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TELL
ME ABOUT AN MEMORABLE EATING EXPERIENCE YOU'VE ENJOYED.
- Thanks, CHRIS.
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From: "DAILY BREEZE" [TODAY] NEWSPAPER
ARTICLE:
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Friday,
October 15, 2004
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Free-wheeling:
A low-roller's guide to Sin City
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Coupons and membership in hotel's
players club helps pair spend two nights and two days in Las Vegas
on $100 a day.
STORY BY CHRIS COGNAC
SPECIAL TO RAVE!
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The Vegas of today is not the Las Vegas your parents knew.
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Giant pyramids, volcanoes, pirate ships and versions of Camelot
have replaced the allure of simple neon signs of the past that touted
good rates and bargain buffets.
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Rooms at a megahotel-casino on The Strip now are well over $100
a night on any given day. The Strip buffets average well over $10
for dinner, and drinks are around $5-8 each.
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If you want steak and don't want to break the bank, you'll need
to look hard.
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As for entertainment on The Strip, it's almost impossible for a
couple or a family on a modest budget to see a decent show in Las
Vegas and still have money to spend on food, lodging and other critical
expenses.
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So the question needs to be answered: Can two
people spend two days and two nights in Las Vegas and not spend
a ton of money?
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I took it upon myself to find out, and I enlisted my brother-in-law,
Rob Bilbao, to help. I set our limit to spending $100 a day for
everything -- food, drinks, shows and even hotel rooms. To be fair
to Sin City, I decided we must spend one night on The Strip and
one night downtown and not leave for cheap food, drinks, etc. And
no taxis. We had to walk or use a free shuttle.
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We also had to stay in major hotel casinos with pools so we could
work on our tans.
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I determined that we would not purchase anything unless it was a
"special" or we had a coupon for it. I found that the
absolute best source for information and coupons is the Las
Vegas Advisor (lasvegasadvisor.com), a newsletter and
Web site run by the Sultan of Savings himself, Anthony Curtis.
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If you subscribe to the newsletter you are sent a coupon book with
more great coupons than I have ever seen in one publication: 2-for-1
deals, cheap room rates, discount shows.
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It's also a big benefit to join the slot or players clubs of the
various hotels and casinos even if you are not a big gambler, because
you get great offers for rooms via e-mail
NIGHT 1 (THE STRIP)
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We wanted to stay at a place within good walking distance to most
of the major hotels, or take the new monorail someplace if need
be. I had joined the Imperial Palace players club and was sent an
e-mail offer for a $35 midweek room rate. This deal also included
a $25 credit toward food and drink on my players club card.
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This was a "no brainer." Imperial
Palace is one of the best places on The Strip, plus it
has a monorail station inside. I booked a room online and off we
went, Las Vegas Advisor coupon book in hand.
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We received a clean but "well worn" room overlooking the
pool with two double beds. (We learned that the Imperial Palace
is remodeling all its rooms and our section was the only section
left to remodel.)
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We hit the pool to catch some rays and beat the heat for an hour
or so and then went for a bite to eat. We found a pizza place on
the third floor of the Imperial Palace and each got a huge
slice of pizza and a soda for $7 total.
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With our hunger sated we decided to risk $10 of our $100 daily budget
and use both of our $5 "match play" Las Vegas Advisor
coupons. If we won we could eat a nice dinner, but if we lost, more
pizza for us.
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We checked out the Imperial Palace's "Dealertainers" --
dealers dressed up as famous entertainers. We chose to sit at Little
Richard's (Emory Hodges) table and try our luck. I was nervous,
being Rob was gambling with our food budget.
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We ended up winning one hand and losing the other, a net result
of $5 ahead.
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We went outside the hotel and Rob spun the "prize wheel"
and ended up winning a $10 credit to the Tea House restaurant inside
the Imperial Palace. Then we went inside so Rob could join the players
club. Rob redeemed his $10 credit slip, and I picked up a coupon
book that came with my "sizzling summer" offer when I
booked the rooms through the players club.
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I looked through the coupon book and was blown away with the great
stuff: two free "Emperor's buffet" tickets, four free
drinks, two free passes to the Imperial Palace auto collection.
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We headed off for dinner at the
Tea House restaurant and ate like kings. Rob had a
New York steak dinner and I had a Filet Mignon, salad plus a side
of French onion soup. The total bill came to $28.20,
but using the $10 credit Rob won and $17.45 from my players' club
comp that came with the room deal, the entire dinner cost 75 cents.
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From there it was off to the Mai
Tai bar for 2-for-1 happy hour drinks ($7 total for two
big Mai Tai's).
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We were living large, but rolling low so we decided to go see a
show. Using a 2-for-1 coupon we checked out some comics at Harrah's
improv club, and along with way we checked out a cool
free concert at the outdoor stage next to Harrah's. We paid $13.73
each for a show that was $27 full price.
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The comics were some of the best I had ever seen. The host of the
show was comedian Ron Morey of Torrance.
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We returned to the Imperial Palace and relaxed at the bar with our
four free drink coupons. Total bill for four "premium"
drinks $0 ($18 value).
