lovely ladies) for 1,000.00!! We said our goodbyes and Becky became the tour guide for me to the casinos of the boardwalk. We hit the Claridge, Ballys and Wild West. I really liked the Wild West as well (hey I'm a country fan and proud to admit it) and ended up having good luck. Becky sat down at a 10 dollar blackjack table and I decided to try Let It Ride for the first time. Good old beginners luck! Within no time at all I had aquired the nickname "Mr. TwoPair" and was up 250.00. Unfortunately, luck doesn't hold forever and the table went cold. I colored up 200.00 and joined Becky at blackjack. The dealer here was giving money away. I made another 150.00 and Becky colored up 700.00 (1 grape, 2 blackies) by the time we were done. It wasn't a Bananna.....yet! It was only midnight but I was exhausted from lack of sleep, good food, wine, quick cocktail service and walking. We left to make our drunken phone calls. We got ahold of Beach Crazy, I tried to get Blackjack and just when he called back, my phone died!! Those damn 'bots must have gotten to it!! There was no calling for a quick extraction now!! I think we tried Mikey too but I don't remember. Going back to the Sands for me to pick up my suitcase from the Bell desk. We said our goodbyes and I trudged back down the walk to the Trop. Even though it was night, it was still in the 80s and humid! Not a fun walk!! I make it to the Trop and find wall to wall people who don't believe in "excuse me" or moving out of your way. Note to said people: LEARN ENGLISH!!!!!! After what seemed like an hour and a half (in reality 10 minutes, boy wormholes take it out of you!!), I was in my room gulping down the Tylenol PMs that JM had given me earlier and curled up on the floor, I mean the bed. I closed my eyes and what seemed like 5 minutes later opened them to find.....it was 10:30 am (it was 12:30 when I went to bed)!!

OMG!!!! I was supposed to meet Flip and JM at 9 at Rossi's!!!! My cellphone was, of course, off and being "rebuilt" by those pesky 'bots! (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!). There were 3 messages from JM demanding my presence. I quickly showered, changed and called JM back. GET HERE NOW!!! were my orders and I hustled to comply. There was no way I was going to walk that walk again so I hit the hotel lobby, out the door and into a cab. A 2 minute ride and I was back at the Sands. Once again a great feeling hit me as I entered. Gotta love old school!! Thank you Frankie and Dino!! Joey's back in town!! I went upstairs to Rossi's to find them. What can I say about Rossi's.......I was "home"!!! Here was the style of Italian restaurants I grew up in. I expected to see Fat Tony and Big Nosed Sam sitting in a corner booth discussing "bizness". The Maitre Di and the hostess greeted everyone warmly as if they were family and the waitstaff were kind, courteous and seemed to genuinely care about your comfort. The food was excellent. It was a buffet but what a buffet!!! Oyster's Rockefeller, shrimp, chicken francese with lobster, beef tenderloin with crab, prime rib, ravioli in a pesto cream sauce, omeletes, made to order crepes, waffles galore! White asparagus in Hollendaise!! Everything was cooked perfectly - the beef rare and juicy, the oysters still plump, the chicken moist!! It was hard to believe this was a buffet! Flip and JM filled me in on their night and what a wonderful show Joe Piscipo put on and of Flip's BIG WIN!!!! He had hit a Royal on a 2 dollar machine for 8k!! WAY TO GO FLIP!!! The Sands should be sending him full RFB comps for nearly every weekend for the rest of the year, IMHO! We dabbled a little at the quarter machines hottin' and hollerin' again but I had a hankering for the dollar ones. We went over, sat down and played. I was down 40.00 from the quarter machines but ended up +75.00 from the dollars.

Soon it was time to depart and do battle with the traffic on the Parkways and home. The top stayed up for the trip home as the thermometer was reading 104 and the air was like trying to breathe water. Traffic was thick but it was moving - about 60 - 65 or so. Note to the drivers of the Yellow Porsche and the Rice Burner: RACING AT 150 THROUGH HEAVY TRAFFIC AIN'T COOL!!!!!!!! Kill yourselves, fine but don't take some family with you! I dropped JM off, got some water, hugs and kisses and left to sit on the Beltway. There was a car-b-que right where traffic from the Belt, Verrazano and 4th avenue on ramps merge so it was slllllooooowwwwww...... Caught up with the Thunderstorms in CT and made it home.

