meet, meals, and deals

[kitson]

been trying to find the time to get a trip report in for our short business trip feb 11-14, and maybe stalling a little, because this will pale compared to the novel of phukna!

we left home sunday morning, lunch at airport, then to salt lake and las vegas arriving at 425 pm, thought we were doing great, trying to make the 6 pm meet at parasol up, things went very well with the airport checkin to the flamingo, but baggage claim and the cab line at 5 oclock on a sunday at the airport was huge, maybe because of all the other arrivals for the clothing trade shows we were attending.

after finally getting through the cab line, a very quick trip to the flamingo, and although we wandered the hall quite a while finding our room, a long way from elevators and with a view of a roof, we got what we paid for, and expected from the airport checkin and lack of negotiation with the desk clerk. the room itself was fine, and clean and perfectly suitable for the amount of time spent there, we paid a total of 57 for the two nights there, from a harrahs mailer, but the third night of our stay would have been 99. so we moved for tuesday night.

anyway, we quickly tossed the luggage on the bed, no, that is not a euphemism, and took off for the wynn, upon reaching the main floor of the flamingo, realized we did not know how to make our way back to the cab stand, but did know which way margaritaville was, and that was on the way to the wynn, so just took off walking, and walked to the wynn, arriving only a few minutes after the first people had gotten there.

what a treat, it was so nice to meet DonD, and his jennifer and her friend, as well as texas aggie girl, and then a very nice surprise visitor, coaster kikky. so great to put a face and personality with the posts on the board by everyone, and an added treat was a tour of one of the wynns rooms! what a great start to the trip, and again, if you ever have a chance to meet some of the people from this board, it is worth the effort.

the meet was at parasol up, i will say that i was underwhelmed by the service, both in terms of speed, but also having to worry about whether change was coming back or not! myself and don both bought a round of drinks, paying with a hundred dollar bill, and had to wait way too long to get change back, don had to ask for his! i can easily see where if a group was having a wild time, that a large amount of change could easily become a "tip". i really do think this was blatant and intentional on the servers part, after looking back at it, don, what did you think?

after we left the group, having not eaten for about 9 hours, we found our way to corsa cuccina in the wynn. we were seated without reservations, though not at the best table, so cant really even comment on the decor of the room, service was ok, i had veal, wife had canneloni, split a appetizer salad, no drinks, tab was 90 dollars. not overly impressed, but our meals for the rest of the trip more than made up for this average one.

more to post later, meals at bouchon, grand luxe, delmonico, vic and anthonys, dessert at triple george grill. any questions about these places, let me know, will try to give my opinion, fwiw.

 

[DonD]

i really do think this was blatant and intentional on the servers part, after looking back at it, don, what did you think?

There is no doubt in my mind that the forgetting of the change was intensional. A sixty dollar tip on a forty dollar bill is too much for me.
Anyway, it was great meeting you and your wife, Kitson. These mini get togethers are great.

 

[gmoney590]

Maybe you both looked like big tippers:evillaugh This is the first time I've heard about that type of problem at the Wynn. You can see if the bill is 40.00 and you give them a 50.00 and they may think the change is a tip, but, giving them a 100.00 on a 40.00 tab; they knew better. I can't wait to hear the rest of your TR especially the dinning portion of it.

 

[kitson]

after dinner at the wynn, made our way back toward the flamingo, across the street to ti, noted the time for the siren show, thought we would finally get to see it, and spent a little money in the casino while waiting for it, only to have it cancelled again by winds, as it was the following night. sometimes i wonder if the sirens are even there, given the high amount of times that the show is cancelled, and then i wonder if they are paid whether they get to put on the show or not?

back to the flamingo, straight to the room. our small amount of gambling there might hurt our next offers, although i tried to make up for it later in the trip over at the rio, so did get a little activity on the total rewards card. did play a little the next morning, between 7 am and 7:30 when my bride made in downstairs, but as expected and told to us by ken2v, did not find any video poker machines with good paytables.

