It is the 14th Annual Beating the Book Vegas Lifestyle show! Host Gill Alexander is joined by Steve Fezzik (Two-Time Winner of The Supercontest), Marc Meltzer (Casinos.com, TravelZork, etc), and Bill Krackomberger (Professional Sports Bettor). They discuss the Vegas lifestyle scene, from sportsbooks to steakhouses, and everything in between!
Check it out, Man Gil Alexander. This is the fourteenth annual, fourteenth annual Vegas Lifestyle podcast on the Beating the Book feat and the Betting Dork feed before that, and this is the one podcast of the year that we do that is not singularly sports betting focused. We always save it for the week between the championship games and the Super Bowl because it's a dead week. So we talk about for the fourteenth straight year just Vegas shit. And what I mean by that is when we were younger, that meant nightclubs and things like that on day clubs. But now we're old, so we don't really talk about that so much anymore. But we do talk about restaurants, sports, books, apps. Steve is here. By the way, let me just introduce Mark Meltzer. First, the megapod, the Beating the Book podcast, and Betting Dork before that has existed. It's the year twenty eleven. Only one person has been on at least one podcast every single season, and that is this particular show every year, and that's Mark Meltzer. Everybody, they're on the bottom left at Meltz Vegas Meltzer like Seltzer, what's happening Mark, I look.
Forward to the numerous text messages that quote. You're saying, Meltzer like seltzer because you're the only one left. Everything is male to last pole day in Vegas. I'm heading back east and just did some laundry, cleaned out my knit caps and my jacket for the first voyage back east for seven years.
So Meltzer and where can people find your stuff? Let's get that out of the way first. Where can you be found most often?
Most often you'll find me at casinos dot Com. That's regular news and views, so to speak. You'll find me at travels orc once a week and that's either Vegas news updates or like a hot topic that's regarding players, clubs and rewards programs as a release to Vegas and casinos. And then you'll find me here there, and you know, and everywhere. I have a bunch of stuff coming out on covers this week, maybe next week, so then that'll be based on basically some cheap gambling things. Where to play cheap blackjack, where to roll where to roll the bones for cheap and get good odds at the same time. So that's where I'm at today.
Mark is going to represent the everyman here, whereas Steve Fezick, the only back to back winner of the Hilton Super Contest, might be for the more diehard folks who I don't know, maybe have a little more cash on him. He Steve will teach us how to chinse Vegas out of every dollar that he possibly can. How you do it, Steve? Good? Is that accurate presentation?
I'm good.
You know all of us are going to go to like the Pass and get a players card. This is an old town Henderson and get the nine to ninety nine Prime Rib Special together, or Ellis Island with all the Cupons and get the steak dinner for thirteen dollars to show I'm just not an elitist country club bowl.
This is where Mark and Steve ran a foul last year on this kind of thing. By the way, Steve unprovoked, I said, everybody, we're doing Vegas lifestyle today on a numbers game, and a lot of tweets came in They're like, yeah, could you tell Steve, like we don't have that kind of do what he has.
So I got something for every budget, even for a budget the size of crack Man's Wow.
Speaking of whom Bill Krackenberger everybody on the fourteenth annual Vegas Lifestyle podcast, What's Happening to Billy?
Thanks for having me on. You know, I've never met Mark, but however he's a great follow I just looked up his and of course we follow each other for years at Mark at Meltz Vegas on Twitter and a great follow and like you said, the sites he works for puts up things, it's fantastic. So it's great to meet him. And of course I follow Steve. I follow Steve. I like his everyday ramblings on Twitter, and and of course Gil you I do your show from since day one. We've been together on Thursdays on VSON, and I appreciate the invite here. Listen, I'm out every single day. I'm out to eat, I'm out around town. I just know that I put, you know, twenty seven thousand miles on my car a year, and I don't go out of town with it, so that's pretty hard to do. So there we go.
Well, and that's why that's why you all are here, because all are experts on what we're about to get into. And I want to start with we did this last year too. But I hate to say that we got to start with the bad stuff, which is melter. I go to you, come on, you know where I'm going. You know where I'm going with this. No, when we were kids, when we were kids, and but I mean when I mean kids, I mean like ten fifteen years ago. In earlier I would say I always give the hard rock. Example. Used to be able to go down to the pool with rehab early in the day. I'm the first person to put my towel on a lounge chair. It's mine for the whole day, me and my buddies. But through three more on three more lounge shares, those were our chairs for the rest of the day. That is old Vegas. Old Vegas is long gone. Day clubs, nightclubs. And you texted me during when Fezek and I were doing a numbers game yesterday, no Monday. You texted me during that show to let me know what the super Bowl, oh no, March Madness pricing was. Can you explain to folks who are thinking about coming into town for the Super Bowl or March Madness what the prices are these?
Yeah, it's pretty insane price wise, So there's essentially you could still get a general admission seed in sports books, I would say ninety five percent of a year, So don't freak out. But when there's a large event like the super Bowl, like March Madness, because he knows are looking to you know, their corporations. They have to make more money every quarter of every year. So when you think about in that mindset, they're going to look to nickel and dime wherever they can. In the sports books, you know are our target number one for major events because they know people are going to go, and they know people are going to pay, which is the worst thing, because the best thing you can do if you don't want prices to continue rising is not pay that. However, people don't seem to care. So what I said you on Monday was the Caesar Palace sports book for March Madness. The prices start at five hundred dollars per day per person.
And that's that's intercession per session.
In the yes, correct per session. Thank you for clarifying that. And that's inside the main sports book. And you get three beers with that every day. You know, that'll that'll that'll feed, that'll give you enough drinks for a few hours. I guess not. Whatever you can sit behind the bar at the USUS Palace sports Book for under two hundred bucks, which normally is a walkway from you know, the casino area to the Forum shops. It's outside of Omnia, so you're sitting like what I'll feel like a mile away. But they're not the only ones that charge that much money. If you go to Top Golf, you can get Bay packages that are going to start at like one hundred bucks a person and per day for four you know, it's it's insane. The Cosmo Party, it's it's open booze. You can play hoops there. It's one of the better parties, but it's going to cost you three hundred bucks a day. Found Blue has their theater. They're going to charge you a couple hundred bucks a day. Westgate's one of the great bargains where you can actually get in there for probably around one hundred to one hundred and fifty bucks a day in the International theater just for a seed. You know, you can get the good lines, you get fair lines there. South Point remains one of the best deals. You know, it's off the strip, but they've got the ballroom. They've got the ballroom with free entry, cheap eats, good odds, So that's always a good thing for groups. I think, you know, and we're looking March ban'szek mentioned Ellis Island earlier. I was looking at prices at Ellis Island for March Madness, and they start at one hundred and seventy five dollars per day for their March Badness party.
It's Ellis's Island, Ellis Island.
It's everywhere, so it's not even it's it's not even that. It is just the Vegas Strip, which is the predominant place where you're gonna have to pay money, but it's reservation fees and such. It's literally everywhere, serga. You know, the prices are off the charts. You can walk into stadiums, swim for the Super Bowl, you know, pay under two hundred bucks, but that's standing room only. If you want to see, you're gonna pay more.
So, uh, you know, it's just the reason I start with for.
March sticking with March Bandess though, it's insane because it's the first two days are more money than the next two days. Sunday is pretty much getaway day for visitors, so there are there are very few parties and you could probably just walk into the book on that day. One thing I recommend to people is a look off strip. If your budget conscious, b if you don't really care, just walk around and you can walk, you know, from book to book, from casino to casino, from bar to bar and catch enough of the games, you know. But if you do want to see it's gonna you're either going to have to get there super duper early. When I moved here, you talk about fifteen years ago. When I moved here, they were the legends of people paying homeless to stay overnight in a sportsbook so they had a seat for tip off at eight am. You know, for the first game of March Madness. That's no longer the case because the books will be closed.
I just you know, the Caesars thing. Just the first day of March Madness and the second thurs name Friday, one session is over five hundred dollars. When we say one session, that's a half day, so it's the early games, you know how it kind of breaks up in the middle of the day. The first and second day of March Madness, the full day is almost nine hundred dollars.
If you want to a question, I'm looking at some tweet that it's full day is eight to fifty early session five point fifty. In late session is is six fifty.
There you go, Okay, So I just I just throw that out there because I think that's the way to start, because I think that's the biggest sort of sticker shock for anybody. And when it comes to the super Bowl, then it's not quite that expensive, or is it.
It's yes and no. Your super Bowl is one day, so you're obviously only paying for that one day. South Point as I, as I mentioned, always always has their free party in the ballroom. Great option. But if you're at a casino, you're going to be paying, you know, somewhere around five hundred bucks a seat. If you're an Aria, you get it's three point fifty for a lounge chair and that in that sportsbook that needs very new screens because I feel like they've been here since day one. But you get a free buffet with that, so you know, yeah, you get a little something with it. Uh, one of the sorry, go ahead.
