Rite Aid is closing all 28 Las Vegas area stores. The company said that Las Vegas was never a core market for them and that the stores here were unprofitable anyways. Wah wah! Are you kidding me? Walgreen’s and CVS are opening new stores on every corner, often kitty-corner from each other. We must have one of the highest per capita concentrations of drug stores in the nation! Prescriptions have been transferred to Walgreen’s so go there if you used to show at Rite Aid.
We had our first “rain shower” of 2008 thanks to the big ole mess of weather that slammed California earlier in the week. A full 0.25″ of rain fell here putting us 1/16 of the way to our annual 4″ of precipitation. You can check the local weather anytime by clicking on the Weather Channel banner on the right side of this page ==>
When we lived in Los Angeles the best place for hot tofu was BCD. It was my first experience with soon tofu and will always be the gold standard. So last weekend we were in the mood for something “soupy” and decided to try D.J.K. Korean & Tofu Restaurant. We discovered that the “Tofu” part of the restaurant’s name is a little misleading. There are only four types of tofu on the menu: plain, seafood, kim chi and pork and they are buried in the back of the menu. The tofu was good and did not disappoint but did not live up to our BCD-hyped expectations. Fewer pickled dishes, no fried fish appetizer and no rice scraped out of the metal bowls - blasphemy!
The real draw at DJK seems to be the traditional Korean BBQ. They have huge hoods sitting above each table and an extensive selection of meats to grill. We made a mental note to go back and try their barbecue.
DJK is open 24 hours so you can get your tofu or Korean BBQ on anytime.
D.J.K. Korean & Tofu Restaurant
3943 Spring Mountain Road
Las Vegas, NV 89102
(702) 638-2222
This month’s newsletter from LVVWD featured an article about Las Vegas tap water. The “taste” that many residents complain about comes from chlorine. Calcium and magnesium are also present but these minerals do not affect the flavor. Instead, they are the reason we get spots on our glassware, white deposits on our faucets and cloudy ice. Hard water is nothing new for those of us coming from California but folks from the East Coast sometimes opt to add water-softening systems to their homes.
If you don’t like the way tap water tastes LVVWD recommends three possible solutions: 1) let the water sit in the fridge for a few hours so the chlorine can dissipate; 2) throw in some citrus slices and pretend like you’re eating out; and 3) use carbon filter. We use a Brita pitcher here and it works fine - I have no complaints about the water’s taste.
You can find contact information for LVVWD and other Las Vegas utility companies on our resources for new residents page.
This article from USA Today offers a good summary of the various construction projects underway on Las Vegas Boulevard. 2008 kicks off three years of new casino/residential/mixed-use debuts:
- The Palazzo celebrates its official grand opening this weekend and the combined Palazzo/Venetian duo should be almost as lucrative as ticket sales from the Miley Cyrus/Hanna Montana concert.
- The Maloof Brothers are adding Palms Place to their resort in February.
- The Donald opens the first of two Trump International Hotel & Towers this spring.
- You cannot miss MGM’s ginormous construction mess between Monte Carlo and Bellagio, CityCenter. It is being called the largest privately financed construction project in history.
- Steve Wynn is spending over $2B on his Encore to the very successful Wynn property.
- Fountainebleau Resorts will introduce a chic hotel and casino with “crisp aesthetics” in 2009. They own the popular resort with the same name in Miami.
- Boyd Gaming is betting big on hard-10. 2010 is when we’ll see Echelon, a sprawling resort including five separate hotels introduced on the old Stardust site.
Look closely. See it? Yep, there’s a thin layer of ice on top of my swimming pool this morning! It has been really cold the last two days with night-time temperatures dropping into the 20s. Polar Bear Club anyone?
Zagat’s 2008 Best of Las Vegas Guide is out with ratings and reviews of over 745 restaurants, nightclubs, golf courses, hotels and retail shops. Joel Robuchon and Mario Batali got top honors for their restaurants and Tao was voted the most popular nightclub. The best overall hotels are the Four Seasons, Bellagio, Wynn, Venetian and Ritz-Carlton. Wait - there’s a Ritz-Carlton in Las Vegas? Yep, it’s located out on Lake Las Vegas.
This blurb caught my eye because it is not often that a condo gets its own press release. If you want a three-story, 5,100 square foot penthouse at the top of Sky Las Vegas and have $5.4M laying around . . . welcome home!
We partied at LAX in the Luxor this weekend. It’s been one of the hottest clubs since it opened so we decided to check it out. We arrived at 10:30pm and the line was already out of control. Luckily we had reserved a table and were ushered right in.
The venue was great with lots of different areas for hanging out and all sorts of beautiful people milling about. The staff was great polite, courteous and not snobby at all. Unfortunately, the party itself was not so great: the music was a little cheesy for my taste and the champagne cups, martini glasses and even cocktail glasses were plastic. Is real glass too much to ask for when you are shelling out $500+ per bottle?
LAX is definitely a hot-spot to visit if you want to see and be seen but I’ll be looking for a club that plays more house music (1015 I miss you!). Call (702) 280-3600 for table reservations (recommended so you don’t have to stand in line).
The city of North Las Vegas (yes, it’s a separate city and not just the north-end of the Strip) passed a new law requiring owners to spay and neuter their pets. It’s now a misdemeanor to own an un-fixed pet and owners who fail to comply with warnings can face up to $1000 fines and six months in jail.
Residents say that North Las Vegas is overrun with stray cats so this new law should help. Owners who cannot afford the procedure can contact Lied Animal Shelter for assistance.