we walked on down to the venetian, easily finding our way to the venezia tower elevators, then up to the venezia lobby and down the hallway to bouchon, for breakfast. from larryg's posts, i wanted to try the white sausage, so i did, but was almost pulled away from that by the roast chicken and wild mushroom omelet special. my bride had the quiche, said it was very good, we both had coffee, at 3.50 a cup it actually was a bargain, given that a person would pay 4 something for a cup of starbucks downstairs! the coffee was excellent, cup never got below half, the bread served at seating was great, the croissant served with the sausage and eggs was very flaky and flavorful. the white sausage was very good, probably more of an aquired taste, made of turkey, pork, and chicken and although shaped in a bratwurst form, was a pate style, and very soft and fell apart with the touch of the fork. all in all, i am glad i tried the dish, but will try something else the next time, and there will be a next time, whether for lunch or breakfast, probably the next time we do the trade show at the venetian in august. the service was perfect, and very helpful in the explanations of the menu and the items on it. after breakfast on our way out, we went out into the private courtyard and pool area for the venezia towers, we had had some friends we rarely go to las vegas find an internet special, and they had stayed in a poolside suite right there last august for 159 a night! from their description of their two level, walk out the sliding doors to the pool suite, what a bargain!

on to the trade show, had a couple of hours of walking the aisles shopping before we had appointments set up with vendors we have worked with and been successful with before. this trade show this day is really fun, kind of a bargain hunters bazaar for us, we have a budget for the goods here, never really knowing what it will be that we find, knowing it when we see it, yes we can sell that, yes we can mark that up profitably...other trade shows are more with established vendors and manufacturers reps, showing the latest line from the same companies we have worked with before, this show today is one time only merchandise, might be manufacturing overruns from higher end catalog companies, might be clothing manufactured, but then not able to be delivered because the people that ordered went out of business...

following our appointments, was just a little hungry, had 5 pm reservations at delmonico, did not want to wait that long to eat, and then be so hungry at delmonico that we filled up on the bread, so left the trade show for a while and went to the grand luxe, seated right away, this was about 1 pm. on mikeys recommendation, had to try the asian nachos, and then we split a salad. i wish i could remember all the ingredients on the asian nachos, the flat fried wontons were the nachos, and the first few bites are heaven, then the very intense taste can almost be too much, when the ingredients fell off, and i ate them with a fork, had to actually eat them with some bread to sort of moderate the intensity. had thoughts of making the meal of them, glad that we had the salad to split, a person getting an order of the asian nachos should have a couple of people to split them with, some of this is great, and enough.

back to the trade show until just before 5, a very successful day of business, and stopped at delmonico on the way back down and asked if we could change our reservation to 6 pm, they very graciously said that would be ok!
after wandering through the casino and trying out a few poker machines but not getting any cocktail service, decided to go to the racebook, knew i would get service there, and did, though the venetian has now also instituted drink coupons that you get when you place a wager, they had been one of the few that still just served the people sitting there!

had just placed a bet, an exacta top and bottom wheel with the number 8 horse, the second favorite, because the favorite was the number 10 horse way on the outside, and lots of bad things happen to favorites at mountaineer park! found a chair, and there was the cocktail angel! i asked her if she had a shiraz or petite syrah, and she said not at this bar, but she surely could go get me one at another bar! i told her that was not necessary, what did she have? she brought me a very nice cabernet, for a free drink, and pretty soon she brought me another. the wine and the service made me wish i had changed the reservations to 7 rather than 6, but thats ok. a 33-1 longshot, the number 9, bolted fast from the gate, stopping the number 10 from making the easy lead, and almost went wire to wire, but the come from behind number 8 just caught him at the wire. my exacta, just a dollar exacta, paid 196 dollars! if the 9 had held off 8, the exacta i would have gotten would have been much higher, thinking in the 600 dollar range.

