Greetings from Las Vegas. This is Day 3 of our trip report, covering Wednesday, April 5, 2000.
Up early again, as Roz took advantage of her two-fer at the Rio Spa and I
finished a report installment, read some newspapers, tracked the early action
on Wall Street via TV, and made a number of phone calls back home. I noted several
recent threads on Jim Poston's Vegas list about using cellular phones in Vegas,
and I can only say that our Sprint PCS phone has been getting a strong signal
in most of the areas we've been, including in our hotel room. By staying under
our 500-minute monthly allotment, we're not paying a penny extra for our calls
to Vegas numbers and throughout the USA. I think our only phone charges will
be the Rio assessment of a buck a call when I go online with our laptop, and
that will end when we move over to Sun City Anthem and our local calls are free.
One of the fastest growing dining options in Las Vegas is sushi. With all due
respect to our friends who refer to it as bait, we are of the cult that says
if you build it, we will go. So on this day, it was our goal to have a lunch
of sushi ….lots and lots of sushi!
A relatively new arrival on the local sushi scene is Sushi On …. East
of the Strip, there's a Sushi On Tropicana. On the west side, there are Sushi
On Rainbow and Sushi On Summerlin. Taken together, this small but sure-to-grow
chain just received Editors' Choice for best sushi in the 2000 Las Vegas Review-Journal
"Best of Las Vegas" poll.
Speaking of cell phones, I had a little fun with ours as we drove to lunch
while I was talking with my kid brother Don back in Boston. As we talked, he
used his computer to research Sushi On Rainbow and directed us to 6870 Spring
Mountain, at the corner of Rainbow, where the restaurant is in a shopping plaza.
Lots of fun to use technology in this way.
Sushi On has a "normal" Japanese-restaurant menu, but the primary
attraction is all the sushi and related items you can eat, for a price of $19.95
for lunch and $22.95 for dinner.
Sushi On Rainbow is a small storefront establishment that most resembles a
coffee shop or even a 50s diner, with a broad-tiled floor and walls of black-and-white
enameled tiles. The sushi counter, behind which the chefs work, is quite small,
with barely enough room for six diners to sit elbow-to-elbow, eating carefully
to avoid disrupting the numerous plates, condiments and beverage glasses. This
particular outlet is open seven days a week from 11:45 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.
The all-you-can-eat menu is huge, with all the usual sushi items you'd expect,
but also with a wonderful "supporting cast" of unique dishes. I won't
give you the Japanese names for the sushi items, which are always translated
on placemats or wall posters, so here is a fairly complete list in English of
what was offered, most of which Roz and I tried separately or in tandem:
Tuna; fatty tuna; salmon; shrimp; yellowtail; red snapper; mackerel; sea eel;
freshwater eel; scallop; smelt egg; octopus; squid; clam; abalone. There are
seven varieties of special rolls, our favorite of which is the spider roll,
consisting of four pieces of warm soft shell crab wrapped in rice. This fantastic
item sells for $7.95 on the a la carte menu, and is just one reason why the
all-you-can-eat price is such a bargain.
And you don't have to stop with the sushi and the special rolls. There is gyoza
(small filled pastries); egg roll; teriyaki chicken; ginger chicken; sesame
chicken; yakitori; chicken, beef or curry bowls; shrimp and vegetable tempuras;
squid tempura; pan-fried noodles; spicy baby octopus noodles; miso soup; Japanese
salad; and more, and more, and more.
All the food was wonderful, and seemed very fresh. After beverages, tax and
a generous tip from two appreciative guests, we spent about $53 for two. But
I have no doubt that we must have consumed at least $100 worth of food, possibly
more.
I haven't picked up the Las Vegas Entertainment Book yet, but Sushi On must
be in it, because they have a poster in their window which looks like a blown-up
page from the book, offering a discount of up to $14.00. Also, Sushi On gives
diners a card entitling them to a free all-you-can-eat meal after paying for
10.
Don't expect plushness at Sushi On, but do expect an authentic sushi experience
that is both delicious and a great bargain for the money. After lunch we drove
down to Caesars Palace to pick up tickets for the 10:00 p.m. performance of
"Smokey Joe's Café," starring Gladys Knight. These tickets,
with a combined face value of $110, were free to holders of Caesars' Emperors
Card who received a special mailing. Essentially, this is Caesars' slot club
and, though we hardly ever gamble there, we get these offers frequently, as
I'm sure many of you do.
