A Tale of Two Restaurants

Las Vegas is one of the top foodie cities in the nation — or the world, depending whose list you like to use. When Top Chef did a season here, we thought “it’s about time!” We’ve got our own copy of the latest Michelin guide. There won’t be a 2010 edition for economic reasons, but a fresh version will be out in 2011.

Last Saturday, we had the occasion to visit 2 restaurants mentioned (but not starred) by Michelin. We had been both places several times before, but this was more of an adventure than it needed to be.

Saturday afternoon, we made a dinner reservation through OpenTable at Vintner Grill, a restaurant in the city’s West Side planned community of Summerlin. It is known for its extensive wine list, cheese list, and fine dining. Oh, and it does have something of a local reputation as a Cougar hangout. We arrived a few minutes early and were seated fairly promptly. Then things began to go wrong.

Someone had already long since taken care of water for our table by the time the waitress arrived. For some reason, she decided not to bother asking for our drink order. Perhaps she assumed that we wouldn’t be having any beverages; perhaps she assumed that a couple with a pre-teen child wouldn’t be tipping very well anyhow (and perhaps she should have asked her co-workers about those assumptions!). Either way, we almost had to beg to put in a drink order. She never did ask if we wanted any appetizers.

In the long wait that ensued, I overheard the hostess remind her about the table that had been seated right before us, I watched her stand at a table for about 5 minutes giving a dissertation on one of the menu items, and saw her go to another table to give what I can only assume was a similar lecture on a menu item. By this time, we were very hungry and there was no sign of our drinks. The server in charge of water came and left again, the server in charge of dinner rolls and butter had been to visit our table, but even though we had a view of the bar, not a sign of our cocktail orders.

A half hour after we had been seated, there were still no cocktails — if they had been shaken but not poured they would certainly be unpalatable by this time —  our waitress had not taken any of our food orders, and we had enough. We left some money on the table for the sparkling water and left. Notably, the host did not make any attempt to stop us or placate us in any way. No manager appeared. Since I have gotten no follow up email from OpenTable, I suspect they falsely listed us as “no-shows”.

So, still hungry, we went just down the street to Red Rock Casino Resort to one of our favorite restaurants, Terra Rossa (sister restaurant to Terra Verde at Green Valley Ranch, where one of the Hell’s Kitchen winners is working). We were immediately recognized as regulars and seated. Within 5 minutes we had a plate of cheese and veggies, dinner rolls, and a pair of martinis. The service was impeccable, the food great, and we had the kind of quality dining experience that one expects from a restaurant mentioned in the Michelin guide.

Guess which restaurant we will be visiting again?

By the way, if Italian isn’t your thing and you happen to be out at Red Rock, Hachi is good too.

Maybe We’re Going About this the Wrong Way

We’ve tried writing our elected officials, calling and emailing them, threatening them with the loss of our votes, giving money to progressive organizations, telling the DNC the way things are when they call on the phone, crashing events, and anything else we could think of. Still, it seems at times that the actual constituents are the last people our Congressmen, Congressmice, and Congresscreeps think about.

Clearly there’s got to be another way to get through their thick skulls.

Maybe the problem is that we’re talking to them in their offices, while they are set for business and wearing suits. Perhaps the key is to catch them when they’re sweating in their workout gear.

It’s no secret that the President likes a good game of hoops, but fewer people know about the Congressional P90X club. It’s a group of almost 30 elected officials — so far! — and a big enough deal that Tony Horton himself has come out to lead workouts with them a couple of times. Most important are the bipartisan relationships they are making in the gym: it’s “an opportunity to build relationships that go beyond grabbing a glass of recovery drink together.” More:

And how does trainer Horton feel, knowing that his program’s not just building bodies but building the relationships that guide the fate of the nation?

“I have goose bumps,” he says. “That question gave me goose bumps.”

I can just hear Tony saying that too.

Excuse me, gentlemen, did you remember to log that workout into WOWY for your chance to win up to $1000?

In Closing: 20 worst kids foods; can you afford to stay home when you are sick?; 7 more bank failures yesterday brings us to 106 and counting for the year; Yakuza; and unusual clouds.

One more time

Let me repeat this, nice and slow, so certain Congressmen, Congressmice, Congresscreeps, and other armchair politicians can keep up.

If we can only agree on one thing that requires reform in the entire health insurance industry, it needs to be that pre-existing conditions must go away. Seriously. The use of pre-existing conditions for any and every purpose must be outlawed. This includes but is not limited to using it for underwriting, rate setting, or coverage. This includes conditions such as chronic diseases, any issue related to a past or present pregnancy, genetic conditions regardless of whether they have been diagnosed, prior or current use of medication, or status as a crime victim.

True story, I happened to be looking at my health insurance booklet last week. I noticed that the small print says they won’t charge me higher rates on the basis of genetic testing. Bully for them! I bet a shiny quarter that if I actually had some genetic tests done for the genes that are associated with a higher risk of breast cancer and ovarian cancer and the tests came back positive, they would find a way to not cover me should I actually get breast cancer!

