He is the man who left, but some of us won’t let him go. I mean Dave Hickey — the famous art critic who lived here many years before leaving in 2010.

What do they like? How much should I spend? What’s appropriate? Jewelry? A novelty item? A gift card? The giving season can often be the stressing season when it comes to spreading holiday cheer among friends, co-workers and loved ones. Never fear.

There’s a new gold rush in Nevada — the tech startup gold rush. Ever since Tony Hsieh’s Downtown Project dedicated $50 million to seeding Vegas tech, other funds have begun — and the startups have come courting.

I won’t go so far as to say I was disappointed by the lack of any physical confrontation, but I wouldn’t have necessarily interceded if Debbie had punched Al in the mohawk. Or maybe if Al had gotten Brock in an incapacitating arm-bar worthy of a UFC bout.

The post-bubble economy may have inspired a new embrace of comfort food and casual fare but, thankfully, some chefs realized that not all of us need a celebrity-branded gourmet burger to heal our souls. Come on: Thrill us! They did.

PB&J pancakes at LAVO Do not be frightened by the lithe she-creatures in club heels frequently tottering in front of LAVO; there is food inside, and it is good. The restaurant/club hybrid recently began flirting with something it calls “Proper Brunch” on Sunday.

“I’ve always felt the city has been a little cheated,” Brett Wesley Sperry said, gesturing with his champagne glass amid a small knot of people gathered in The Lady Silvia bar. Cheated, he meant, by the valley’s inability to provide itself the big cultural facilities a proper city ought to have.

A fossil park in central Nevada has become a flashpoint of debate over an unusual theory of what killed the site’s ancient ichthyosaurs. Somebody’s on kraken.

We took three of the valley's top food writers out to lunch to dish about the state of the Vegas dining scene. We didn't save you any pizza - but here are a few slices of our lively conversation.

Ah, New Year’s Eve. That magical night when Vegas is transformed into a volcano filled with drunks.