made just one more bet on the next race at mountaineer, that was going to cut it pretty close with the reservation, but trifecta wheeled the horse ridden by the jockey that was on the number 10, the beaten favorite, the race before. like i said, strange stuff seems to happen at mountaineer park, and like i expected this horse did win, and i cashed a 60 dollar trifecta. probably netted 210 or so on the two races, so dinner at delmonico was paid for!

seated right away at delmonico, casey and his assistants introduced themselves, brought the bread and water and wine list, asked if it was our first visit, no, we had eaten there last trip, and it was so good we are back!
they soon brought back, i think before we had even ordered, a little "gift" from the chef, it was good, although i cant tell you exactly what it was other than it had beef in it. so, although it is a tiny little thing, they try to top themselves each time you visit.

we ordered the french onion soup, a repeat from last trip, and this time opted for the new york steak, rather than their featured bone in ribeye. while this steak was very good, and about 8 dollars less than the ribeye, the ribeye is the better steak. we also found a jim barry australian shiraz on the wine list for 40 dollars, his other two shirazs were priced at 130 and 220, i think i recall. we very much enjoyed the wine, and thought it a good value, finding a wine for an affordable price from a vintner that can command high prices for his other wines. we finished with a shared cheesecake dessert, and were out the door for about 170 with a nice tip. the service was great, only tiny little thing that embarrassed casey, but that we found humorous, is that after they had taken the cheesecake plate away, he brought us two clean forks. we waited a little for the bill, and then he came back red faced and asked us if we had already had dessert? well, yes, we had, but we thought maybe the chef had another gift for us! and then we laughed and he brought us the check.

casey and his crew were also waiting on the two tables to the left of me, and the place was just loud enough that we knew where the other couples were from, what kind of wine they were drinking, and why they were in town, one for the convention, the other for their 40th anniversary. there was just a little conversation between the tables, but enough that the other tables would laugh along when one of the others and the waiters said or did something funny, just a very enjoyable meal, and we will be back at delmonico the next time we are in las vegas.

i cannot imagine eating the way we ate that day ever again, it really was over the top for us, especially after dieting the past few months, but i dont regret the meals!

back toward the flamingo, siren show cancelled again, picked up a dealt four of a kind playing for a dime a credit on a 5 play multistrike poker machine, on the first level, so cashed out for 320 on the remnants of what started out as a hundred dollar bill, and after a few moves and cashouts of vouchers, so a profitable day of gambling, on not very much play.

shopped a little at the beatles LOVE shop at the mirage, got souvenirs for the teenagers, walked through the revolution lounge at the mirage, very cool, empty at 9ish at night. back to the flamingo, played on few machines for an hour or so, no luck, tables were crowded and i never found one to sit at, so called it a night.

tomorrow, move to the rio, trade show there, and transfer on down to the plaza for the last night and a night downtown.

 

[kitson]

next morning, up early, check out of the flamingo, taking our luggage with us to the trade show at the rio, checking it at the bellman. this is our most important day of business, this show has more of the merchandise we sell than the others. the rio does a great job in feeding probably 10,000 or so attendees and vendors a continental breakfast, and then lunch, right in the hallways between the exhibit rooms! obviously, the restaurant facilities at the rio cannot handle that crowd, and since it is las vegas, once you lost a customer off the property for lunch, probability that he wont come back for the afternoon. so, luckily for our digestive systems, a non eventful day, foodwise.

entering the trade show, looked for the booth number of what has become one of our top three vendors, but could not find it. knew where to look, entered the room, there was someone else in tommy's spot! exit across the hall, to one of his independent sales reps, who also would be showing tommys merchandise. rick saw us coming down the aisle, and though working with another customer, before we could even open our mouths, said, "sonofabitchs closed the doors, they owe me eighteen thousand dollars"!! we stood there in shock, and he explained that they had just quit the business, were not shipping the orders that should be arriving in our store any day, had not informed anyone of those cancelled orders...

