Greetings from Las Vegas. This is Day 7 of our trip report, covering Sunday,
April 9, 2000.
Once again Rosalyn started her day with an early-morning workout, this time at Gold's Gym on Eastern, while I worked on the laptop and read the newspaper. Then we went over to the model village at Sun City Anthem to take measurements for area rugs and cabinetry.
It is fascinating to watch all the commercial development taking shape in areas
where new communities are under construction. Starting from the intersection
with Lake Mead and continuing for two miles to the Anthem entrance, Eastern
is awash with new shopping plazas, gas stations, fast-food outlets, pubs and
restaurants, and so much more. This is a much better situation than we have
back home, where we have to drive a ways to get to anything.
A lot of the pub-restaurant combinations are 24-hour places, and we thought
we'd try one on Eastern for lunch. It is called Black Mountain Grill, and were
we surprised when we walked in. We had expected a dimly lit establishment, more
tavern than restaurant, with a menu heavy on artery-clogging, basic bar food.
Wrong! Open just one week, this is a place with lots of cozy booths, much brick
and polished wood, formal and informal dining areas, and yes, a bar, but a handsome
one with several televisions to keep customers occupied. And how many bars offer
a menu that includes steamed clams in green onion broth; sashimi; Szechuan rack
of lamb; roasted rainbow trout stuffed with rock shrimp spinach risotto; chicken
fussili pesto; and a selection of gourmet pizzas?
Our next surprise came when we asked about the ownership of Black Mountain
Grill. Many on-liners are familiar with the famous Tommy Rocker's, on Industrial
near The Rio. Though I've never had them, a number of folks say Tommy Rocker's
serves some of the best BBQ ribs in town, and Tommy himself, an accomplished
rock-and-roller, often entertains customers with his band.
Well, the Black Mountain Grill is the newest venture of Tommy Rocker and his
wife Donna. And they are planning to open three more restaurants in the near
future, each with a different name and menu.
I ordered the Black Mountain Burger for lunch. This was a half-pound of ground
chuck, char-broiled and served with lettuce, tomato and onion on a hearth-baked
bun, and topped with cheddar, my choice of cheese. It came with fries (onion
strings are also an option), and was cooked rare as ordered. Roz had grilled
vegetable foccacia, which included Portobello mushroom, eggplant, zucchini,
yellow squash, roasted red pepper, Monterey jack cheese, field greens and aioli
on herbed foccacia bread.
Total bill was about $20, and this should be a very successful place if the
busy lunchtime business is a fair indication. Black Mountain Grill switches
to a breakfast menu between 11 p.m. and 11 a.m., with a number of interesting
breakfast combos in the $5 to $7 range.
After lunch we took the brief drive back to our building site. Twenty years
ago, when the house we designed from the ground up and now live in was being
built, we had the luxury of dropping by the construction site nearly every day
to monitor progress and catch any deviations from the plan. We don't have that
luxury this time, of course, but it is nonetheless a great thrill to walk the
site and to stand inside the partially completed structure, taking photos and
easily identifying all the rooms and features. The house isn't stuccoed yet,
but we hope to see it in that condition by the time we head home.
Next we drove over to Sunset, in the area of the Galleria mall, to continue
our shopping. First we visited the La-Z-Boy Showcase Gallery, where we saw a
handsome sofa-bed that interested us as a possibility for our guest bedroom,
as well as an area rug we're going to put on our "possible" list.
Next we went to Linens & Things, in order to learn what's on the market
for bed linens and home accessories. We've never had a king bed before, and
it's astounding what sheets, comforters, bed skirts and the like will cost.
But we'll certainly have enough choices to establish the Southwestern contemporary
theme we are going for.
Finally, across the street to HomeBase in order to get more ideas for kitchen design and rugs. On this trip we've visited Lowe's and HomeBase, and we are already familiar with Home Depot. In terms of layout and our own product interests, we like HomeBase the best.
Time for dinner, and time to spend it with our best friends in Las Vegas, the
Bilmeses and the Ehrlichs. Blossom and Hal Bilmes live in Sun City Summerlin,
and Gladyce and Marty Ehrlich also live in the northwest area of the Valley.
The two couples met us for dinner at Strings Italian Café on Topicana
just west of Eastern, and we had our usual wonderful time together. In the past,
we've been just friends visiting the city, but now the conversation took on
a different tone as we solicited their recommendations for doctors and dentists,
along with getting their advice on steps we should follow for a smooth relocation.
I've read a lot about Strings. It is a small but very nice Italian eatery whose
owners are always on the premises to assure good service and quality. They start
diners off with baskets of garlic bread and unlimited quantities of a salad
tossed with a wonderfully creamy house dressing. Or unlimited minestrone soup
in place of the salad.
Prices are low to moderate, with few of the entrees over $12.00. My dinner choice was veal and spaghetti, just like I had last week at Olive Garden. Rosalyn ordered chicken cacciatore, and most of the others had a special of chicken and shrimp parmesan.
All of us joked about whether we'll see much of each other when we've moved here, since "the Bermans are coming to town" will no longer be there as an incentive to set up our get-togethers. But we also agreed that we're too simpatico to allow that to happen. Blossom, Hal, Gladyce and Marty will see this online, and we want to thank them all for being such wonderful friends, and often substitute family, over these past few years.
As Oliver Wendell Holmes put it: "Fame is the scentless sunflower, with gaudy crown of gold. But friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold."
So ends Day 7, as we drive "home" in the knowledge that the word will soon be very real.
