Eating for Survival vs Eating for the Experience

I figured I would ask...

Let's discuss this...

What are your eating habits in Vegas?

 

On business, I usually eat what and when the other do, which often times means a nicer evening meal. Sometimes I'll do breakfast on my own before work.

On pleasure, we've kind of settled into a two meal per day thing. Breakfast or a brunch-y type meal in the morning, often times a casino buffet or a Blueberry Hill type place. If we're going somewhere else, like a side trip, we'll stop on the way.

Dinner is often at a casino buffet or else a nicer place, or one of those we've decided upon as favorites, such as Bootlegger, Jerry's Nugget, etc.

 

They're getting better. And by that I mean, I'm not sticking to just buffets. I've tried different cafes on the strip and DT. Next trip I'm going to the steakhouse at NYNY and will limit myself to one buffet, because it's free.

So I went from eating to survive to now actually choosing places that I've yelp and going there to try something that caught my eye.

 

Usually starts off with the GC buffet.

About 8 or 9 am,then maybe a snack around 1 or 2.
Dinner,we try to always do Mon Ami Gabi and the Ellis Island Steaks,maybe Italian one night ,or whatever we're in the mood for the rest of the time.
No big time gourmet $200 meals.

 

Variety & value Rarely buffets (though I did get the 2 for 1 Cravings special with wine& beer included that we'll try on our next trip) We usually do one splurge dinner (often a tasting menu, sometimes a prix fixe) My husband likes a hearty breakfast so we usually do a good breakfast, snack in the afternoon, nice dinner. But we've also done some of the nicer restaurant lunch specials. We rarely go out to eat in our normal lives, save it for vacation. We'll definitely have sushi on our next trip because it's been a while and Vegas has some good spots. I want to go for pho. Possibly dim sum brunch on the weekend.

 

survival all the way. hot dogs, burgers, that sort of stuff.

I dont valeu restraunts. i feel like I am a hostage when I go. if i drop my fork at home, I just get another one. If I am someplace out I have to get someone to give me one.

same with water, i drink a lot of water and they never refill it fast enough so i am always without. At home I would just go get some myself.

again, the hostage feeling.

Why pay extra for that?

 

I eat for the experience, definitely. I usually only eat two meals a day in Vegas (sometime one, depending) and I prefer to eat in a nice restaurant with ambiance and good food. I am not one for buffets (I only do them when they are free) and there is always a feeling of having to eat more than you really want at a buffet.

As for fast food - I rarely eat that at home so I am not inclined to waste a meal in Vegas on fast food, or on any restaurant I can eat at when I am home. I look forward to dining at places that are only available in Vegas when I am there.

 

Most of the time I am definately eating for survival... but that being said I try not to do any fast food joints or chains I can do at home.
But every trip there is at least one trip for oysters and one trip to a steakhouse for the experience.

 

Usually something like DuPars or Hash House for breakfast if DT, or Harrahs buffet if on strip. We usually only eat the buffet once on a trip though. Lunch usually consists of a hot dog or something small from a food court if we are even hungry. Dinner usually somewhere we can sit down and eat l like Triple 7 brew pub at MSS or the Peppermill. Maybe a steakhouse once during the trip. Dinner can be anywhere from 5pm to 9pm, just depends if we ate anything after breakfast or not. IF downtown a fourth meal around 2 am at binions for a burger is a must have. I only sleep 4 hours or so a night in Vegas, too much to do and see to be sleeping in. I can do that at home or when I am dead!

 

Its a vacation, so in terms of eating I'll certainly indulge, so its more than eating to survive.

But "eating for the experience" may be a bit of an oversell. I'll occasionally treat myself to a fancy meal, but that's not the standard.

 

I like how Nevyn stated that. I mean, it was cool, what went along with the omakase at Okada or the seven courser at Commander's, for instance. But we don't need or want a spectacle. We want awesome food wherever it is in the spectrum, good service, value, fun times.

At it's base level, yes, food is fuel. But we want it to resonate with us rather than just packing in something so as to get on to the next pack-in session. God knows I've had way too many McJunques over the years tooling down the interstate. Choosing it as a vacay meal? No thanks.

 

In Vegas, definitely for the experience of dining out every night at restaurants that are popular and/or get good reviews.

 

For me its strictly bankroll dependent. Hard to stomach a $200+ meal when you just dropped $2,000 the first hour after checking in. In actuality its girlfriend dependent. If she wants, she gets.

 

40% eating to survive
40% eating well because its a vacation
20% eating for the experience


I eat at 1-2 nicer places each trip. Mainly because if I'm solo, it is much easier to do this in Vegas than my hometown.

The rest is split between knowing of a place I want to go and getting something to eat right at the moment because I just got off a BJ table and realized I didn't eat anything for the last 10 hours other than Captain. Most of the survive eating ends up being pizza just because it is quick and I can eat while walking to the next place.

 

We mostly eat for survival. For us, the biggest part of the Vegas experience is having a few more cocktails than we normally would, gambling longer than we normally would, staying up and sleeping in later than we normally would, and just enjoying that general feeling of having so little responsibility. That said, during our last trip (and for the one coming up next month) we did decide to have at least one "proper" dinner to add to our Vegas experience. Last time it was at the Eiffel Tower restaurant because we were staying at Paris. We actually really enjoyed it. Once we were able to tear ourselves away from the casino, it was nice to "experience" Vegas in a way that didn't involve drinking and gambling. (Ok, there was still some drinking involved but you know what I mean...)

 

Survival first especially if we had a weak meal previously.
When going for the Experience it will usually be the middle meal this way if its bad we can make adjustments for the last meal of the day and eat at a place we know is always good.

 

I love good food, but don't particularly enjoy fancy places cause I'm a very informal/casual person. I'm not the type who can eat huge amounts at a sitting, but definitely can eat again every 2-3 hours if I'm not kept busy. I like stuff that tastes good and sadly don't always eat what good for me. I often go to the same places and order the same thing.

 

When in Vegas I like to eat for the experiences. Although I'm not comfortable in fancy upscale restaurants I like to seek out exciting new dishes with interesting flavors and textures.

I tend to visit casual fine dining places or places with innovative, fusion type of foods. I also like to try other chef's spins on items such as ox-tail, tripe, pig jowls, etc., etc.

When at home I just eat so that I don't die, lol!

 

Usually a buffy for breakfast OR lunch and then a sit down dinner.

 

I'm a mix of both.

I love buffets in Vegas because we don't have many in Portland. We only have Chinese/Asian buffets, Indian, and Sweet Tomatoes here. We don't have a giant buffet like in Vegas. At the same time, I avoid bad buffets that other people reviewed.

I also love affordable places in Vegas for the survival part. Happy hour is my best friend and we don't splurge unless we have extra budget or win some $$$ to indulge.