VONS - Is Von’s going out of business? I have bought bad food there, out dated food, a half a dozen times. I haven’t been back in a while. Sure, I should read labels, but what is month old food doing on the shelves to begin with?
Interesting factoid...
The Top Ten Fat Cities in the United States are....
1. Houston, TX
2. Detroit, MI
3. Philadelphia, PA
4. New Orleans, LA
5. Columbus, OH
6. Mesa, AZ
7. Kansas City, MO
8. Phoenix, AZ
9. Cleveland, OH
10. Chicago, IL
These cities also have the MOST fast food restaurants and the most fried food eateries as well! Chew with your mouth shut folks! Laughs. The NEW KNOW HOW book has dozens of new recipes FYI!
OTHER RESTAURANT REVIEWS
For the best coffee in L.A. we have had all month, go to the Rainbow Bar & Grill on a Monday night. It's relatively dead and quiet. I haven't a clue why it was so good, but it was. But for the best service in town over the past 30 days, go to Mel's diner on Sunset Blvd. If you want dinner, RJ's for ribs in Beverly Hills. Gonna cheat? Gladstone's clam chowder is the best there is in Malibu! I LOVE L.A.! And for the sushi nuts, spicy tuna hand rolls without rice is NOT cheating.
I was recently told by a UCLA researcher that over half of the people surveyed at this illustrious school, if forced to resort to cannibalism, would eat a leg first. That's not cool! Benihana's at the Hilton in Las Vegas IS cool though! It was also the site of our private wedding reception last year. They have a marvelous mist filled Japanese garden and a little stream that flows through the middle of the restaurant. It's beautiful. Nadia was VERY pleased with their attention to detail and was surprised that they were willing to prepare food ala' Don Lemmon's Know How Principles and recommendations! It was a SUPERB meal and if you are wise, you will request KONG as your chef. That's right, King KONG! We had steak, salmon, shrimp, mussels, salads, veggies and tea for everyone!
Whole Foods Market - The one in Summerlin… There is a guy who works there we like to call Smiley. No matter how bad of a mood the customers or staff are, he is right on top of his game, smiling, laughing and joking which seems to rub off on everyone around him. He really lightens up your day. He offers a lesson to be learned for anyone involved in customer service. But what is the deal with their sky high prices? How do they stay open charging so much for the same items carried at regular grocery stores for less? It really is a shame to think that when it comes to deciding upon making a healthier choice in one's eating it requires an elevated cost from a store because it thinks it has cornered a "niche" market or you are only able to purchase things available anywhere. Hey folks, you're a grocery store not Versace! Even the fancier items and brands you carry are available at Smith's for less. And that's saying something. Smith’s is AWFUL in their pricing as well. And is it just me or has the deli at Whole Foods totally went downhill? The last 2 times I ordered "fresh baked" pizza, it was cold and the crust almost broke my teeth... The egg salad had CRUST on it! Never again.... Unless they shape up.
Trader Joe’s - Once a week I get mixed beans, cottage cheese, gouda cheese, jumbo organic eggs, carrot juice (thick), mixed grain cereal, vegan hot dogs, smoked salmon, blueberries, ground beef and salad stuff. Everything is always fresh and we have never needed to return anything because it was spoiled or expired. Great prices and smiling, talkative clerks. Most stores in town should follow suit.
U.S. Post Office - Can we say Paula at the Albertson’s express PO at Rainbow and Spring Mountain is the biggest, rudest, slowest, most mischievous postal worker we have ever met before? I think we can. This woman has had an attitude since we walked in there the first time 18 months ago. The rest of the staff including Susie, Cindy, Abe and the others are all gems. We come in, they are helpful, cheerful and always offering assistance. Paula however usually stands around with her mouth hanging open, disappears into the back when the lines get long, moves slower than molasses when serving you and how did this start? I don’t know but her mumbling about the customers is more annoying than the people whining because she is moving so slow. I would need more space than this to explain all the complaints we have received via our Las Vegas website and from customers at this station about this woman….