I I don't mean to start with the bad stuff, but that's I mean, most people, I think Mark, you and I are simpatico on this. We come from the East Coast our buddies from the East Coast, right, And you know, we've talked about this before on this podcast, where it's like, hey, go to Circa. It's fun and everything, and they go once and they love it and it's the most wonderful thing they've ever seen in their life. But they're stripped people. Right, So if you say, are you going to go back to Circa, right, They're like, yeah, well it was great. Don't get me wrong. I love the experience, but I'm just gonna go back to the strip against I think people are just locked into the Strip. And when we sit here and we say, oh, yeah, you can go to the South Point, which are all great recommendations, right, you go to the South Point, you can go to the West Gate, and you know this, I know my buddies just don't have the bandwidth for that for whatever reason, right, they're just gonna be like, nah, we're staying on the Strip, so we're gonna pay out the the booty hole. Yeah.
And you know what, when you're younger, you're a little bit more willing to spend you know, the twenty you know they the ten to fifteen dollars for an uber off the strip, to save a few bucks. But when you're older, you definitely are sort of stuck in your ways. That's how I am with restaurants nowadays. You know, I go to the places I like, and I've tried almost everything that I want to try at this point. You know, when there's a new restaurant opening, I definitely want to explore. But for the most part, I'm sticking with the try, you know, the trying true things. And the people that Dad love Circa have a good reason to love Circa. It's fantastic, But I though it's fantastic, you know. But like you said, you know, the majority of people that visit Las Vegas stay on the Vegas Strip, and and they are they're less apt if you stay Think about it the way I like to think about it is that you're here for seventy two hours. You don't want to spend one of those hours in a cab going back and forth to and from the Vegas, your hotel and casino. You really just want to spend five minutes to walk to the next property four five to difte mins, depending on how fast you walk through Aria to get to park MGM.
Billy, I'll meet you Ellis Island for one hundred and fifty bucks each to spend a Sueral Sundata. So it's island.
So this is actually even shocking to me hearing this. I didn't know this. I didn't know that a local casino like Ellis Island is charging for parties. And I just didn't know this. I didn't know this went on. I thought it was I thought the locals were all free. I believe now I could be wrong about this. Mark would don't like the local casinos like stations and stuff. They're not charging for a long Boulder Highway and stuff. They're not charging for people to sit down. I wouldn't think for super Bowl or March vandas are they Mark.
Correct, that's correct. What they what they are charging though, is for parties, like we're saying the off Strip. You can definitely get a general emission seat, you got to arrive early. But if you want a secured seed reserve seat, you can also Westcat do the same thing. You could pay two hundred bucket to preserve a seat during the Super Bowl at the Westgate, or you could take your chance and just show up. You know, it's really a matter of what are your priorities. But you're right. The offstrip books you could sit for free, but the parties like stay. Every station casino property has about five different has about five different parties in their different restaurants and bars. So you can check out their blog they have. They detail everything from Green Valley Branch to Durango to Red Rock and sun Says Station. You know, every property of theirs, you know has multiple parties.
So Zik is chomping at the bit because I know where he wants to go with.
Well, you probably do, so all I'm hearing is complaining and bitching and everyone's upset about like all this costs, So how do I gain the system so I can sit and watch my Super Bowl and drink and have a good time. And it goes back to don't be the peanut butter approach guy. Don't be walking around if you're in Vegas or not in Vegas. Don't gim with thirty different casinos and they all think that you're like a real low level gambler and you're not gonna get any perks. Focus specialize. I mean, it's not gonna do any good at Bolaggio, But go to a place the size of say the Palms or Treasure Island or downtown. You know, go ahead and play in the Four Queens and be a little mini whale there. Give show them the play, Billy'll be what first got to tell you about four Queens and all the promotions, video poker things like that. Don't try to score these great comps. I mean, I'll use an example. So I barely play at the Poms, but I had a good bet size. So what's this? Boom? The Poms wants me and an invited guest to go to their super Bowl party. And I get these all the time, and it's not like I'm playing that much. So if you are a gamble and you're gambling already, why spend an hour here, an hour there, walk over the Cosmo walk to Bolagia. No, take a mid level strip property and become a mini whale there so you get invites and you don't have to pay nothing, and you just show up in there and you talk to your host and boom, you can get a seat.
That's a great strategy. And it's I always tell people, do you want to be the big fish in a small pond or the small fish in the big pond? You know that's that is, those are words to live by for me when you're looking at rewards and maximizing your dollars. And uh, back when I was a East Coast gambler, my old original handle, back when I first met you, Gail, I used to go to show Boat, not the greatest property, but my bank girl went so much farther there, and you did it uses Palace, which at the time Caesars owned both of them. But because I played it their lesser property, I got everything. I got the greatest comps, the greatest suite, you know, all for the same budget that I would spend at Borgata and get nothing at ES's Palace get nothing. So it really doesn't matter where you play and what you what your goals are is really what matters is my friends are busy. Their goals are not the same as mine, and they do want to go to the nice, fancy place, the news thing. They're not looking for rewards. That's their trip, you know. When I'm not with them.
I'm not like that though, right, which is why I mean, the reason we do this podcast is partially for Physic's advice on that, because I think it's great actionable stuff. But I do think the whole time you're saying that, Steve. The whole time I'm thinking, yeah, my buddies, I tell them that. Right. If I'm like, okay, guys go to the poems like as soon as I in any way inconvenience them or what they'll deem as an inconvenience, they'll just be like, ah, shut up.
It's very difficult. Basic strategy. Don't have eight guys go to the strip together because you're never going to agree on where to go to dinner and to do it. If like three is a great number, I found like two to four is a good number. Most people you know can reach a common ground. And I will say this if it's become in Vegas. If you're not a VIP of some status at a casino, you are at the bottom. So even if at like a world class resort like Win, I love the Win, But if you're just going into the wind without any status, you're waiting in the long lines, it's not going to be as enjoyable as say you're as having the royalty treatment at a four star or three and a half star restaurants and experiencing the casino you go in and just being a diamond member and it's easy to become a diamond member or platinum member. Boom. Now you're checking in in the Diamond lounge. You're not waiting in an hour line, maybe an hour and a half line to get into Vegas. Once you do that, you'll you'll look at that line and you'll say, I'm never going through that again. Mark's mentioned he doesn't even want to be in a cab for ten minutes. Imagine waiting in line for an hour and a half to check in at Caesar's or Bollaggio.
By the way, a twenty dollars bill still works on those. Just go to the front, somem of twenty you'll go to the front of the line. Just the most actionable advice I can give you. But I'm curious all three answers to this. So Stevie, I know you like for you Caesar's. The key point that I don't think people know from year to year, even though we mentioned that, is this status stuff is transferable to other properties. So what is Steve in your opinion? Then we'll ask for Bill and Mark Xelso what is your opinion the casino to do that at to elevate quickest.
Yeah, So Caesar's is the best one to start with because they have ten times tier credit days and seven times tier credit point days, so you can become a platinum in like twenty minutes on a ten time point day. And by the way, just you know, gamble responsibly. Get Here's Bob Danswers. Jack's are better video poker. You're playing at ninety and a half to ninety nine and a half percent game like you put through if you want to become a diamond, I think you have put fifty thousands through. That sounds like an insane amount, but you're at your disadvantage. It's like seven hundred bucks. You might you might I get unlucky, you might lose fifteen hundred. You know what, you got three buddies in town. You all want to become a diamond, pull it, sit down together, say we're all going to you know, we're all going to share in this and we're all going to get a diamond card. Now boom, we're going to be going to the Bahamas. If you're on the East Coast, you get to go to the Bahamas in the wintertime for free. I've done it. It's like you can't believe it. This is actually working. They're not charging me nothing, you know, to stay, you know, down there at Great Vacation. And then once you have that diamond card. Gil you mentioned the matching status, so I got my seven stars. I go over to the wind. They're like, oh, we match, we'll give you a win black. I'm like, what are the benefits. They're like, well, you get two free rounds of golf, and I'm like, there's no way this is going to work. It's eight hundred dollars per person. I walk up to my host, I'm like, uh, can I have two rounds of golf? And he punches me up. I have hardly any play and he's like, when would you like to play, mister Fasick. I'm like, I can't believe it. Yeah, so you get the idea. I mean, it's so valuable to have these matching stats. Fump Blue gave me two free nights just for being a font Blue Royal, and I never play there, Billy, you got I agree.
