The multi-billion dollar structures that line Las Vegas Boulevard are filled with the sounds of electronic ding-ding-dings of row after row of video slot machines, many with incomprehensible games but all with the same goal – to part you and your money. And you can play from a penny to hundreds of dollars a pull or gamble with dice or cards at rows and rows of felt-topped tables.
And now there’s another set of multi-million dollar operations at nearly every name hotel/casino: The Food Biz.
As Food Network and other mass media outlets helped raise chefs to celebrity status, the moguls in Vegas saw an opportunity to cash in another way, reaching further into visitors’ pockets. The likes of Emeril Lagasse, Bobby Flay, Wolfgang Puck, Rick Moonen, Michael Mina, Joël Robuchon, Thomas Keller, Charlie Trotter, and many more, have opened restaurants bearing their names or likenesses.
But with few exceptions, those chefs who put their names on the marquees and signature dishes on the menu rarely cook there, except for highly promoted special events. To be sure, their recipes are left in the safe-keeping of skilled chef-employees. Capitalism works that way: Even if you can’t be in five, eight or 10 different restaurants at the same time, you can lend your name and reputation with the hope that your food will taste the same no matter if it’s served in Chicago, New York, or Las Vegas.
I’m sort of OK with that, but I can’t help feel that I shouldn’t have to pay upwards of $150 or $200 per person if I’m dining in what is essentially a chain restaurant. Olive Garden, it ain’t, but still…
And some of these places clearly have some of the best wine collections (for sale, of course) anywhere. My eyes open very wide when I see one bottle of wine offered for $6,400 and quite a few others for more. One hotel/casino has a much vaunted wine cellar that holds a bottle that is alleged to have belonged to Thomas Jefferson. Read the book, “The Billionaire’s Vinegar,” and you’ll understand why I use the word “alleged.” Nevertheless, I’ve been to that wine cellar and it is extraordinary, even with the alleged bottle.
Then there are the restaurants with nameless executive chefs putting out fantastic meals for what are considered to be reasonable prices (a term of art that certainly does not apply in these parts, mind you). Of course, in addition to the array of fast food joints you’d see in any American city, there are a few remnants of the “old Vegas.” I saw a billboard for a $9.95 prime rib dinner offered 24/7, as well as an all-you-can-eat buffet for $12.95.
If you keep in mind that you’re not in the real world when you’re on or near “The Strip” in Las Vegas, you begin to take these stratospheric prices in stride. With hundreds of thousands of hotel rooms in the city, it’s hard to believe that construction of new hotels (with casinos, of course) continues unabated. Why not? The airport is a non-stop parade of landings and take-offs, depositing tens of thousands of visitors every day of the year.
Truth be told, I don’t think breakfast should cost $15 before taxes and tips are added in. For goodness sake, it’s just two eggs, hash browns and toast. When you’re captive and you’re hungry, you’ll pay and they know it.
My wife and I enjoyed a fantastic five-course “tasting menu” at a French restaurant for $89 each. We paid extra for paired wines. An expensive evening out, but well worth it for the food presented.
Do I have a point? Usually I do. If you’re going to Las Vegas for fun or for business, be sure to set aside some of that gambling money you’re taking. It has become an extraordinarily expensive city to eat in. There are some bargains to be had.
But a bargain is in the eye or the belly of the beholder. Right?
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