POSTED: 1:42 p.m. EST February 16, 2004
UPDATED: 3:02 p.m. EST February 16, 2004
Closed hotel updates ... Binion's is still dark but the new owners at Harrah's are working feverishly to get it open by sometime in March. The Castaways, on the other hand, is still closed and will most likely never reopen. After shutting down suddenly a couple of weeks ago, it was sold at auction to the main creditors who will now turn around and try to unload it on someone else, although according to most reports, the list of buyers is, well, nonexistent.
Fans of great barbecue can rejoice with the opening of a fourth location of Memphis Championship Barbecue in Las Vegas. The small chain has made our Top 10 Restaurants lists just about every year we've done them and for good reason -- the down home flavors, terrific bargains, and excellent service makes them stand out. Besides, who doesn't like barbecue? Anyway, their new location is on the west side of town at 1401 N. Rainbow near Charleston. It's worth the trip.
Speaking of new restaurants, The Hofbrauhaus is finally up and running, some six months later than originally forecast, but hey, the beer is flowing now so you won't hear me complaining. The 18,000 square-foot complex is a cousin to the original, and quite legendary, Hofbrauhaus in Munich, Germany and in fact the beer at the Vegas location will be imported direct from Deutschland. There's an indoor beer garden and beer hall plus a dining room for entertainment. It's located just across the street from the Hard Rock Hotel at Harmon and Paradise roads.
And finally, there was quite the scandal surrounding the Super Bowl a couple of weeks ago. No, not that one. Although can I just ask, what happened to the days when people actually wanted to see women's breasts? Anyway, the Super Bowl scandal I'm referring to happened in Vegas when threats of lawsuits by the NFL brought about the cancellation of Super Bowl viewing parties at hotels all over the city. Apparently the league was annoyed with the admission fees charged to the general public for these parties, a no-no considering the fact that they're giving it away for free on regular television. Legal-speak letters started arriving at Vegas hotels just a couple of days before the big game, resulting in last minute cancellation of events at Orleans, Aladdin, The Palms, and many other locations. Can you imagine how many hot dogs they had left over? A lot of people are upset about this, including Mayor Oscar Goodman who is threatening lawsuits against the NFL for the party cancellations and the league's decision to air any Vegas related ads during the Super Bowl. In other words, you probably haven't heard the last of this.
Now, back to Janet Jackson... oh never mind.
This Week's Trivia
Q: According to the Las Vegas Food & Beverage Magazine, how much was the average dining tab in Las Vegas in 2003?
ANSWER
The Weekly Trivia Question is sponsored by the
Online Memorabilia Museum at Vegas4Visitors.com
The Full Story
In Next Week's Column
Next week: The latest from Las Vegas.
Plus, don't forget to
send me your questions about Las Vegas. I've got room for more, so send them in today!
Click
here to go to the main page of Vegas4Visitors.com and see all of the fantastic resources Vegas4Visitors has to offer you when planning your next trip to Las Vegas.
