Lucky Dragon Shuffle
I was lucky enough to get a hotel room at Lucky Dragon before it opened last year. The hotel room (review here) was so new that I could barely sleep with the paint fumes wafting through the air. Next door in the casino (everything you could want to know about the casino here) everything was just about ready for customers. The hotel and casino were both on their way for the flood of people on opening night.
It’s only been a couple of months since the opening and the casino operators have decided to shuffle things around. Lucky Dragon will expand the VIP gaming area on the second floor. The gaming expansion will move the popular Pearl Ocean restaurant downstairs. Dragon’s Alley will shrink from the Asian Night Market inspired dining hall to a streamlined noodle bar. Once Pearl Ocean moves that space will be redesigned into more VIP gaming rooms.
On the surface, these changes seem to make sense. Scaling back Dragon’s Alley seems like it would be less confusing to customers (like me). Moving Pearl Ocean to the casino floor should improve foot traffic. I think I would have dined there if I saw it while wandering the casino. If there’s a need for more high-end VIP gaming space then it would make sense to be upstairs with Phoenix, the high-end restaurant.
DuPar’s Closes At Golden Gate
Midway through last week DuPar’s at the Golden Gate abruptly closed its doors. Acting quickly, the Golden Gate sheet rocked the entrance to the restaurant. If you didn’t know better you’d have no idea what or who was there. I don’t know what happened but speculation from VitalVegas.com leads me to believe there may be serious financial problems for the owners of DuPar’s.
I immediately visited the location at the Suncoast to grab a Vegas Stack of 3 pancakes. It’s been awhile since I’ve had those buttery, fluffy cakes. They’re as good as ever. If you really want one last taste of DuPar’s pancakes, the Uber fare estimator says that it should cost between $13 and $17 each way for a ride from Golden Gate to Suncoast.
Expect Golden Gate to move quickly to replace DuPar’s with a similar 24-hour cafe restaurant since it’s the only place to eat on site.
More Closures At Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo as we knew it is changing before our eyes. Last year the pool area, The Pub, and Andres restaurant all closed for renovation as Monte Carlo becomes Park MGM. The first major addition has been the Park Theater. The venue has already opened and is now home to a few residencies and is becoming a regular stop for national tours.
The next phase of closures will begin this spring when the poker room closes for good on April 25th. Once it closes there will no longer be poker at Monte Carlo/Park MGM. The closures continue a couple weeks later with Brand steakhouse closing May 11. The on again/off again closure and move of the sports book appears to be off. More details should be released soon.
Welcome The 52 Stories Blog From Cosmopolitan
52 Stories from Cosmopolitan is refreshing in an era where casinos are using blogs as a self-promotion tool. While it serves the Cosmopolitan’s venues, it also offers information for Las Vegas as a whole. You can read about 52 Stories here.
Chick-Fil-A Is Finally Coming To The Vegas Strip Area
First things first, Henderson is not Las Vegas. A fast food restaurant opening 15-20 minutes away from the action is less exciting than a pancake restaurant opening equally as far. That said, Chick-Fil-A has announced that its location on Rancho and Sahara, near Palace Station, will open on March 30th. Now, 99.9999% of the people who read TravelZork can get excited about those delicious fried chicken sandwiches!
Tickets To See The Cubs In Las Vegas Go On Sale Monday, February 13
Big League Weekend at Cashman Field is usually the sign that spring is upon us. Once again, the Chicago Cubs will return to Las Vegas for two exhibition games. This year they’ll play the Cincinnati Reds on March 25-26.
These games should both sell out, so you’ll want to act fast. Ticket prices are $45, $55, and $65. The Cashman Field box office will be open from noon-4:30 p.m. You can find more information at the Las Vegas 51’s website.
The Super Bowl Breaks Wagering Records…Again
We love wagering on the Big Game! Nevada sports book operators took in a record of $138.5 million in wagers for the Super Bowl according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board. They won $10.9 million from all of those wagers. That’s 7.9% profit and about the middle of the pack for the past 10 years. You can see more information on previous Super Bowl wagering revenue here.
Bill Introduced To Lower Gambling Age In Nevada To 18
I don’t think this bill is going to be approved so I’m not going to dive deep on this again. You can see more from KNTV.
Rumor of the week: Eataly At Park MGM Already Downsized
When plans for Eataly were first announced I thought that MGM might configure space to fill the large Italian Marketplace concept. I’m now hearing that the design will be scaled down to meet the Las Vegas market. I’m not sure what this means, but with Lucky Dragon scaling down their Asian Marketplace this seems to make sense. An Italian Market inspired food court still sounds really cool but it might be too cool for the mass Las Vegas market that MGM Resorts caters to.
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Marc grew up on the mean streets of the South Bronx. He's the rare combination of Yankees and Jets fan which explains his often contrarian point of view. He learned about gambling at a young age working down the street from a bookie who took action on anything from the mainstream sports to the last three digits of the purse for certain horse races. Yeah, that's a thing. Today Marc is a freelance writer and social media consultant which allows him to work anywhere there's a wifi signal. This allows him to work from the sportsbook at Red Rock Resort or the food court at The Venetian where you’ll find fast and free wifi. Writing about steak, booze, gambling and Las Vegas is a tough job but somebody has to do it.