Now I'm more I'm more stick to local places myself, because I like what the Mark said, being a big fish in a little pond. I'm just looking at my just a recent mail like this, this is just recent mail that I have, and it's just local places Tuscany. I like the restaurant. I'm sorry, I don't know the name of it, but there's a Goodisseca Bistecca is over there. I think it's great. They give me one hundred bucks every month to go spend there. Plus I earn a lot of dollars there and on Mondays and Thursdays they have matching points. I'm seeing here, so you can get double that. I mean, so I like going over there. I think that has some decent video plob for nothing crazy many almost ninety nine percent, but they have bonus days and I love going there for that. This is the South Point. I absolutely love the South Point. I go there, you know, three or four times a week. Stations casinos, I like going there too. I like going to some of the cascine. By the way, Todd just text me and said that Red Rocket is charging for seats for both events. But I also have like the Venetian because I went there and gave them a big play on a bonus that my buddies found and they didn't have enough money for it. By the way, I went partners with Randy McKay over the phone over video. Those things always don't work out. It was a giant machine. The one hundred and thirty five dollars will spend. We were in stupid money, stupid put it this way. We hit an eighteen thousand dollars bonus at the end and lost money. So you don't always wins. But they've been. But they've been sending me some good bounce back offers since then. Give me about two thousand in cash. Food there. I go to the Mediterranean restaurant there constantly and mark what's that name to the met the place. It's been there for years. It was over at Cosmo first, now it's over at the Venetian. It's famulous milos. Thank you Milos. I've been I I get free melos every month. I've been going there once a month for free. So I like going to the local casinos. But let me, let's not fool around. The win is the class of the town. My favorite casino to go to. It's just the ambiance, the restaurants overlooking the golf course there. They have some overlooking the pools. They have so many good restaurants and it just you just feel like you're walking into Royalty there. I've seen Steve win there. I've seen a Lane win there multiple times. Back years ago when when the when the pandemic came and everyone was having fifty nine dollars and twenty nine dollars rooms to Win also had seventy nine dollars rooms. There was a giant fistfight. It was videotaped by the pool at the encore. It was unbelievable and Elaine Win said, that's enough of that. We will now be the highest rack rate on the strip. Basically, what I'm getting to is they keep the riff raff out of the joint, so you're gonna pay for that. Though you're gonna pay more for a cup of coffee. If you're paying, you're gonna pay more for an ice cream cone than almost anywhere else. But you're paying for the safety of the place. You're playing for the class, the elegance, the marble, the Carrera marble from Italy, and the tiles. And I love the Wind. I don't. I'm the sports book there. It's a yes, it's much smaller, but Doug is very good to myself, He's very good to Steve. The Wind is my favorite place in town.
I got the win yeah, ahead, I was gonna just follow what you guys are saying on the reward stuff.
But go see everything Bill said about the Win. I've never had a bad meal, and think about it's not just about the food, It's about the ambiance. It's about raising your spirits in life. So if you're staying with your family and maybe you get a casino rate and you're paying eight hundred a night, you know what, if there's four of you, you're all paying two hundred a night for a life experience. That is just tremendous. Best buffet in town in my opinion. If you're a carnivor, you might prefer Caesar's, but that Win is just outstanding. And from the low end, well they have no low ends, but like the coffee shop or a leg Gros, the Italian place to if you have never gone to Delilah's their supper club, that is like a world class experience. You will literally go home, like a year from now you're like, oh, I remember that night I had at Delilah's. Wow, that was just outstanding. And just personally, I've always found like when I'm at Aria or a Venetian or palazzo and I go to a really nice restaurant there is just not the same for whatever reason. Then going to Wingley or Mazuma's or all these restaurants at the.
Wind will we will circle back to the Wind because all that you're saying is right. It's the only place I still feel like I'm on vacation when I'm in town. The last thing on the rewards mare.
Yeah. Oh so there's a couple of things, and don't disagree with anybody at all. There's a great website called Miles Talk where they talk about points rewards nationally as well or entered worldwide as well as Las Vegas. He has a thing called the Status Status Match Merry Go Round where you can take like Steve said, you could take your Caesar's rewards, then whenever there's promotions with other properties, take your diamond card. I did it. I went from Caesars to Fountain Blue, got my upgrade there, tried to go to their Vexian Venetian rewards. I was not matching Fountain Blue at the time, but they were doing other programs, and besides, they weren't giving out any of the good stuff with their new rewards program, which a whole other issue about satisfacching. But you can always do this kind of merry go round. So if you focus your play on one, you can always find promotions to dabble in other properties explore them. When I did my upgrade over I had Felt in Blue. They gave me one hundred dollars free dinner or food credit. I combined them with a friend of mine. We had a wonderful night out two hundred and fifty dollars in comp states, wine, drinks. Everything was fantastic time. So that's another way to go if you're looking just to maximize and get everything from everywhere that you can. Another way you could do that is with what they call the Founder's Card. It costs about four hundred bucks a year, and previously they would give you they would give you upgrades, a different rule travel rewards program, so it could be your worldwide hotel programs, it could be a casino. They previously met gave you diamond to Caesars, So essentially you're paying four hundred bucks to get diamond to Caesars. In order to keep it, you have to spend the money to keep it. But you can use that to match elsewhere, which is fantastic, but they're no longer with Caesars there with a WIN, so you're going to be able to get an upgrade, pay to get an upgraded rewards program at Win, which I totally agree, is the top of the top. It's top of the food chain in the Las Vegas. There are luxury resorts in Las Vegas, Venetian, Bolagio, Cosmo, but there nothing comes close to the service and the atmosphere Wind and I still love it. And also, if you want a great cup of coffee, Earth Cafe in the little shopping promenade, fantastic massive cups of coffee that gilly.
Yeah, if you don't, if you don't gamble, just go into the MGM sign up for that for that credit card. Boom, you're pearl. Now that you're pearl, you can start doing this Merry Go round that mister Seltzer has told you how to do. And and and just I love that you mentioned that Earth Cafe because the Wind has so many little Easter eggs. As you're walking around, you know, you know, through the shopping area and even the convention center area. I would never, of course walk through the convention arey wall convention is going on and sample the food or the coffee especially. No, not me, but like one of my favorite hidden secret walks is you walk back by the conventionary and the wind and you can go into the back area and just walk right out and get that view of that golf course. So if you're not you know, if you're not a golfer, you can walk out and actually be you know, on the you know, the teeing areas of a hole and get the view and the sphere and it's just spectacular. It doesn't cost you anything.
Okay, let's let's move on. We'll circle back to the win or our favorite sportsbooks and that stuff, but real quick before we get to that. Last year, at this time, we were a bunch of complainers. We were fetching about a whole bunch of stuff, not just the prices for Super Bowl and March madness. We were complaining about the Fountain Blue which came into town, did everything wrong, the way that they tried to whatever the opposite of ingratiate themselves is to the town right. And the other thing we complained about hugely and justifiably was f one for tourists and residents alike who were here for a five month period before the F one race at the end of November of twenty twenty three, we were still smarting from that and we're like, holy crap, this thing's going to happen nine more times. God help us. Am I correct in saying that F one wasn't nearly as bad this year, right, that that is not as big of a problem as it was, and that the Fountain Blue is kind of like, okay, well we know what it is, and some people actually like that is that fair.
Spot on, mister Alexander. In fact, thank you. I hate F one more than anyone, as you know. Yes, and that's why the Drop of Canada has been under construction Tropicana Road for eighteen months because they got all the projects. You know, no problem building up and down all these bridges for F one, But I have done a one to eighty on the font Blue. Now, part of it could be that, you know, they caught me for a couple of nights, which isn't going to hurt you know, their status. But they do a lot of things, right, I mean, those those restaurants, that Mama Wolf restaurant, that's my second favorite restaurant, I would say, no boo. And the top three I'd say no bo and Caesar's font Blue and Delilah's in the wind, you know, as far as overall experiences. But if you go to the video poker bar area by the sports book, you can get a premium like old fashioned, like a twenty five dollar Old Fashion. Just throw on like Meltzer. Just put one hundred dollars into the video poker machine markets you've done it right, and then drink like you are a.
Like you're done aristocrat. Right.
I have some bad news for you. Fez. The change their policy and now they cap the drinks at eighteen dollars. I will not say, I will not say what I drank, but I did have a one hundred dollars glass of bourbon when they first opened, just because they were still figuring out their policies. But now they're just sort of the bar there is sort of the same as every other video poker bar where you can get up to eighteen to twenty seventy dollars.
You know, Gilly before pre production we uh market we're talking about. You go into the high limit area and a lot of them have double deck blackjack, so know how to play basic strategy and you sit down one hand into the double deck. Well, there's no midshoe entry. You can't play, that's the rules, but you can still order drinks. So coincidentally, the cocktail waitress might be right there when you sit down after one hand. It's going to take a good eight minutes to cycle through that double deck. And so you go out and order your old fashion, your apple martini, whatever you like, it'll be in your hands, and then the shuffle happens, and you know what you can do. You can and people do this all the time.
You can.
You can just you get up and go. Actually, but you can play one hand, and you just say as soon as you lose one hand, and so that costs you a dollar, you're at a half percent disadvantaged basics brategy player, it's going to cost you one dollar. You lose a hand, you're like, oh, I got a bad feeling about this. Deal me out and just walk with your old fashioned.
The big surprise with this tip is that Zick doesn't look for an eight card shoe or an eight deck shoe, so we can sit there longer and not play.
Rights the mid deck.
Yeah, but that's better.
I like that.
There are some that.
Strategy also works at the video poker bar in the high limit rooms as well. You could you know, throw throw some money and play a few hands, get a high quality drink that year. Not gonna got a casino four and uh, you know, if that's how you want to roll, God bless, have a great time, not how I roll my bath room play it. That's my issue.