The Mr. Olympia Contest At Mandalay Bay - It seemed like everyone in the world who was even remotely interested in fitness attended this 3 day convention. Featured in Las Vegas the past several years, Joe Weider’s premiere bodybuilding spectacle is sure to please. But now that he has sold his company, how much longer will it run here, if at all? Packed full of fitness competitors and industry promoters like a sardine can full of body dyes, performance enhancers and bikinis, the distinct smell of methane blurred my vision too much to enjoy myself. That and the fact this place was so crowded they should have add 50% more display area just to walk but then again, you got to literally rub shoulders with the biggest names in the industry, didn’t you? Yeah, everyday people got to ask questions, get autographs or snap a quick photo with their favorite comic book super hero look a likes. It certainly wasn’t appropriate that every step you took there were either flyers, protein bar samples, or energy pills thrust in your face with such little space to breath or run away but this is the nature of the beast. From martial arts competitions to power lifting contests, bodybuilders and fitness babes, the one downside to the entire event, a rigged and monkey run modeling contest, the Olympia didn't fail to deliver entertainment to anyone who attended it in some capacity or another. I don’t know who won by the way, sorry.
Gold's Gym vs Others In Town - Gold's gym is my favorite Vegas place to work out. Even if it technically isn't the best gym as far as newer equipment or frills goes, that isn’t what you should be at a club for anyhow. Gold’s has working and clean equipment and far surpasses any other gym in sales pitch pressure or members who join merely to look cool too. There aren’t any jack asses working at the front desks nor trainers that think they are Harvard graduates because they took a weekend class somewhere. Well, then again, you get that anywhere. But Gold's has several pro personal trainers working there and if for no other reason, you should hire one for a week just to say you did it. Diana Dennis would be a good place to start. She is a legend in the industry. Other benefits to joining Gold’s would be that you very seldom have problems getting on a machine, other than when someone decides to take a 30 minute break between sets to twiddle their thumbs. We have this one guy who will do a set, sit there, then when you walk over and ask to do a set while he rests, he says he will be done soon, but waits 10 minutes to work again, then still doesn’t move while he forces you to move on elsewhere. I think I am going to beat him with a 45 pound plate sometime soon. Another clown who body builds there uses half the weight we do and insists on slamming or dropping his equipment after each set for attention. Oh, oh, oh, then there is the gum snapper. Lord, if there was one person I could do without it is that darned POP, POP, POP, gum popping middle aged guy who’s girlfriend does the same thing…. Sigh. Oh well, at least they aren’t covered in bottles of cologne like the people at LVAC and 24 HR Fitness nor walking around naked in need of a grooming in the dressing room. Long Live GOLD’s!
THIS JUST IN! ALADDIN RESORT AND CASINO SAVED
A Texas oil rancher and an Arabic sand mogul have saved the Aladdin from bankruptcy! They plan to blow up Las Vegas Nevada's biggest hotel eyesore which is that sign that blocks traffic by Bally's....
The bankrupt Aladdin resort and casino in Las Vegas has been rescued by Saudi Stock Broke Haseem Kasseloni and his wealthy oil rancher associate from Dallas, known simply as Rainbow Joe. They say the hotel will begin performing significantly better than earlier forecasts and they are just in it to make a buck or two.
The hotel-casino had projected negative December cash flow of U.S. $3.5 million, but instead the resort had only reported cash flow of a fourth of that. Haseem and Rainbow say not to discredit the fine art of getting people in to blow their loads. "We will dry hump them all if necessary and don't you think otherwise!"
Joe adds, "I reckon it is just slow because people think the hotel is Muslim. Well, it is in fact a holy ground of the Hopa-wee-dunna-geet-bommda Indian Tribe and is quite safe.
Top Aladdin executives who are not fired or replaced will be eligible to receive as much as two and a half times their yearly salaries to continue working at the once troubled hotel casino while these two Wall Street Moguls straighten this town out.
