CIRCUS CIRCUS STEAKHOUSE

It had been close to a decade since last we braved the shopworn, smelly environs of Circus Circus just to grab a steak. Truth be told, we’d always liked the steakhouse — warm, clubby and man-musty as it is — but the short walk from the back parking lot to it — bobbing and weaving between the shoddiest bunch of turistas in Vegas — was always so damned depressing, we always talked ourselves out of eating there and usually hit the Golden Steer instead.

But over the past year or so, we’ve driven past the billboard on I-15 that proclaims it “BRANDED THE BEST (STEAKHOUSE) FOR 20 YEARS IN A ROW,” so many times, our resistance wore down, and we rose to the bait.

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Corkage Fees Update

After speaking with City of Las Vegas Attorneys, City of Las Vegas Business Licensing Enforcement personnel, Clark County Attorneys, and numerous individuals at both the wholesale and retail level of wine purveyance, Eating Las Vegas has come to these ten conclusions about corkage fees for persons wishing to bring their own wine to restaurants:

1) The City of Las Vegas considers it illegal and will cite any establishment (for a violation of their liquor/wine license) that allows persons to consume a bottle of wine on a restaurant premise not purchased at that place of business. However, the enforcement of this prohibition has been spotty and selective at best.

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RESTAURANT CHARLIE/BAR CHARLIE

Click here to read this article featured today on John Mariani’s The Virtual Gourmet (www.johnmariani.com). Yes, it’s true we’ve given RC/BC lots of love on this site over the past year, but that’s mainly because: 1) They need it; and 2) They deserve it. (In terms of kick-ass cooking, these two rival the best in town. In terms of rumors about their imminent demise, they lead the pack.)

Click here to hear ELV speak a truncated version of these words on KNPR (this past Thursday) in the mellifluous tones for which he is known.

CHECKPOINT CHARLIE

“Why wouldn’t we be?” is the answer Charlie Trotter gives me when I ask him if his Las Vegas location is going to weather the economic storm and stay open. “Business is down in Chicago and everywhere about 20%,” he continues, and private parties have disappeared (people won’t book because they think it’s bad form), but we’re working harder and trimming labor costs and still think Restaurant Charlie provides a serious value for the level of cooking we’re doing.”

And after half a dozen meals there in the past year, I couldn’t agree with him more.

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