Never ever use a bathroom a community bathroom in Las Vegas. Always going bill, you've done this right, You've especially had something, you have the wrong thing to eat. You eat a big buffet boom going going to the high limit that no one's ever in those bathrooms and and and they're pretty nice.
Yeah, how about those highlights when you go in the high limit rooms. Uh, Caesars used to have it. And in the back of their high limit table games area they have, you know, a little food set up and no one's checking for your seven star card. Just there's probably all over town. Now I don't do this, but I know that all over town they have these little high end especially on the weekends, clubs set up on the weekend for the higher players. You know, you're addressed nice here, you act as if I mean they had homeless people in these places. Years years ago, and people suing that they couldn't and then they want Actually you're allowed to walk into any high limit pit and watch the players. Some people don't like that. Now there's those private rooms and stuff, but they have the high limit areas set up with a little buffet like snacks and little like little mini cheeseburgers or whatever sliders, and you can just walk right in if you just act as if.
That's why Palms has so Palms by the registration area, just walk in. There's a couple hosts there. Just just act like you know them, wave to them and just get your coffee. Go ahead and get your muffins. Get with you and I will do that.
It's fun, do you guys?
Wait, let me let me just clarify that. So are you saying, like, you know how the Tower Suites at the Aria has like a little buffet at the bottom there, but you're not necessarily staying in a Tower Suites room or at the bellagio, there's that when you walk into the beautiful lobby. You know, if you go right to the right there there's like a door with all kinds of shit in there too. Are you saying you just walk in there.
Yeah, no too, you need to get in some of the wind medium and place doesn't have a a what do they call that someone at the door. They don't have a doorkeeper. Basically to check.
Just check out. Let's get to the good stuff. Well, crescendo to restaurants. But let's let's drift back into sports and sports betting. Let's talk about brick and mortar sports books, and then we can talk about apps brick and mortar sports books if you had to watch a game there. Let's not talk about Super Bowl March Matis. Let's just talk about a on a normal day in Vegas. Let's say a football weekend. I'm on a college football Saturday or even like a Wednesday watching NBA. What are your favorite sports books to hang out in.
Bill Okay for fandom. If I'm with my friends and you know they love to hang out, you know their East Coast guys from back to back East, and they want to come into town, I'll go to a circa or West skate where they're getting experience like they've never seen before, Giant screens all around them and it's just like the Mega of the world. Now, if I'm just with one friend and I want to hang out and get some free drinks, and I'll go to the Wind because the Wind Sports book is great to me, and you know, I get drinks and stuff. But if I'm in a group, I like going to like the West Gate, I'll hit up John Murray or someone there and they'll get me into a even one of the Boots or something. They're very good to me over there at the West skate with with a group. But like I said one friend, I'm probably going to go to the Wind Veez, I'm.
Going to the Wind. I love that deep boutique feeling there. But Circa I'm gonna I'm gonna Spiller. I'm gonna say Stadium swim is kind of part of the casino watching games and stay in swim. You don't need a seat, don't pay for a seat, just jump in the pool and watch the games. It is just tremendous. Caesars Palace. You know, we've Todd, Todd, Gilly and I have hung out there. Just then those recliners in the back. It's it's so dark and it's very relaxing. It so yet stations Westgate, they it's cavernous. It's they do a nice job.
Uh.
And and I think stations the high end stations, Green Valley and Red Rock, and certainly South Point. I like south Point separates the race book from the sports book. That is really nice because those two groups don't always play nice together.
They don't, that's right. I will also concur that Circa for those who don't know Circa's sports book, downtown casinos are I mean, resort properties are known for things Circa is known for, Like when you think of it, it's the sports book, the world's largest sports book, and of course what Steve said, stadium swim as part of that adjunct to that. And I agree with the with the Wind call. We don't usually talk about the Wind sports book, but it's like a stock Market times squarish kind of look. It's super well lit. You just feel, just like the Wind brand, that you're in the best place. Though, I will say, like another sort of hidden gem on the strip when you can't get a seat somewhere else or the other places are too smoky or whatever. I think I brought this up last year too, The Cromwell, which is right in the middle of the strip, corner of Flamingo and Las Vegas Boulevard, it's only about twenty seats. Like the Cosmo, it's small Cosmopolitan, but both of those books have great screens and are usually accessible. Cosmpolitan maybe not as much, but the Cromwell's kind of a hidden gem that there's all always a seat available in.
You know, let me talk about the Cromwell. Also because Paris Flamingo horseshoe. These are dumps.
Sorry.
The Cromwell used to be the Barber Coast. It is tremendous. So if you're like a seven star and you go in there, they're going to upgrade you to their suites. I've stayed there numerous times. They have a pinball machine suite. They in the book Koenix book The Sharp Money. He's like Doldale says, we got sweites and they're nice, and he says, and they're not kidding. Those are some of the best suits in the most easily accessible suites. Just book a normal room. You got some status, you're like, go to see a host. They're like, I'll give it. I'll let you upgrade for one hundred nights. Sometimes they give it to you for free.
Yeah. Cromwell rooms are beautiful, absolutely not what do we think the nicest by the way. I haven't done a staycation in a while, but I used to say Palazzo had the best rooms on the strip? Is that still true?
Mark Ah, They've been redesigned. It's it's honestly that's at this point there are so many nice rooms in Las Vegas that it is difficult to say that something. They're either really nice or they're not, like there's very little in between, if that makes any sense. Plots of Benetian rooms are redesigned or upgraded. MGM grand is upgrading all their rooms have already started upgrading their rooms. They're going to finish that this year. Win is still nice. I believe they're going to redo the Encore rooms this year, which, by the way, a great tip. All the Encore rooms are sweets, So if you're looking to say a WIN, you can get a much larger room if you say in the Encore Tower instead of the Win traditional tower, the original tower. Just a little tip on there. But I've always loved the Palazzo just vibe wise. It's one of my favorites. And we talk about the good restaurants. Yardbirds still one of my favorite restaurants. I go there for conferences all the time. I much rather if I'm going between Venetian plots, I'd rather spend time inside the Palazza. But you have a lot.
They they what makes them outstanding the rooms is they they are a dude dual level. There's like a four step drop and there's like a gate there. So if you're staying, like with four people, it's almost like you have a separate like living area below it just maybe the same square foot but it feels bill you stay at those places, doesn't feel like so much more space.
Yeah, there's down it is. They're all sweets, They're they're they're really nice. They absolutely are nice. You know, when I'm over there, I spend most of my time if I'm at the wind But as Mark said, the Palazzo is just such class, such great restaurants over there in general. One of my favorite steakhouses there, it's between the Venetian and the Palazzo's cut is fantastic Wolfgang Puck steakhouse. It's also a bust out joint. It's one of the most expensive steaks in town. So but but it's good.
Sports book bits for you. If you want Paris itself to quote, Physick is a dump, but their sports book has been recently renovated, so it's it's way nicer than it's it's the nicest part it was. It was finished last year. It's actually been done for a while, right around March Madness, I believe, but it's super nice now. It looks very much like the Palm sports Book, which is a William Hill sports book. Similar design, much nicer than it used to be. Not the best, but but way nicer than it used to be. And connected to Paris is toport you because you know they used to be balleys. They no longer have a sports book. So that sportsbook feeds two connected hotels. Just on on that tip. Another sportsbook off the strip that nobody mentioned. That is one of my favorites, and I think a legitimate destination sports book the way circa is for people to go downtown. The Durango Sports Book with the connected sportsman lounge, restaurant and outdoor area is just a phenomenal sports betting environment. You have a traditional sports book on the inside, you've got a great sportsbook bar where you don't even have to sit in a lounge chart you could bang around video poker. They have decent pay tables there if you want to eat something, you can go right next door and get a view of the sportsbook video screens. It's an absolutely fantastic place, and I recommend if anybody's ever looking for something off the strip, it's a fantastic It's a great place to go, and it's one of my it's one of my favorite locals casinos, and I live equidistant now between Pallaestation, Red Rock and Durango. I spent most of my free time going to Durango, whether it's to eat, hang out, gamble, whatever the thing may be. A few other surprises. Some coast in Summerland recently renovated or built a brand new sports book. It's sort of theater style and it's it's reminiscent think about a smaller version of a traditional sports book like Circa or Westgate. You know, just a nice small, small but larger space and brand new screens and that that similar dark environment that I can't remember who mentioned, but I love a dark vibe on the sports book where it makes the screens feel even brighter. That's a brand new that opened last year. What do you call it? Ellis Island is building out a new sports book. So I'm not sure one that's going to be completed. I believe this summer sunset station off the strip. They just redid their sports book and Mandola Bay a couple of years ago replaced their screens, and it looks really good there. You're at Mandalay Bay and it feels the proper what's that I said, I had no idea they did either.
Wow.