The former operators accumulated a debt of $360 million U.S. after pouring investment into the original Aladdin which wasn't exactly the top resort in town to begin with.
A spokesman for Haseem and Joe who wanted to add "Eat at Joe's" said, "All we want is a bunch of American women and some booze. With that, every slow moving, old, retired or uneducated person in America will come blow their loads. We will out smart them with advertising. They will think there is a winner and a hot babe at every slot machine. It will be genius! This is the thing we want! Have you seen the albino camels? Sigfrench and Boy have white tigers, we have white camels. You ever seen anything like a white camel attrack kids which attrack parents which attrack me more money!"
An Australian Tycoon Loses $20 million In Three Vegas Days! Australia's richest man, Kerry Packer, just lost more than $20 million playing baccarat in Las Vegas including tipping the dealers and valet up to $2000 a shot! The London Telegraph reports that Packer has lost over $40 million in the past ten months gambling, but his recent toss and loss may have set Vegas records. This was good news for Vegas' Bellagio Hotel, which gladly took his money. Packer is said to remain undaunted. He is reportedly worth some $5 billion. Packer takes the gambling losses lightly. Interestingly enough, he has survived no fewer than eight heart attacks, and once even died and came back to life. "I've been to the other side," he has said. "I didn't die for long but it was long enough for me to know one thing. Let me tell you, there's nothing there. " Uh, sure. Note - we'll assume he means there is no gambling there. People often report they encounter their own expectations of what is on the other side. Words from a rich, and otherwise empty and unsuspecting man. "God. Every breath I take I learn something new. Why is it that so many others make it obvious they just don't care what becomes of them?"
Las Vegas Drivers - READER SUBMISSION: “Look, whomever said there was employment for anybody and everybody in Vegas, just pack your crap and show up, that person needs shot. Hands down the WORST drivers in the whole entire world have flocked to Vegas in droves! Not just on the strip but around every intersection in town you will find people who either do not belong on the road or haven’t a frikken clue what they are doing or where they are at the moment. We have never seen the level of stupidity inherent in the people who get behind the wheel of a car in Las Vegas, NV. Los Angeles isn’t HALF this bad. Toronto? Forget about it! NYC? Clogged but not nearly as clinically mental…. I am willing to bet China and Cuba are safer places to cruise your speed boat down a busy street. I guess you could argue even residents are dazzled and hypnotized by the bright lights and the excitement of living in "Vegas", but c'mon people... Dazzle us by driving already! Every time you get in your car to go somewhere in this town, you are guaranteed to see a car accident, someone crashed through a brick wall facing the opposite direction (explain that one, please) and this goes for even when you are just driving down the street to the convenient store. Defensive driving takes on a new meaning in this town because of this. You quite literally take your life in your hands zipping around to get groceries in a parking lot. Having drivers from all over the country and the world clogging the streets doesn’t help, it explains some of the most retarded maneuvers known to man, but if you can't figure out the simplicity of the left hand turn or that red is red, green is not, turn when you should, get out of the way if you can, stay home or just take a cab. The life you save just may be your own.”
John Barr - Like everyone else, I thought this guy’s Austin Powers spin off commercials for Findlay Toyota (925 Auto Show Dr, Henderson) were fairly annoying too at first. But then I ‘got’ it. Mini-Barr was what they were saying! That was Lil’Jon-jon… Aaaah, yes… Then I met the guy. He is absolutely hilarious! I do not need a new car, nor is he paying for this but he promised me a great deal if I want one. I might just do that. Anyhow, John is a squared away guy, I dig him, go buy a frikken car from him and learn to laugh at those commercials. I think they ROCK.
Pyrate Style - For 16 years this leather goods company has made custom clothing for the worlds biggest name rock stars and celebrities. And they are located right here in Las Vegas, Nevada… www.pyratestyle.com Jason has painted Keith Richards wearing Pyrate Style clothes, KISS has his stuff, I introduced him to Cinderella and that’s all I got to say about that, check it out…