The full offer from Caesars Palace was as follows: A complimentary midweek
night with the purchase of the first night for $59, with the right to get up
to three additional nights for $59 midweek or $119 weekends; an extra free night
if the stay is between March 21 to April 6; a single $50 food credit for Palace
Court, Empress Court, Terrazza, Bacchanal, Caesars Magical Empire, Neros or
Hyakumi; the two free tickets for "Smokey Joe's Café." But
the free show tickets were still available to those who are not staying at Caesars
Palace.
Our next stop was Walker Furniture on Martin Luther King Boulevard, where we
made sure we still like the living-room and bedroom furniture we'll be ordering
from them in the near future. Our salesman was off today, so we'll return there
shortly to make arrangements with him. After visiting several other furniture
stores in the vicinity of Walker, we returned to The Rio for a few hours so
that Roz could take a nap and I could start what I knew would be a long daily
report. Then we headed out for supper.
It was not a time for a big meal after our sushi binge, so we went to Koo Koo
Roo at Decatur and Sahara for some of their healthy chicken. For those not familiar
with Koo Koo Roo, its specialty is skinless, marinated, flame-broiled chicken.
A very nice meal for two, for about $15. Try it, you'll like it.
Then it was back to Caesars Palace, arriving early enough to take a loss at
$1 9/6 jacks or better video poker over a 45-minute period, leaving us still
modestly ahead on our gambling.
There are not enough superlatives to do justice to "Smokey Joe's Café,"
a memorable 90 minutes of musical pleasure, whether on a Las Vegas stage or
anywhere else. At its root, it is simplicity itself: nearly 40 songs, all except
one written by the legendary team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Most everyone
reading this report knows the music of Leiber and Stoller, though you may not
realize it.
Just imagine how these Leiber and Stoller songs helped us through the passages
of our lives: Dance With Me; Searchin'; Kansas City; Poison Ivy; On Broadway;
Yakety Yak; Hound Dog; I'm A Woman; There Goes My Baby; Love Potion #9; Jailhouse
Rock; Spanish Harlem; Stand By Me. And on, and on, and on.
Gladys Knight is the star whose name appears at the top of the bill, and deservedly
so. Her voice has never been better, and her powerful rendition of "I Who
Have Nothing" will send the proverbial shivers down your spine.
But Knight, in fact, turns out to be star in name only, for her actual role
is to be part of an accomplished and powerful ensemble of 10 dancers and singers
(including founding member of the Pips, Bubba Knight) who each get their time
in the solo spotlight. Add to this a kickin' seven-piece band playing the original
orchestrations and you have a sensational combination.
There are 41 songs in this show if you count several that are reprised. Not
one extraneous word is spoken, as it's just one memorable number after another.
But there's never a sense of audience weariness, as the pacing is perfect, the
minimal staging is effectively evocative, and the performers' singing, dancing
and comedic talents keep the audience fully engaged.
There are no highlights in "Smokey Joe's Café," because every
number would be a show-stopper if enough time for applause would be allowed
between songs. But if pressed to select a couple of really standout moments,
they would be Kathleen Murphy's original version of Big Mama Thornton's "Hound
Dog," along with a gorgeous treatment of "Spanish Harlem" that
incorporates a lovely ballet sequence.
"Smokey Joe's Cafe" is one of the best shows we've ever seen in Las
Vegas or anywhere else. The Gladys Knight edition will be playing off and on
at Caesars Palace into June, and touring companies will be found around the
USA for years to come. If it's playing anywhere near you, treat yourself to
a treasure trove of memories and a heck of a good time.
I don't know how much of the following might be classified as a scoop, but
let me share with you some information I picked up tonight through discussions
with a showroom drink server and a few other people. The rumors many have heard
about Caesars' Circus Maximus showroom are true. The room is expected to close
permanently in September, and the space occupied by the Magical Empire is apparently
going to be converted into some sort of nightclub.
But other news came as a bit of a shocker. Employees have just been told that
the Palace Court and Bacchanal restaurants are also closing soon, though there
has apparently been no announcement yet about how those spaces will be utilized.
It certainly seems that new owner Park Place has big plans in store.
Back to The Rio at the end of a busy day. And this reminds me of something
I forgot to mention earlier: Rio's Village Seafood Buffet is no longer open
for lunch. The hours are 4-10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 4-11 p.m. Friday
and Saturday. The price is $27.00, tax included.
It's been a great three days so far. The weather has been in the mid- to high 80s each day, with evening lows around 60, both ranges considerably above average for the period. This beautiful Las Vegas spring weather promises to continue.
And so ends Day 3.