Yeah, I don't think a lot of people know to that know that. But it's such a dark environment there as well, and the screens look super duper bright. And one of my my favorites in this area where I live is Rambart because you know, they use the same lines as uh as South Point. But it's a nice, small, comfortable sports book with different types of seating and and plenty of room for people. And it's because you're out in the burbs, you could trick. You could generally find a seat there.
See this is why I have you on because Paris is literally across the street. I had no idea that book was open, And then I had no idea Mandalay had new screens finally, because it used to be so bad in there, like the screens were so poor that you would never even think to go there. Does the does the Virgin Betfred's sports book? Is that even a thing?
So Virgin is going through some major changes right now. Mohegan Sun is out his casino operator, Betfred is out his sportsbook operator. They come the owners who licensed the Virgin brand. It's not a Richard Brandton joint, it's a it's a third party license. So they're going to take over operations of the casino and sportsbook. We don't have a sportsbook operator officially announced yet. There are rumors, but I nothing that I feel comfortable sharing. So that's you know that that's a tiny, tiny sportsbook, though I think you might be able to fit fifty people in there at the most.
I'm just curious that did bet Fred ever even get licensed in Nevada in the end?
Well, to operate here you can be licensed, but they never got a mobile license. And interesting enough, Bally or a company called Canby who operates sports books all over the country, they just they're gonna going for approve licensure approval for retail sports betting. And what that means is that they do the sports books for Bally's. So they were going to when day launch or once they get approved they'll be ready to launch at Bally's Lake Tahoe later this year. And if Tropicana ever gets or if Bally's ever gets things together for the old Tropicana site and built a new casino, chances are they'll be the operator.
Wait, I thought the old Tropicana site was supposed to be the ballpark.
Well, it's going to be a ballpark, hotel, casino, retail complex. It's going to be way more than just the stadium. The stadium is the stadium is only nine and a half of the thirty five acres thirty five.
It's so impossible to believe they're thirty five acres there. That's incredible to me. We'll come back to the apps here in a second. I just brief aside because I'm thinking about this. So for those who are vaguely aware of Vegas, the old iconic hard rock which we all grew up in, or I'll speak for myself, I grew up in is now virgin where the Mirage is. Right. What we knew was the Mirage, which was an iconic property which was the biggest in the early nineties. The Mirage was it in Vegas that is now going to be the new hard rock, and are we still when is that supposed to be completed? How many years from now? And also when is the ballpark supposed to being play but when is the heart? When is the hard rock supposed to be completed? And are we still going with this iconic massive blue guitar that's going to exist? Is that going to be the new strip?
So the target for hard Rock opening is still twenty twenty seven. I'll believe it when I see it, because they are just getting the volcano is gone, the atrium is gone. It looks like a you know, just the framing of the property is still there. The pillars are in the ground. From what I understand, to build the guitar hotel tower. That that hotel tower will be separate but connected obviously to the rest of the property, which will which is being gutted entirely from the ground to the ceilings the stadium. They're looking at first pitch for twenty twenty eight. Again, I'll believe that when I see that, because there's there's a supposed to start construction on that this year, but who knows what's going to happen there.
Yeah, that's amazing to think that the biggest the most iconic thing on the Las Vegas Strip is going to be a big hard rock guitar one day. Hard you know, hard to imagine, but that will be the case. The renderings that thing is massive. Okay, about apps, Let's say you're coming into town March Madness, super Bowl, maybe just a random other weekend, maybe for conference tournaments, maybe for an NFL weekend, week ten, week eleven, whatever, Steven Bill, what are the apps? If people are doing this right now? Again, I preface it by saying, I don't know if my buddies are going to come in town and have the patience. Well, I know one of them will, right, There's always one guy in the group will be like, I want to do this right. I want to get as many apps as I can, and if I can fund them, great. Which apps must they download on their phone and then use?
Steve, there's four of them. You need to have Circup, and you need to have Westgate because they're the two best, and they're lightning fast and they're so easy to navigate. You need to have the Win because they have the most unique good lines and the like. Although every now and then the app goes down to get to re install it, in the like, so it's a little it's not as functionally easy as a circle in the West Gate. And I'd say station. I think that would be my big four that I would go with Bill, What do you think?
Yeah, I'm with the on stations and when if you're looking for an extra half a point here and there on the marquee teams against the marquee teams, you'll probably find them at stations and closer to game time. Sometimes it's amazing. I really don't like the bet a lot of things game times because and just like Steve, the market's pretty efficient. But yet Steve and I find bets every single week, every single week of the NFL season, there's something to bet at ten to ten when the game's kick at ten o'clock. Because the win all gets a pit player coming in and bet two hundred thousand of a game. They want to get off a little bit, they'll offer an extra point sometimes I've seen a point all throughout these playoffs. I have seen stupid totals fifty three when it's fifty one out there by the way, that game land to fifty two. You know. Now, there's a lot of during the regular season. Also, they give you some extra things there, So I don't mean to be talking about the win. They don't pay me anything for doing it, that's for sure. But the win app stations, even though I'm not allowed to play on it, Steve's not allowed to play on it, the station's app good to have and I do love, as Mark said, absolutely love the Durango Sportsbook area there. They have the George great restaurant Howards. You could sit overlooking the entire sports book. Really open air, bright roomy, great place to also watch games. So I'll tell you the good bet about stations. They throw people out that win, but they have a lot of good things too, especially for the locals and people. Also, yes, I would have the circa. Circa went down to pick them the other day at game time on the Kansas City game. Someone came in, but they were certain tis half a million dollars five right now you can go on the app. I look just to see what it was before the show. They're taking three hundred thousand on the Super Bowl. I don't know anyone in town that's taking that much money on their app. Now you can go to the counter and dump out as much money as you want at one of the big ones MGM, Caesars, and yeah, I'm sure you could do that, but we're talking apps. Circa app West Skate, I agree, and the Westgate app fantastic one o eight juice on the NFL, and you know what I do. I also have the south Point app, so south Point also has a good app, and they don't charge juice extra juice. They instead of going to minus three minus twenty, they go to three and a half, so they stay three to three and a half. It's a key sportsbook that I bet throughout the year in the NFL. And baseball lines. They have good ten cent baseball lines, which is becoming a thing of the past. So there we go.
That's right, they go. They go dime lines higher than most. I think there's a lot of things. First of all, out of towners, you're going to get frustrated with the exception of Circo or Westgates app. You're probably going to get frustrated with the user experience with you know, MGM and Caesars. They're better than they were, but they still are or funky. I agree with you guys about stations. You actually at stations. I can only speak in tennis terms, but when you go to the counter, the lines aren't as good as the ones on the app. So there's that as well, which may surprise you. It did me, by the way. And then the other thing that I think I'm going to anticipate what Meltzer would say here is the other pain in the ass is you have to fund these all in person, correct, So that's the biggest culture shock.
So for I was actually going to ask Bill and Fez, what do you guys recommend on the Vegas Strip for people who because you do have to register for the first time in person, and tourists are generally lazy, you know, they don't want to drive out to the other places, what are the apps around the Vegas Strip that you would recommend, Because for me, it would be circa because you could go to Tuscany, which is a five minute walk from Horseshoe and Cromwell, and you're going to get good lines there. However, if you want to get the Westgate, you can hop on to the monorail to get there pretty quickly, but it's going to take you fifteen to twenty minutes to get there. Same with's health points. So which would you recommend for people who want the best, the best options that are near or on the Vegas Strip.
Yeah, idea, what you get them all? If there's ways even with the strip, there's sneaky ways in the strip. For instance, if you're driving in from like Los Angeles, you're coming in from Henderson on I fifteen, boom, Dean Martin Drive is your friend. You exit there and it takes you right by Manlay Bay and you're little, and if you're a Pearl member, you park for free, but you still get a couple at least an hour for free. And you walk, you get whisped right into the Manley Bay. That's an MGM joint. And it's funny. There are certain properties gil that always showed a loss versus their other properties. So for Haras, like the Balis used to be the one sports book that they would always lose in because every pro that they are parking, like right next to the sports book there they called an SBX parking And may as well said parking for fees that you can just pull it and walk right in. So but the Mandalay Bay is the only MGM property I know of that I can get in and out of, even with vallet. That's that's my go to for going into MGM. I don't know about you guys.
Well you walk yeah to the sports book.
Yeah, you know, you don't have to. I know with the MGM app, you can actually live in New Jersey and just as soon as you're flying to Vegas, it transfers over You don't have to even reapply or anything. So that that's a big that's a big plus. Uh, because people are lazy. Mark said it right. People when they're here, they get caught up the neon, the adrenaline. They don't want to walk around and drive around and take ubers and the mono rails to sign up for a count. You're absolutely right, that's the plan before you get here, but it doesn't happen that way. So uh. I know the MGM mapp you could just you know, it just transfers over all your information and you have it without having to go anywhere. So that's good to do.
I've got some bad I got bad news on you have you still have to go to If you've never been to the Las Vegas Sportsbook for for bet MGM, you still have to go and do the first time. You have to verbally or not verbally, visually be there to make sure your wallet speaks otherwise. Yeah, just the one time. But still if you know it's five minutes, you know, I got to you know that that's a lifetime in on the Begas Strip.