wow, there goes 7000 of our business, i said. my wife said, no, i had over 5000 of orders written already just for spring delivery, let alone the orders we would have placed for fall. now, there is not new spring merchandise available to replace this, all the good stuff is shipped or booked, all that is left is the dogs, returns, things that never sold in the first place. not to mention, this company had a unique place in the market, value for the price-wise. we tried to regroup, to move some other shipments from other vendors up a little, from say june to april, but the fact is that is difficult to do, so we are going to be a little short on merchandise, maybe 10%, this spring, just hoping to do a better job of selling what we do have.

on the lemons into lemonade side, we suddenly had budget money freed up to go find some new vendors, and although we wont know until after the fall season arrives and we find out if it is a hit with the customers, whether we found the right replacements or not. appropriate that the trade show occurs in las vegas, because, for us, this is gambling. the little we run through the machines or across the tables, thats just play money!

i did excuse myself from my wife for a couple hours, after scouting the remaining exhibit halls for her, finding a few lines to look at and saving her the time of walking the aisles to concentrate on her appointments, and made it to the casino for about 2 hours, played some pai gow and let it ride, cost me a little, but then hit 4 kings on a dollar vp, so made 250 there and was profitable for the time at the rio.

after the show, we beat the crowd out the door, got our luggage, and headed down to the plaza, got long hauled down the strip to main, rather than using industrial, but the driver knew i knew, and i actually kind of enjoyed the sightseeing down the strip, and figured i had spent on the money on the cab tour, rather than his tip. unfortunately, when we did arrive at the plaza, i did not have the correct change in bills to adequately screw him over, so he got a couple bucks more than he should have anyway.

since we had stayed at the plaza some in august, we knew about the third floor checkin, saving us some time, and checkin went very smoothly, so we were in our room in no time. plaza adequate, and the 35 dollar room rate appropriate, nuff said. threw our luggage on the bed, again.

downstairs, a free 40 dollar glass of wine at the keno bar, wifes gin and tonic only cost her 20. out the door, over to the golden nugget to see the remodel. one only has to see the new restaurant and lounge, the grotto, right there where the race book used to be, to know that gambling has been supplemented by other things as casino profit centers.

the pool, and shark tank, and waterslide tube running right through the aquarium was cool, did not go upstairs to see the new race book, should have, but saw the entrance to vic and anthonys steakhouse, and thought i would see if we could get in without reservations at 7 at night. we could! had a great table, not one of those you would normally be given as a walk in. service was good, wine list did not seem to offer much value, as compared to the one at delmonico, so we both had very nicely made and good sized beefeaters and tonic with our meal. since we had done the big thing the night before, we just had the bread, no appetizers, i had a ribeye with an order of fries, wife had a full meal of sea bass, asparagus, and mashed potatoes, it appeared on the menu that only some of the steaks were entree only, the rest of the meals had the sides included. steak was fantastic, prime, service was polite and competent, a little bit of a surprise given that we were not doing the full add on dining experience with them, and we will go back sometime. atmosphere is old time steakhouse, dark, a bit quieter than delmonico, can totally recommend their mixed drinks and the steaks.

we had wanted to maybe eat at the triple george grill, down beside the closed down lady luck, and would have if they hadnt gotten us into vic and anthonys, so after dinner and not finding any empty tables to play at in the nugget, we decided to walk down beside the horseshoe to tgg for dessert and an after dinner drink. it was pouring rain, we were wet when we got there, it rained the whole time we were there, if anything it was coming down harder on the return trip. drink was not what i expected, thought a slippery nipple was made with butterscotch schnapps, but ours were made with the liquor that gives drinks a black licorice taste? still a tasty drink, not what i expected, and it could be i ordered what i got, not what i thought it was? dessert was ok, i had a bread pudding, wife creme brulee. the decor of the place is dark, with lots of old time las vegas personality photos on the walls, place was quiet by this time, but menu looked intriging, with items like beef stroganoff and other comfort type foods, reasonably priced, along with the steaks and seafood entries. bill for the two drinks and two desserts was about 22 with tip, i think.

back to the canopy, just in time for a light show in the rain, stood under one of the gn awnings, and watched the show some, but mostly watched a guy dancing on fremont street to the country tunes being played on the canopy. think maybe he had another channel playing in his head, stereo? not saying you would only see something like that downtown, but its more likely!