The insurance industry has demonstrated over and over again that they will abuse their covered individuals whenever money is involved. This must be stopped. There is no potential compromise on this issue, except maybe in the minds of certain Congressmice and Congresscreeps. Eliminating the pre-existing condition is far more important than anything else, even the public option. Implementing a “universal”, “socialized“, or mandatory coverage scheme without eliminating pre-existing conditions is a literal sick joke on the American people.

Seriously people, how many stories do we have to hear about ordinary, hard working folks who can’t get their single biggest health concern covered — or can’t get coverage at all — because somebody decided they had a pre-existing condition?

In closing: best thing you’ll read today about the unemployment numbers; get used to high unemployment, by the way; after all, where will the jobs come from?; when the Government is your biggest shareholder, they get to say what your top execs make, and if you don’t like it you can buy them out of their shares!; on pensions and why you are unlikely to get one (ergo, why you need to support Social Security); CNN realizes that the Catholic Church in America is increasingly Latino (way to notice trends there, CNN);  and make sure the name on your ticket matches the name on your ID exactly, because goodness knows we can’t trust the TSA to figure out that John S. Smith is the same person as John Samuel Smith. It isn’t like they’re required to have a high school diploma or pass a civil service exam or anything like that.

Paranormal Shorties

How Stimulating: Jobs created by the stimulus bill. Not as many as might be hoped, but it’s a start.

Exactly where are the government economists shopping?: No Cost of Living Adjustment for those on Social Security. Just because you’ve seen prices of bread, eggs, and fuel rising must surely be a statistical anomaly! What did they do to get these figures? Make sure that Vegas and Detroit housing prices were put in the basket?

About time somebody asked: A Federal Judge has officially asked how — exactly — gay marriage is any threat to those of us with heterosexual, traditional marriages in any way shape or form. The lawyer on the receiving end of this question had no good answer.

Bankerpalooza: Bank of America loses $2,200 Million in a single quarter, mostly on bad mortgages and credit cards. Banks and investment companies are robbing us blind, and their executives are taking home huge bonuses based on the money they take from us. Meanwhile, in the real economy, there is “no downside limit for the dollar.” Nuts.

How to read a corporate balance sheetStart with the footnotes.

What a strange world we live in: Kiko’s House has a more complete rundown, but the week is well summarized by America’s distraction, the balloon boy who wasn’t.

Have a safe and sane weekend, folks.

This is Not a Halloween Post

Sorry it’s been a while since I posted. I’m a little burned out on health insurance reform, and that continues to be the important topic out there.

Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes.

Maybe when you were a kid you had creative parents. Or at least thrifty ones. A set of black sweats could with just a few accessories or trim turn into a Halloween costume for a ninja, cat, skeleton, or even a vampire. Grey sweats could be the base for a robot costume. White ones could put you on the road to being a ghost or dalmatian or angel or even Princess Leia. Add an oversized orange t-shirt? Future jack-o-lantern costume!

In addition to being relatively cheap and reusable, these costumes were warm enough for late October. It always felt dorky to have to put a winter coat on over my costume. (So, the year I went as Princess Leia outfitted for Hoth? Perfect!)

Don’t go running out to the discount store thinking I’ve just solved your costuming problem.

For some reason, the overwhelming majority of sweats available this year are already pre-adorned with silkscreens, patterns, embroidery, or other crap. Finding plain sweatshirts is harder than finding a new job this season, particularly in kids’ sizes. I’ve been to Target, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, S-Mart, you name it. My net haul is a total of one black hoodie. It was at least on sale for a mere $5.

In addition to thwarting many Halloween dreams, this poses a problem for parents whose kids are subject to uniform codes or “standard student attire” allowing only plain, solid color sweatshirts in one of several school-approved colors — over an “approved” collared shirt, of course. A quick search shows this is not uncommon, and and it is policy in at least one of the 10 largest school districts in the nation. I mention this to any sympathetic store employee I can find, but the fact is that they are limited to what corporate sends them.

I am almost desperate enough to visit one of the crafting stores.

In Closing: banks reducing lending to small businesses, ensuring that we will either all be corporate pwned and/or the Great Recession will not end anytime soon; 5 ways banks rip you off; Elizabeth Warren on preventing banks from continuing to rip you off; and making abortion illegal doesn’t even reduce how many of them happen, but access to contraception does prevent abortion. Stuff that in your so-called-pro-life pipe and smoke it: the only way to prevent abortion is to prevent unwanted pregnancy in the first place.

First Monday in October

The Supreme Court is now in session! I really meant to do a nice post on this. But frankly Pat Edaburn did such a nice job, why should I reinvent the wheel?

So let me close with some nice bits on the economy (Yes, I love Calculated Risk, why do you ask?), some nice bits on health insurance reform, one on how real reform could create jobs (Thanks, Mr. President, I’m a bit ahead of you on that one. Why just now beating the drum?), a couple things on housing, one on the TARP, one on “fetal personhood” (They aren’t. Moving on now), and 10 myths about Iran.