Yeah, I got to speak to the secret valet for if you're a seventh star and I love it. See has a seven star valet on Flamingo Road. So you get off I fifteen, you're heading towards the boulevard gridlock. Before you hit gridlock, boom, you're between the Blaggio and Caesars. They're unflamingoed. You turn left and you're into the seven Stars valet. You hand them your keys. They only ask me for a ticket, right and you're right there by the gym. You're right there by the Augustus Tower, the VIP check in area. It is so convenient Starbucks for my free drinks and it raises your spirits. And then you walk out and they don't park you. They just leave your car right in the curb there. It's like they hand you your keys to say, oh yes, mister Fez, your car's right there. And now you're back on I fifteen. Time is money, Like Mark said, if you can get access to that that seven star is that valet parking is better than any valet anywhere.
That's what I was.
Going to say. On the other side of the street. The Ballet for the I believe it's in North Vallet, Bolaggio. It's a very similar toch me just hop in, hop out. It's great. Nobody knows about it. You buy the sports book there if you really do want to hit and you know, if you want to set up your quick MGM and you're driving in, it's a great way to do it because you know, and if you have status, it's no no no charge or discount of charge what however that would work.
The Caesars is better because they have more spots there. They leave your car nothing a twenty dollars. By the way, I don't think that you have to be a seven star if you give them a twenty dollar bill twenty bucks. Hey guys, I'm going to make a couple of bets for twenty dollars. You're leaving your car right there. Act as if just give them the twenty they're going to leave your car right there.
Yeah. For the people who have a car and want to get around, that parking lot is and that's a great that's a great bit of advice. You don't have to be seven stars. Just slip them the twenty. A twenty dollars bill will still get you most things in this town. Oh it's a lot of Briday night. Yeah, well Friday, you're going to give them fifty. Well, I don't know when you don't want When it was Pacquiao Mayweather And this is a while ago, you know, and the and the and the taxi line was one hundred deep, A twenty still did the trip. There's a couple of things we said in there that yeah, it was a thousand years ago, that's true.
I don't know.
Are you carrying fifties though, that's the thing. A couple of things in there. One if you have a car, Besick mentioned Stevie mentioned Dean Martin Boulevard, Dean Martin Road or whatever it's it is a it is a road that runs parallel to the strip just west of the Strip, which is really the biggest Vegas hack there is right use that you'll get places quicker than anybody you could imagine getting.
Uh.
The other thing is we're talking about MGM and that particular app somebody told me Kelly Kelly Bidlin figure it out from somebody else that you might be able to bet on bed MGM using a laptop now here. They don't advertise it, but it's a possibility that you're able to do it now, which is a big development. And then the last thing I wanted to say is, also you just know this for out of towners, you could run into some frustrating things with Big One, Caesar's and MGM. My NBA draft story is perhaps you know a teaching moment for all of us, which is when you go to MGM, oh look, my MGM app has this great line, I'm gonna go bet it at the desk as opposed to on the app, they will oftentimes tell you it's not available here. You have to bet it on the app. So that's another reason to have your apps funded. And they can also like do the okie doke on you where they're like, yeah, just fund the app, And then when you try to bet it on the app, you're limited to a ridiculous number because of their stupid algorithm. So that becomes a whole thing super frustrating. It's not because you're you're great, right, even if it's a bet likely to lose. I like my NBA draft bet, they'll be like about thirty three bucks on the app, give me my money back. I wouldn't have put the money on the app that you induced me to go put there. I wanted to bet it here. You told me to bet it on the app, and I can't bet it amount of money that I want to. So that's one thing. Caesar's the same NBA draft spun me in front of my eyes right from a fifty to one to twenty five to one, which is super illegal or should be. But they can always lie to you, which they do and say, oh, someone must have been at across out at the exact same time. Fuckers liars, right, So there's all that exactly. So there are those moments. Just know that these things still exist in town. But hopefully you don't run into any of those things. I do want to get to restaurant before we leave. We've mentioned a bunch I would like to start, and then you guys can fill in the gaps because I have my restaurant's a choice that I would like to get to. And no, I'm not giving up the secret sushi spot. Let me just start there. But if you love sushi. Sorry, Steve, you love sushi Sen if you're willing to travel for sushi Sen in Summerland, Sen and Buddo for a little more of a high end experience, fantastic, k E, b U t O, All kinds of great sushi in this town flown in or driven in from California every day, so it is like a very top notch sushi place in this country. I put Vegas up there in the top three. As far as like the Strip itself. Meltzer mentioned Yardbird. If you like fried chicken and watermelon at Venetian always a go to Carbone at at Aria when it comes to Italian is top notch. So is Sinatra at Encore, which is fantastic. Billy and I have gone to the Italian American Club off the Strip if you want that old school feel or Piero's, there are those. There's a place in summer Land again which is like if you're real foodie, a place called I want to get this. I want to get the name right on it. It's called Anema by Edo a n I m a ed oh ed O the name of the U. The chef there am by Edo, which is fantastic. Park MGM on the Strip Bevets. When you talk about like steaks, the Vets has just great. You know. Meltzer mentioned this last year an amazing hamburger. By the way, I think the best hamburger is the Vets at Park MGM. And then downtown Oscars. Bill Ady hit me to the best burger at in downtown was at Oscars named after what's my man Oscar's last name? Meltzer? What's his last name? Thank you, brains going away. It's leaving us slowly. So there's so many places. My my favorite steak is still s w at at wyin On Andiamo at the d is fantastic. There's so many spots that I'll just throw those out and we'll circle around. Billy, what do you.
Got a barriers downtown? So let's start a steak bars downtown. I had two bed sws in a row, so I'm not gonna put. I used to love s W when Mario and oh my god, there's the greatest major d's there. Mario's now in charge of Cosmo all the food. I'm not Cosmo, I'm sorry. What's the Fountain Loop? He's in charge there of all the restaurants I used to love that place, but it's still good. I'm not saying that. Listen, I told you about all my high points at the Winnow of the restaurants, I love Steak Stove, I told you guys cut I like the Venetian. I do like Peter Louver's at the Forum Show, it's actually Finn Caesar's. I've had. I've had two good meal free good meals there, one bed but I love I love that steak there, but my number one steak. I'm still going to the old Reliable. It's unbelievable that the place has been there twenty years. I'm still going even though it's a seafood place. They say Joe Stonecrab at the Forum Shops, I think it's one of the best steaks in the world with their little side season and neighboring unbelievable. Now let's go to Asian Food. Let me just tell you, big hidden gym for years now, it's out there, words out I go all the time. It's just the pain to get in. Eight eight eight Japanese Barbecue on the corner of Spring Mountain and Decatur. It's an all you can eat premium food. The premium it's a little bit more money, so premium. But by the way I said a little bit more money, people just complained it went up three bucks. It's thirty three dollars now instead of twenty nine thirty three bucks all you can eat premium. You can get even the wag doing stuff for another ten dollars, forty five dollars all you can eat. It's ridiculous quality. I'll just tell you one thing. They have never once, and I've been there a dozen times, made money on me. I have made them pay. So not that I'm going there to make them pay. It's just that good, great place. Hard to get in. You have to use their Yelp reservation system. It gets full every single night. Love that place. We have some great spots in Chinatown, some great great places all up and down Spring Mountain Road. Now pizza pizza places in town. Very I'm very tough on pizza. I'm very, very tough. You know. It's funny. I just tried a califlower pie and I was like, cauliflower, I'm not try I would never try something like that, and the East Coast scot give me, give me a break. But my buddy had it, and I was like, what is this this look how thin this crust is. It looks great. Let me try. I actually liked it. I can't believe it. That's that's over at dom DeMarco's on which which, by the way, we have all been there. Don de Marco's shout out to them. That great pie is al over there. They have some great pizza, uh, you know, trying to follow the tradition of Dom DeMarco and Brooklyn, and they have some certain pies there. But that cauliflower pizza I just had. I also like there's a pizza place right there in Chinatown. Unbelievable. It's in Chinatown. If you like that type of pie that it's called Double zero Pie. It's really popular now too, because a couple of guys gave it some high ratings. Uh, Double zero is one of the pizzas in town. I also like there's some still places. I like it on the Casino at the Casino Fountain, Blue Miami Slice. But yeah, they're bust out places. Eight bucks Slice. But however, buy a pie, you get a whole pizza for thirty six. Why would you put You know, if you're buying the slices for ten bucks, you're gonna pay a lot more so, that's some good places there. I really don't have anything else for now. I love steaks, I love pizza, I love Chinese food.
I'm gonna chime back in on the Pizza place because I just want to say this, because I don't think I've ever mentioned this place on the podcast. Maybe we have before. It's not on the strip. I know a lot of people listening there, like I just want to play on the strip. Okay. It's a really short, really short uber drive to Noura's. Noura's on Flamingo. It is the best value of any restaurant in town. You can eat like a king there for and bring all your friends you will. You will be so happy with the price of everything. And they have my favorite single pizza in all of Las Vegas, which is the Salami Pizza. Thank me later. Salami Pizza at Nora's so good. As I'm talking about it, I'm like, how do I get there today? So oh, I'm sorry, I jumped in line again.
