I am overweight because I eat too much and spend too much time on the computer. Still in Vegas I seek out the buffets and enjoy that part of Vegas. I usually buy one upscale buffet, generally Planet Hollywood at lunch. The the rest of the time I only eat when the food is free or at least on a 50% coupon. This usually works to limit my buffets to one a day, but I had so many free offers this time, that the "free only " diet was not helpful. I was amazed to come home and to have not gained a pound.
Usually, there is a lot of walking in Vegas. I will choose to walk whenever I can. However, in the August heat, I was not walking very much at all. I did swim almost everyday. I had the opportunity to swim even when I was at the El Cortez but I did not want to walk to the Plaza where my buddy's key would let me in. By that portion of the trip, I was tired, and wanted just to sleep, or to play poker.
So I have no real insights about food to share with you.
Except to repeat my favorite dish in all of Vegas and one I had three times due to so many Main Street Station food comps.
I go to the soul food section of the Main Street Station buffet and put a good portion of greens on my plate with a bit of vinegar.
Then I go to the back Hawaiian section a cover the greens with scoops of pulled pork.
Next I go to the Chinese section and put little dabs of Chinese hot sauce around, perhaps mixing things up.
Finally, I top the concoction with sprinkled Chinese crispy noodles.
Oh, my!!
The other thing I like about MSS is that they have butterfingers and tiny M and M for the desert iced cream.
Cinnamon buns in the morning are good too. I did not have the stomach to try the morning strawberry pizza.
I also did taste the difference between the foods on this buffet and the others throughout my week of low roller's food.
My first couple days I ate at Terribles. I am trying to use up my large number of accumulated points.
This is one of the most hated buffets, but I always do well. Each buffet has an advantage. Here I find a large bowl of mixed melons on the salad bar and they are just as sweet as you want melons to be. And on my table is a jar of Cholua Mexican hot sauce. Too many American places mindlessly put Tabasco on the table. I don't get that. Almost any red hot sauce is superior. Frank's is my favorite, but Cholua is right up there.
On Frisco night I enjoyed fresh oysters on the half shell. The fellow was opening them and we were eating them as fast as he could open. I loved the smoked brisket and the ribs were the best I had eaten, even in Florida barbecue joints. I liked the seafood gumbo and the deep fried cod was not as good as the one at Foxwoods, but the batter was crisp and the fish tasty. (Of course, this is probably not cod, anymore that a Grouper on a Florida buffet is grouper) Finally, I liked the iced tea. I don't usually.
In the morning I convinced the omelet maker to make me a couple of eggs over easy and then toss in the fried fixings and sprinkle it all with cheese. I love the flavors, but I like a runny yolk. I make these over easy omlettes at home, arranging even to melt the cheese, but it is a bizarre request for the cooks in the omelet lines.
At the Colorado Belle I used my card to get a good enough $6 buffet and then later used my comps for steak and eggs, overpriced at the diner but fine. The buffet included large, fresh blueberries.
The next day I walked up to IN-N-OUT burger.
I had looked forward to this experience for a couple trips, but I have to say I was deeply disappointed. Perhaps I am too old to absorb the romance, or perhaps it is so much better than McDonald's that it attracts the young who would otherwise go there. I never go to McDonald's so there is not that comparison.
I did think the food was fresh. I had the protein combination from the secret menu and the iceberg lettuce was nice and crisp. But the burger itself was so thin it looked anemic. They may have missed giving me a true swirl shake and substituted just chocolate. I could see some swirl but nothing red at all. It was nothing to walk across the street for, especially in that hot sun.
Whether or not I am too old for the romance, I definitely am too fat for the seats. I could not get comfortable and finally sat on a stool. The decor was pretty cool, like a diner of my generation, bright tile with a leaning palm motif. But with all the cheap buffet options, I did not get that it was much of a value. Taht night the Colorado Belle put out free chicken burritos for the poker players. They were a treat. The chips with them were just so-so but the salsa was fine. The burritos were great.
I had breakfast and supper at the River Palms buffet and found that just fine.
One night there was a choice on the salad bar of blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries. They were wonderful. I could have made a meal on them. The salmon was very bad, however, the worst I ever have eaten. I only tasted it. The drinks are self serve. I love that. No one but me can take orange juice and splash it with just a hint of cranberry. And when I am thirsty, I like not having to wait to catch the eye of the drink person. I like too that when I chose a desert and want a bit of coffee with it, I can get it right then, hot and the way I like it. Or if I prefer tea, I have the option to pour the hot water over the bag so that it steeps correctly, or as near to correctly as the hot water can make it. In such places I often bring my own tea bags and make my own cup of English breakfast.
One night the entire buffet was inundated with Japanese from a tour of some sort so that eating there reminded me of eating Dim Sum in a large city and being immersed in a Chinese community. One of the reasons I enjoy traveling is the opportunity to immerse myself in a culture very different from mine, and on trips to Vegas that happens often. In the buffet that night I was a distinct minority and all around me families played out what it was like to be Japanese. I hoped that the pretty young girls eating near me had not mistaken this experience for the Vegas they had seen on television. Perhaps this was just an easy stop for food on the way to the Hoover Dam, but it seemed an odd place to visit when folks had come all the way from Japan to see America.
I found the same experience in Spanish speaking communities in Laughlin pools. While they do not duplicate being in Casino Paradiso in Costa Rica and talking to the drink girls and the young dealers in order to practice Spanish, still it is good for my less than fluent ears to hear and try a little Spanish. I had a chance even to make a joke or two when the poker table at the River Palms was full of Spanish speakers and the banter between hands was all in Spanish.
After checkout and before the shuttle bus pickup, I got a free chili cheese steak sandwich meal at the cafe based on my play. It came with a drink and some very good french fries, cut large and cooked to be crispy on the outside as I asked. I finished with a nice 50 cent ice cream coupon at Java Jones where regardless of the sign that says "free refills for 50 cents" you are not allowed to save your cup for the next day and take advantage of that offer. I asked. Just so you would know.
Back in Downtown Las Vegas my food was almost free. Main Street Station gave me $20 in $5 coupons which frustrated me because that meant I had to pay a little something for what should have been a full comp. However, I did get a fully comped supper buffet for my second day there. And all those other visits meant plenty of my favorite soul food green Chinese hot Hawaiian Kalua pork noodle dish.
My buddy bought the coupon meal at Freemont for steak night and I enjoyed that. At Freemont the steak was tough but tasty and I also enjoyed duck and salmon with horse raddish sauce and capers and onion. It was up a notch from the Laughlin buffets.
I bought the meal with the coupon at Fitzgerald's and found the food fine but the servers rude and dysfunctional (except for the friendly host). The buffet is gone, but the coupons will give you 2 for 1 entres. I had salads from the and all tasted fine. My buddy had a chili steak sandwich. With the salad bar came a baked potato which he ate and with his came the homemade potato chips which I ate, but I did not find them as good as I had before.
I ate prime rib on poker comps and points twice at Careful Kitty's in the El Cortez. It was good both times. I always sit at the counter there. I also had two free breakfasts and those were fine. Again I taught the omlette chef how to make over easy omlettes. he was very perplexed, but there was no one there so I described the entire process. both breakfasts gave me plenty of time to talk with friends who shared them. It is an easy, quiet place to meet. And the bacon at the El Cortez, and only there, was crisp,. the grits tasty.
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