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The next morning it was gourmet coffee and Krispy Kreme doughnuts
that would have been $8.35, but were free using the last of my players
club card credits.
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We walked around a bit until lunchtime, then hit the Emperor's Buffet
using the two free coupons. Normally over-priced at $8.95 it was
free for us.
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NIGHT
2 - (DOWNTOWN)
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It was off to downtown for our second night. I had booked a room
at the
Plaza Hotel and Casino through vegas.com for just $24.
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I chose the Plaza because it is the anchor hotel of the Fremont
Street experience and has a decent pool, plus it was just purchased
by Barrick Gaming which is making some cool changes to the downtown
casinos.
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Upon check-in we were handed a coupon book with two free drinks
at the Las Vegas Club across the street, as well as two free drinks
at the Plaza, a free breakfast buffet at the Plaza, and 2-for-1
Egg McMuffins at the McDonalds inside the Plaza.
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I joined the slot club and used a Las Vegas Advisor coupon to get
a free "pleasure pack" of coupons offering free beer,
another free drink and other goodies.
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We chilled out at the rooftop pool and checked out the semi-cool
view from the pool deck until the wind started to blow.
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The great thing about downtown is that its very pedestrian friendly.
Being I'd been dying to try the 99
cent shrimp cocktail at the Golden
Gate Casino, we walked over and got one. It was well
worth the 99 cents. From there it was off to have a free
drink at the Las Vegas Club just steps away ($7.50 value).
We were pretty beat from our overindulgence of food and drink from
the previous night, so we napped for a few hours (figuring it would
save some money, too) and decided to eat a really nice meal for
dinner instead of seeing a show.
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Since we had saved so much money rolling low the night before, we
figured we could splurge on a good dinner and still be within our
budget. We noticed an "up to $25" 50 percent off coupon
for the Plaza's
Center Stage restaurant in the Advisor coupon book.
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We went upstairs to check it out, then returned to the room to shave
so we looked less like slobs when we returned.
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The Center Stage is amazing. It's vintage Vegas at its best. I kept
expecting to see Sammy Davis Jr and Frank Sinatra in the booth next
to us. Center Stage has an amazing view overlooking the Fremont
street lights, looking directly down Fremont Street. Your view during
dinner is of the vintage neon signs that made Las Vegas famous.
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We sat in the very same booth at the Center Stage that Robert De
Niro and Sharon Stone did in the movie Casino.
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Robert and I were going to order the
chicken dinner with a salad for about $25 each, which
would have made our bill $25 more or less, but I was taking photographs
of the amazing interior when the maitre d', started speaking with
us.
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I mentioned that I was excited that Barrick Gaming had purchased
so many of the downtown casinos and bringing the classic charm of
Las Vegas past back to the downtown area.
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The maitre d' then asked me, "Would you like to talk to Mr.
Barrick"? Wow, the guy hangs out in his own place and talks
to guests.
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D.W. Barrick came over and chatted with us, explaining that the
monorail system is going to be linked to the Plaza soon and that
future remodeling and construction in his casinos and hotels will
remind people of what Las Vegas should be.
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After dinner, Rob and I walked around Fremont Street, watching the
amazing light show, listening to Carl Ferris play an amazing tenor
saxophone in front of the Four Queens hotel and just soaking in
the downtown experience.
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It was a whole different Vegas vibe than I was used to. When you
stay on The Strip, it's difficult to walk around because it's all
so big, but downtown, everything is subtle, yet still exhilarating.
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You can pop in and out of the different shops and casinos with ease
-- no taxi, tram or moving walkway required.
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The next morning I headed off with my coupon for the free breakfast
buffet at the Plaza. It was OK, nothing special, but free is free.
I used the 2-for-1 coupon and spent $3 on two Egg McMuffins for
Rob and $1.80 for a cup of Joe using a 10 percent off coupon at
the coffee stand.
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We packed, walked over to the Golden
Gate and had a nice sit-down
lunch at the coffee shop. Using a 2-for-1 Las Vegas Advisor coupon
cost us $ 6 ($12 value).
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We had stayed downtown and on The Strip, eaten like kings, watched
a great live comedy show, chilled out at the pools, checked out
the light show and live music on Fremont Street, and had a great
time, but did we make our budget?
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Oh yeah, and then some. We spent $57.53 out-of-pocket on The Strip
and received $83.63 worth of free stuff. We spent $59.80 on our
night downtown and we got $57.50 worth of free stuff.
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Grand
total of money spent: $117.33. Grand total of free stuff: $145.13.
We came out on top $27.80.
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If you just use your head, get some coupons and stick to a plan,
you can have a great time being a "low roller" in Las
Vegas.
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Chris Cognac, a detective for a South Bay police department,
writes The Culinary Detective column in Rave!, the Daily Breeze's
weekly entertainment guide. If
you’d like him to conduct a culinary investigation at a restaurant
you’ve been hesitant to try, write to him at the Daily Breeze,
5215 Torrance Blvd., Torrance, CA, 90503 or e-mail him at chris@culinarydetective.com.
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