Vez Downtown Evil Pie is pretty cool spot hole in the wall bar. They got good pizza. Good pie Downtown's good. Even Pizza Rock in Green Valley Ranch I think quite good as well on Pizza's. You know, I want to give a culinary day at Caesar's food wise, if you're staying at Caesars, I know Caesar's inside and out. You want to do breakfast at Americana Cafe. Everything is excellent there. Lunch, they have a special Peter Luger's that Bill likes. Gill not so much, but they have for forty six dollars. Now, you get the burger, you get your Caesar salad or your onion tomato salad, which is excellent. You get fries, and you get an ice cream Sunday and they make their own whipped cream and it is just outstanding.
Did they give you a pillow for a nap after lunch?
I'm gonna get there. So, like, if you've go to dinner, never get steak for two. If you get steak for two, it's like one and a half times as much steak for one. So just get the steak for ones. If you have like four people, get three steak for ones. It'll be more than enough for everybody at dinner. Okay, you eat all that food dinner time. You go to Noble, you got your diamond card you get you can use those free drinks for the twenty five dollars old fashions or the pineapple martinis. So that's you can go to Stanton Social Prime or you can go there. Curiously, you can't go to Hell's Kitchen. They don't value it there. But at Nobu, I gotta tell you, don't go to the one in Paris or Flamingo, go to the one at Caesar's. It is just world class. To be sure to get a drink at the bar before taking the whole experience celebrity sightings there and ask them say what are you known for? Because they have like like I don't even like yellowtail like an appetizer. It's tremendous. And they have a thing called beef wagoo tacos. And if you think all beef has created the same gil, what do you think about those wagu tacos at Nobu.
Fucking fantastic is what they are.
They're like I think, like eighty dollars an ounce, but it's worth it.
They're all Your recommendations are great, Stevie, and build Nobu at Caesar's is fantastic. Your stuff at the Wind that you said earlier, wing lay for the duck Delilah's again for a supper club experience we talked about last year. I recommend Delilah to anybody who can get in there. You got to call months in advance, though, and in the summertime they open the seating to the outdoors. You do not want outdoor seating. That's the booby prize. You want to be indoors. If you hate loud blazes though, you don't want to go there. It's very loud, but it transports you into the nineteen twenties, the Roaring twenties with the music is it is an unbelievable experience. I'll let Meltzer go. But I have one more downtown that I think I mentioned last year that needs to be mentioned. Go ahead to Mark, Mark, all right, I.
Got a slew for you. My current favorite steakhouse is Don's over at Fountain Blue. There are two different steakhouses there. Don's is the traditional one on the first floor. They also have one upstairs where you can get a steak delivered like bottle service style. Very strange, but and people love it. Not just on my thing. Pappy Steak is called It's from the Fountain Blue of Miami. Carver Steak over Resorts World. Still a fan of it. John Georges, you turned me onto that years ago. Still a fan. Andiamo. You mentioned strip steak over at Mandala a Bay. They cook their steaks over wood, which gives it a different flavor than other steaks. They just redesigned the restaurant still looks great. Steaks are still good. Bavet, you mentioned that burger to dive for the steak is fine. The bacon if you are a large person that likes to eat fatty foods, the bacon there is in seen. They also have a very special cocktail menu with some special old fashions if you're into those. One other tip with Bavets. If it's if it's sold out, just walk in, go all the way to the back and look left and there's a there's a secret bar and with a few tables where you can either eat, drink, eat and or drink. So uh I guess that's also yeah.
Also with the Vets, the most glutenous great bread in town as well, so they have a bunch of stuff. That's the bread. The bacon that Mark's talking about is like this sweet, thick bacon, like you can't even explain it. It's so good bacon.
It's it's ridiculous.
And they have the lugar.
Bacon is really good, and they're the same thing with the bread. They bring out all these reds and these specialty chocolates and it just keep tip them good and and you get them to go and they'll just bring out like enough to feast on your family.
Lugers is where I learned about the bacon appetizers and the bacon at Lugers. I I've only had New York and it's fantastic. I can keep going with some uh, with some a.
Couple, But I want I want to say one more thing before before you, before you go on Strip Steak. The other thing I wanted to say about Strip Steak maybe i'm is it still like tons of seating. Because the great thing about Strip Steak was if it is crowded in town and there are no reservations to be had and you need a reservation that night, Strip Steak at Mandalay Bay is always the best hack for that because it's still an awesome steak. No one ever thinks about it because it's in the back of Mandalay towards the Aces Arena, and it's always comes through in a pinch, so I'll throw that in.
That's a good tip, I've I've never heard that before, so thank you for that.
One.
More. A couple more steak places. Scotch eighty over at Palms has a very delicious rib cap bizarre bizarre meat that used that used to be a Sahara is moving over to the Venetian And while it's while it's not a steakhouse, it's a meatthouse and it's all kinds of delicious meats and I'm a big fan of that place. And it's it's one of those restaurants where the menu is so large that it's overwhelming. But if you tell the staff how much money you want to spend, they will feed you for as many courses as you can handle. I think I we said the last time I was there, we want to spend one hundred and fifty dollars per person that includes wine. We got I think seven or eight courses plus wine for the night. You know, one giants steak to share, then a bunch of little you know, shareable plates and it was a fantastic dinner.
That's that's outstanding advice because just give them a price, let them bring the meat for you because you will legitimately get pissed off trying to navigate that menu by yourself.
And then uh and some non uh non steakhouses because I do eat some non steak. We talk about Asian food, You guys left off one of my favorites, Ping Pang Pong over a Gold Coast still still one of the greatest values in all of Las Vegas. I when I first started visiting Las Vegas, I would stay at the Gold Coast because I could afford to stay the Gold Coast and Ping Pang Pong I just I was just there two weeks ago after McCallen tasting at the Ria, and it is still fantastic and uh surprisingly no line on the Saturday night.
Uh.
Lattie Downtown is a great restaurant. I feel like Asian food.
Uh.
Also staying downtown Esther's, you guys, I think gil my secret forgot that pizza off is still a great place downtown as well. One of the great things about the Esters area the Arts district. There are a ton of breweries in that area, all walkable, so you could bang out five different places to get beer and then end up at Ester's, which getting a reservation there might be a little bit difficult, but there's but there's a bar you could sit at if you just want to grab some delicious food. We messed you.
Ester's expanded into a bigger space, so it lost a little of its charm. But the food and I always recommendze, like just go there and get the spaghetti. That's it. Don't go grageous spaghetti, and the and the bread there is awesome too if you're in.
I was just last week. Place is great. Place is great.
Yep.
I need to find out their right name. But the chef there also has a restaurant in my neck of town, Summer Lane called Solo El Policieto I believe, or a police do well Solo. It's over Tivoli Village. It's delicious and it's Italian food and super nice guy. I met him at once when I was eating at the bar there, and it's an excellent off strip restaurant. If you look at for Italian food. We mentioned Bevett's Burger, the Tavern Burger over at Found Blue. We were talking about the video poker bar. The burger there is actually solid and they have my favorite local beer, Atomic Duck from Abel Baker Brewing, which don't see it everything. I'm glad that Bill mentioned Miami Slice because I the slice there was so good, Honey, it it just bothers me. Is in New York gonna pay nine dollars for a damp slice of pizza. But like Bill said, if you buy the pie you can, you'll save a few bucks and probably a smarter way to go. Yardbird over at Venetian is still one of my favorites. Jalao at Cosmo it's a it's always good, and they have Sangria hour. We can get discounted sangria and they have some meg you know. I love Hilo, the little Papa's Bravas, the little potatoes there, the little mini burger, everything there is Delights said, yeah, we we have to get back to. Uh the overlookd Grill a Cosmopolitan for the breakfast burrito there one of the best.
Uh So, when the pool is open at the Cosmopolitan, they have this overlooked grill that's open next to it, and the burrito there is not the burrito that's indoors. The burrito is not the same one as the one that's indoors at what's the name of that place? The Henry Henry, the much better burrito. But what's the biggest thing about the Overlook Grill, though, is you tell me I go there for the breedo you Jacamo.
When you and Todd looked at that table side preparation for the GUACAMOLEA, you might have tiered a little bit.
Here's the thing. Neither I nor Todd I wish never do like like love GUACAMOLEA. We're not guacamole people. But this one is so good good. You talked as Stevie you were talking about earlier about how like you think about certain things after the fact. I wait for the AOL to reopen just so I can go back and have that look so good.
Good.
