Once an afterthought on drink menus, mocktails are now taking their rightful place at hotspots across the valley. Here’s a taste of what the buzz is (or isn’t) all about.
Cocktail drinkers (and cocktail slingers) are rediscovering tequila and mezcal for libations that are spicy, smoky, and sophisticated. Here’s where to get a taste of the trend. ¡Salud!
Depending on timing and traffic, the vantage at Alexxa’s offers you either an Instagram-worthy view of the Bellagio fountains in full balletic spray or a GIRLS DIRECT TO YOUR ROOM mobile flashboard drilling into your soul.
To open this feature, we’ll defer to the wit and wisdom of none other than Oscar Wilde, who famously wrote, “I love this bar/ It’s my kind of place/ Just walkin’ through the front door/ Puts a big smile on my face.”
You don’t go to the clamorous, corrugated bro cave Hi Scores for anything resembling chill ambience, but hey, you can try your hand at the original Mortal Kombat on free-play and see if you still know Scorpion’s fire-breathing fatality move.
Intellectually, I know that strip clubs are vortices of frenetic sad-flavored desperation, but the fact that El Dorado Cantina shares a wall with Sapphire Las Vegas never fails to tickle me with a frisson of ooh maybe something sexy will happen.
Don’t be put off by the oonsta thunderbeats shaking the sidewalk outside Turmeric; inside, the music is muted, turning the restaurant into a fun Fremont East people-watching fishbowl with a soundtrack.
Usually, Scotch makes me think of the following in a sort of randomized blurry associative mental whirlwind: country clubs, ascots, self-satisfied chortling, jodhpurs, stubborn institutional white privilege.
China Poblano in the Cosmopolitan is all about freewheeling culinary hookups, Mexican and Chinese cuisine getting together and being down for whatever.
Elixir is hidden atop a curlicue of asphalt that swirls off of Green Valley Parkway, in a nondescript office/retail cube that looks more suited to CPA firms and law practices.
Happy fifth birthday, Barrymore! *party horn, confetti toss* Not an insignificant milestone for a retro-luxe gem hidden in a sleepy timeshare tower on desolate Convention Center Drive.
A simple drinking guide for complicated times. Sure, organic artisanal beaker concoctions with 27 ingredients are fun, but sometimes you want to keep your drinking simple, with a classic cocktail, fine wine or hearty beer.
It’s fall, that season of crackly, tumbling leaves, spiced cider, decorative gourds, toe socks, glum intimations of mortality and all that other fun fall stuff we never get to experience as citizens of the Desert Perpetual. Our decidedly Vegas consolation: seasonal cocktails.
