the mirage.

"The Mirage was the first of its kind in Las Vegas and heralded the era of megaresorts along the Strip. Its November 1989 opening preceded the early nineties building boom and, with its $630 million price tag, it was the most expensive hotel/casino in the world."

This blurb comes from the Las Vegas Sun's history web site, which has a super awesome hotel-casino map that traces the changes across the valley through the years. The Mirage is particularly relevant today, for a number of reasons. It is celebrating 20 years on the Strip, and it is rumored to be the next MGM-Mirage property that could be sold, following TI's movement to Phil Ruffin.

But that stuff doesn't matter much for our purposes. Here at MenuVegas, the measure of a hotel-casino is a simple series of questions: Is it awesome? Where can we eat? Where can we drink? Can we get happily lost and sloshed in here? And, is it awesome? If you check out that cool Sun map, it's easy to measure the resorts of the Mirage generation: Rio, Excalibur, Luxor, New York-New York, Monte Carlo, MGM Grand, Treasure Island, Hard Rock, Stratosphere, to name most. (Bellagio and Mandalay Bay opened in '98 and '99, respectively.) Out of these, the only ones that come close to providing similar top-flight amenities today are MGM Grand and Hard Rock, which opened four and six years after Mirage, respectively.

If this is confusing, here's the point: the Mirage today is better than the resorts of its generation. I don't know if I'd go so far as to say it's enjoying a resurgence right now -- that's an unacceptably positive label in Vegas today -- but it deserves one. It remains a beautiful property with plenty to do, 20 years later. Gone are Siegfried, Roy and Danny Gans. In their place are this Terry Fator guy and the popular Beatles-Cirque mashup Love. The buffet, Cravings, is probably the best in town, pound-for-pound, because the food is great and the design is very anti-buffet. I actually don't mind eating here, and I hate buffets. Other restaurant highlights include BLT Burger, Chicago/NYC transplant Japonais, cute wine bar Onda, high profile Chinese at Fin and fun steak and snacks at Stack. In addition to reputedly delicious fare, Stack and Fin are among the most strikingly designed dining rooms on the Strip. The Light Group nightclub JET is still top 5, and the brand new Rhumbar boozehole is surprisingly cool and dedicated to classic cocktail creation. The casino layout is comfortable enough, with lingering touches of the tropical theme that made its first impressions so long ago. The western portion of the casino, which winds around the theater, spa, and quaint Revolution Lounge, is modern and relaxing. The Bare dayclub provides the only topless pool experience that doesn't charge admission, last time I checked.

When Ruffin took over the TI he said he wasn't going to change anything. As nice as the Mirage is today, I would think any potential buyer would maintain that philosophy. It wants for nothing.

weiss deli.

When dining in one of those old-school delicatessens where they name sandwiches after people, my strategy is to go with the sandwich with the coolest name. Thus, my first visit to Weiss Deli, the 3-year-old family-operated joint at Sunset and Green Valley Parkway in Henderson, was highlighted by this gargantuan named Sol Rubin. Brisket, tongue, kosher salami, coleslaw and horseradish sauce. Wow.

Triple deckered on rye with potato salad, this meat skyscraper was so stuffed that after my first slab was gone, I had to deconstruct the next piece to individually sample each animal. The brisket was best, slightly fatty and complemented wonderfully by the creamy horseradish. The salami was the next layer, and it's kosher so think more bologna-ish than the oily Italian salami you're used to. Tasty, though. The tongue was crazy but good: salty, chewy, odd. A tongue and coleslaw sandwich might be fine by itself. Upon further review of the menu, I wish I'd ordered Ceily's Stack, two latkes stuffed with brisket topped with cheese and brown sauce. Damn.

I did manage to fit in a bowl of chicken noodle matzoh ball soup. It was full of tiny noodles, carrots, celery and maybe the biggest matzoh these gentile eyes have seen. Very satisfying, but overall not beating out the west side's Bagel Cafe for my favorite chicken soup. Just not as much flavor, and not as much chicken.

I should be ashamed of myself for not trying Weiss Deli until now. It's been on the list forever. It's also on a stretch of Sunset that contains some other great eating destinations: Layers bakery, Todd's Unique Dining, Bangkok Orchid (Thai) and the Olive (Mediterranean). This is not a newer section of Green Valley/Henderson, but it's pretty strong. Weiss, a small, kinda plain but friendly dining room with ten booths and a half-dozen tables, also serves homemade bagels, hashes, more breakfast (the Kosher Nostra omelet has salami, bologna, onions, tomatoes and muenster), burgers, salads and tons of other sandwiches.

indian curry bowl.

Please, please let things pick up just a bit. The Centennial Gateway retail center at the corner of West Ann Road and U.S. Highway 95 must thrive, because this tiny, delicious restaurant in the middle of a lonely parking lot cannot be allowed to close up shop. Indian Curry Bowl must live!

A big 24-Hour Fitness just opened here, but a Sportsman's Warehouse just closed. There is a Cafe Rio Mexican fast-food spot and a tanning salon, and a Fresh & Easy waiting to open. But everything else is empty in this center, save for the ICB. It's maybe a few weeks old and we've already been twice, and the food keeps getting better. Lamb samosas are my new favorite snack. Curries are complex and delicious, made mild but spiced up at your request. Chicken tikka and lamb vindaloo with potatoes are great, but the favorite dish so far is paneer masala tikka, grilled paneer cheese in a slow-simmered sauce of onion, garlic, ginger, and too many other spices to bother yourself with. Just good. And with freshly made naan bread, especially the potato-filled aloo kulcha, you will be too stuffed to believe this is one of the most healthy meals around. If we have to, we are willing to keep this place in business until the recession relents. Whatever it takes.

Other delicious things consumed yesterday:
Albondigas soup from Frank & Fina's Cocina.
Lime pie from Cafe Deia.
Chili and cheese fondue covered potato chips ("Potato Twister") at LBS in Red Rock.
Cucumber gimlet with Hendricks gin at T-Bones bar in Red Rock.