Go ahead, Mark, I was gonna keep going down my list. I got a handful, okay, didn't Typhong over at over at the Aria, very very expensive but delicious. And if I'm going to paint and what's your food, I want it to be delicious. And that's what Miami Slice and did In Typhong have in common. You can find cheaper places off the strip, but if you're on the strip and you want delicious soup dumplings, I don't think there's a better option leaving the strip to a crack, said Hobak. Korean barbecue over in Chinatown. Fantastic and a great price as well. The one you mentioned, I believe you said eight to eight is also a good one if you're looking for a good value over at the Cosmopolitan Bees that you can get a you can get some chicken tenders, a chicken sandwich, a side, and uh and that'll cost you under twenty bucks, which in Vegas parlance, finding a meal for under twenty bucks is few and far between, so that's always a favorite of mine. A couple of new restaurants, Gordon Ramsey Burger just opened over Flamingo and another vander Pump restaurant just opened at Flamingo the property. The Gordon Ramsey Burger is all in front, it's in the strip frontage, and the Kiss the Flamingo is almost unrecognizable in that part of in that part of the property. I'm not a fan of the Vanderhump food, but the places are beautiful. If you're a fan of hers.
I'm gonna put the kebash on two restaurants, avoid them at all costs. Vander Pump and mister chall and here's why you go to these places and you order, Like my wife said, I'd like to get a filet, but I don't want I just want to play it. Can't do it, Gotta put the chef's special sauce on us, you know what. F you guys can't can't give me, can't give my wife a playfully you know what? Then then I will never come back. It's like these places that that the chef thinks he's bigger than you and you gotta have it his way or the highway. Well it'll be the highway, sir, No, thank you.
Yeahs, mister Chows is the one right above Peter Lugers, Yes, yes, yeah, I had a similar experience. It was discussed. I was like, this is I'll never I don't know why we ended up there. I'll never go back. I just have to say this about like staying places, because we want to say the bad stuff too. I was at the airport heading back to San Francisco the other day and uh Persa was messing with my coffee bean order. The guy observed like they were getting they were getting annoyed, like the employees were getting annoyed when it was completely their fault. Were getting, you know, putting themselves in the situation to get annoyed. And he goes, this is nothing. He goes, whether you hear this story, I just got bed bugs over at the Flamingo and they acted like I'm the asshole. So don't stay at the Flamingo either, if I may say that as well. You want to flirt with that kind of thing.
Hey, we've been to so there is about food and how what you mentioned. Don't be stuck outside like at Delilah's. But where you want to be outside when the weather gets better. I got to tell you I have become a huge believer in these rooftop lounges, the old Voodoo Lounge, the Ghost Bar by the Pomps. But now that Legacy Club downtown, I would argue when they have the fireworks on Friday night during the summer. If there is a bucket list of one thing you should do when you're in the summertime in Vegas, it's to go to Circa's Legacy Club at dusk.
Stevie loves the Legacy Club. That's it, that's his spot. Didn't used to go and I goes there all the time. No, it's great. Absolutely, Mark was that the list.
The bar there by the way, at the Legacy Club, you can order half shots for if you're a bourbon fan and pay half the price and sample many, many different ones if you're a fan of whiskey bourbon scotches. So I did that once and it was one of the most phenomenal times. But the outside part is beautiful if you're just looking for a hang.
Last thing I want to mention because we used to you know, I always talk about when we were younger, we did hold nightclub reviews and then Ace would come on here and he gives hacks for the strip club crowd. We were, Oh, we were so young. But now, like you know, even like shows. I used to go to shows. Now the only one I can ever recommend is Absent because I haven't been to a show in town since, like pre pandemic. I don't know if any of you all go to shows. You know. The one thing that I do want to say about about Vegas is, and I'll say this every year, the best part about living here has nothing to do with sports, because believe me, there's better places than Las Vegas just depend on sports in Nevada. But it's the music. If you are a fan of music. I always say this when I have been bigger. He's like San Francisco or DC, if there was you know, if it's in your strike zone of what you like musically, you'll go see it. But if it's a little bit out of that, the schlep is such that you're like, eh, again, I'm not going because it's too much of a pain to go see so and so act you know, wherever. But in Las Vegas, the proximity of everything is the greatest part of all of it, So it's nothing right. I always say Bruno mar is the best show in town. If you live here long enough you see it multiple times, I would always recommend it. It's very expensive, but he's the you know, he's the Michael Jackson of this era. But beyond right, I always say, it's like, you know, Okay, I don't really love Maroon five, but if Maroon five is right next door at Mandalay Bay, right, or if Lady Gaga's right next door at Park MGM, or you pick your artist, I'll go see everybody because it's so interesting to expand your musical horizons like that. So to me, that is still the greatest and you brought up the Palms earlier. My act like Tony Tony, Tony, Raphael Sadiq babyface the fact that they're all at the Palms. I'm there all the time watching those shows when i can. But even like this, like there's a weekend in March where I'm going out of town, I'm like, oh damn, Jeffrey Osborne is at the Orleans. I'm serious, I'm so bummed about it. Right, but every if you come to Vegas, my advice would be just check to see what concerts are in town that weekend because you will be a.
Mad excellent excellent Sphere.
The Sphere is such a world class venue. It's so unique. You'd go there just to see the venue. And the Eagles are there. It's fantastic. A quick review. I did see Absence and it is outstanding.
You know.
The one thing that sets that aparts very adult show, there's like almost twice as many half naked men then there certainly are half naked women. So just throwing that out there, that that was I found that little. You know, the traditional vaudeville, you know, burlesque show in Vegas has has the women and so your wife will probably like it.
A lot this. I'm so glad you brought up the sphere because that would have been ridiculous of us not to bring up the sphere. I never went to see you two because I'm not a YouTube fan, but I'm not also not an Eagles fan. But we finally went to go see the Eagles, me and my my friends Randy and Stacey. We went to see the Eagles, and You're right, man, just for the visuals alone, I thought they kind of like, I almost felt like the Eagles said, you know, they almost like shot their load the first half of the concert with the visuals because I think, like I can he almost hear Don Henley being like they should focus on us the next half of the show, right, But visually it was unbelievable. I'm also recommended also.
A lot of money to do the production for that, so like you two had some songs where they had no production on it less so to pay attention to them more so, probably because they couldn't afford to where they didn't want to spend the money on it, because even though they're making bank on all the shows, that the production costs on here are kind of insane.
The only recommendation and is don't get seats under the overhang on the first floor. Those are the only bad seats where you can't see everything other than that, like even at the top, which, by the way, if you're scared of heights, it takes you a second to be like, whoa, this is steep as all get out. But those are great seats as well because you get to see you know, the the scope of the visual. But all that is great. So that'd be my last piece of advice. We forget anything anything else. No, So it's one.
I publish a list of shows happening in the month, so in a couple of days you'll get everything, all the big shows, all the residencies happening uh in the for the month, so everything from Sticks at the Venetian to anym or Anima I'm not even sure how to say it. The music is boring to me Anima over at the sphere. So you can catch you can catch a list of everything and make plans that way if you want.
Mark singing, what's sticks this weekend? You know, I honestly they were getting back. I heard they were getting back for a couple of shows, and I just didn't know if that was part of this weekend. He has the greatest voice. So I I do love that theater there. And I didn't know if the if dennisseem was coming back with Sticks or not.
I don't, I don't know. And it it does look like on the Venetian page that he's a member here, so I will so, but honestly, it doesn't there's no like specific listing for it.
Gotcha, you can make the.
Top ten songs.
Which one is.
It? Sticks? Is renegade?
Right you know?
Oh mom? And fear for my life?
Oh yeah, from the law.
By the way, I want to be a renegade and get it still. Eat cheap, go up, up and down the Boulder Highway and get a two fifty shrimp cocktail on the skyline. And like I said, you can stop at the Pass Casino and on Water Street use your player's card. You didn't get like a ten dollars prime ribbed denderds quite good?
Yeah, all right, No, he's right, take your life in your hands. But it's okay, that's right.
You gotta you gotta cheap death, you gotta cheat death. But other than that, it's a great recommendation.
For bargain anything for a bargain.
That's a great call on sticks by the way, that's a perfect example of what I'm talking about. It's like, Oh, Michael McDonald's here with the Doobie Brothers. Sure I'll go check that out. Before Walter Becker died with Steely Dan, I was like, sure, I'll go see that. He had a colostomy bag like while he's performing. So Styx is a great example of like a band I'd never go see them, but it's like, oh, they're all back together. Sure it's right down the street. Why not?
All right?
Meltz at Melts Vegas for Mark Mark Meltzer like Seltzer. Bill Krackenberger's at Bill Crackman with a K. You know, his podcast is Wise Cracks And of course every Thursday he's on with me on a numbers game for our second hour, which is awesome eleven a m Eastern, eight am Pacific. Bill and I never talked beforehand about what we're going to talk about.
We just.
And then Steve Fessick, of course a nice person in person, but at physic sports, well maybe not. So I'm just saying only back to back winner of the Hilton superco of the Hilton Super goodness, the only two time winner. I keep saying back to back, you're the only two time winter period should be met. Okay, thank you all for listening. I hope there was something in there, whether restaurants, sports, betting, or whatever that will help you out appreciate it. Next week the Super Bowl fifty nine megapod, we'll try to get Rufus in here for his annual appearance. Thanks for listening.