 

[kitson]

thanks for reading so far, this will be much shorter because on this last day, we just went from the plaza over to the hilton and the las vegas convention center for the last of the three trade shows we attend, and then to the airport a little after 3 pm.

took a taxi from the plaza up to the hilton, wanted to check our bags at hilton bell desk, rather than at the trade show spot way across the lvcc complex way away from where we did our business, and also wanted to depart from the hilton taxi stand, rather than the cluster out front from the trade show. just about had that thwarted by the bellman, who said that he could only take baggage from registered guests, after i had gotten the deer in the headlights look when he asked what room we were in! luckily, he recognized a tip opportunity, and then told me he could do me a favor and take them just this once... after further review, i realize that i probably could have went and found a host and asked them if they would rather have me spend my afternoon in the casino or at the trade show, but since the bell desk relented we got to have it our way.

anyway, we worked together for a little while, then split up each to our own appointments and area of responsibility, luckily, after my two main appointments and a couple of other stops, i had from 1:30 on free, so got to spend the last hour and 45 minutes in the casino, bought in for a hundred at a paigow table just at a dealer switch, and had a really fun table with the dealer and a couple older ladies from texas and new york. played just even, dealer pretty much got my profit in tips, and then when they switched dealers the new guy had trouble dealing the game, and we had fun giving him and the pit boss crap. when he beat me twice in a row, though, i got up and left, down 30 for the session, and won that back at a poker machine in the star trek area just before we left, so broke even for the day.

counting money when we got home, spent a little over 850 dollars for the whole trip, nothing on the credit card except for kids souvenirs. could remember about 540 in restaurant tabs, and about another 60 for cabs, so at most 250 for total gambling.

wish we had had more time for a show, this trip it was not to be, but the meals more than made up for not seeing a show. always something left for next trip, which is one of the great things about las vegas travel for me.

arrived home at the airport to find 6 inches of snow on top of the car, car thermometer said it was 21 degrees out, on the trip home that kept dropping all the way down to 0, then crept back up until it hit 5. about five miles from home, ran into the southwest winds that we call chinook winds, looked down at the thermometer, it said 14, when we turned in our driveway it was 39, and we stepped out into melting snow. nice to be back in montana!

 

[gmoney590]

Nice Novella Kitson. Sorry to hear about one of your top vendors crapping out on you. Are you out of pocket on any of your orders? Hope you get the vendor situation taken care of for the fall. Nice review of Delmonicos, we plan on eating there when we go in August. You had a nice mix of work and play. There are times when I wish I could do that but, unfortunately, that opportuninty does not exist.

 

[hammie]

but ours were made with the liquor that gives drinks a black licorice taste?

Sambucca?

 

[kitson]

sambucca sounds right.

 

[DonD]

Thanks for the report. It was great to meet you and your wife.

 

[kitson]

just googled slippery nipple ingredients, either sambuca or butterscotch schnapps, along with baileys or some other creme liquer, seem to be variations along with different mixers.

the link i selected from google then led me to some other really great drink names, most of which i would not want to list here!

 

[texas_aggie_girl_93]

Nice to meet you & your lovely wife, glad you were able to make it over there. Hope you weren't too rushed. Great trip report. Thanks for posting.

Sorry to hear about your vendor, but hopefully you'll find a better/more reliable one.

I wish my job would send me to LV! *LOL*

 

[Jack21]

Very enjoyable read, Kitson Always a bonus to read TRs from people who actually like & enjoy their families....

 

[kitson]

jack, im not so old that i cant remember how to do the "extended tuckins", its that after i am too "tuckered" to go back downstairs to play!