In Closing:

The Borg are nefarious, scheming little pricks who will stop at nothing. Thank the Gods we have agents such as John and Becky who have successfully infiltrated their ranks. The Sands is cool even with the busloads of old geezers that invade at 12 pm everyday. The Wild West is fun!

All in All, a fun trip for this AC virgin. Sad to say but Resistance is Futile as the nanobots are doing their nastly little work in my brain and I hear the siren's call of the Borgata. BEWARE ALL WHO ENTER!! YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED!

Great friends make any trip extemely memorable and incredible fun! Thanks to John and Becky for their Generousity in giving me their comped rooms and for a memorable dinner, and to Flip for a wonderful breakfast.

Is it time to go back yet?????? Resistance so weak......

Call of the week: "I GOT 3 SIXES!! OH NO!!! EVIL SIGN OF HARRAHS!!!!!!!!"

Transmission ended.....

 

Thanks Bill, almost like being there minus the 5 hr drive

 

I wish I colored "up" $700 at Wild Wild West... but I'll take being up $400 and coloring out with a purple and two blacks! Too bad I didn't bring it all home with me. Sigh... (at least I brought home what I started with - I'll take it!)

Oh, and yeah, my phone says we left a drunken message with Mikey. Since he didn't have my number, he might have been wondering who the slobs were calling him from a 301 area code number. Now ya know!

 

Good times Bill & CK. Thanks for the call - I'm just sorry that I missed it. The cell is always on but, at that time of night, it's usually in the drawer unless I'm still out myself. I have to embellish a quote from your 1st page just because I'm funny that way...

"...and there to greet me is that vision of pure loveliness herself. After hugs 'n kisses and a quickie in the trunk, we are off. She was a bit shocked that I was serious about staying down but she took it like a trooper..."

:evillaugh

 

Wow, I knew you guys were having fun when I talked to you, but I didn't know you were having that much fun. Sounds like it was a great weekend.

Hang in there, Bill....45 more days and it's Vegas, baby

 

Your technological distiction will be assimilated into our own. Ahh, the "local" stomping grounds. It sounds like you got a nice taste of AC, minus the various Trump experiences. I like the Borgata but it is quite expensive to gamble there. Sorry I couldn't make it..and I was SO CLOSE (Philadelphia).

Resistance is futile.

 

Bill:

It was great seeing you again and meeting JM. We had a LOT of fun at OMBRA!

After dinner, we were going back up to the room, and we rode up with one of the players in my no-limit game eartlier that day. He lost about $2,000 in 3 hours, much of it because of his poor play. While I'm commiserating with him on the bad session he had, I'm thinking to myself, "I guess it'd be rude to thank him for the wonderful dinner."

Let's do that again soon!

Hubby

 

Count me in as assimilated

Nice trip report, and I wholeheartedly agree with your assessments of Sands and Wild Wild West. However, I have to admit that I am a big Borgata fan. First, their comps are great--best in the business, as far as I'm concerned. I always get tons of slots cash and tons of comp cash, and I really don't gamble that much. Second, the rooms are the best in AC--beautifully decorated, large bathroom, lovely view. And, unlike most places in AC, they offer free rooms Sunday through Thursday, instead of just Monday through Thursday (I like being able to go all day Sunday and not have to take another day off work). So, perhaps once you get some offers from Borgata you might change your mind! (Oh, and next time you win big, try Suilan...great Chinese food)

 

Sounds like you had a good ole time! Wish we could have made it down, but they decided to do something for my Mom and S-I-Ls' b-days and we had to stay in town. Oh well! Next time you guys get down to the Borg post and we'll try to be there.

 

Trying to set up something for weekend of Nov. 11-13.