StephenB

<<I'm surprised a man of your breeding and culture would be caught dead at Circus Circus, good value or no>>

I haven't been caught dead there, or anywhere else, so far, thank you. But your comment goes to the root of what I consider the Las Vegas game. As one who has been a regular there (for computer and electronics shows) since 1982, I caught on some time ago that the idea is to let the gamblers pay, in significant part, for your stay. The "gaming" is why there are so many bargains in food and hostelry. Sure, there are lots of restaurants set up for people who have just won or lost half a million bucks and to whom another grand is trivial. But if you go along with that plan, you're as thick as the high-rollers are. For breakfast, I go to one of the buffets that Zora talked about. For lunch, I graciously accept the hospitality of one of the exhibitors. There are generally show-sponsored receptions in the evening with serious sushi and shrimp, and of course an open bar For dinner, I seek out steak, Brazilian, seafood -- places, often off the Strip, that don't depend entirely on frantic, inebriated tourists. The Circus Circus Steakhouse fits that category. It is an oasis of class in a sea of crass.

If anyone is open to further ruminations along these lines, I can provide an article I wrote for Publishers Weekly when the booksellers convened in Las Vegas. Taxi drivers told me that the book people were almost as cheap as the computer people, but not quite. My guys, both.

The best price-quality ratio I've found in 15-20 LV trips is at the Circus Circus Steakhouse. The problem is getting through the madness of that hotel's lobby.

Thanks goodness I was there! Becaue if I hadn't been, Crackers's evocative pictures would drive me bonkers with longing. John B, with the collaboration of our colleague James and Chef Chang, has put together a series of feasts that would have been unthinkable for smaller groups. And next week we're going to have shrimp in garlic sauce, which is my favorite thing in the world. This has been nothing less than a great series of lunches.

They do seem to have a lot of personnel turnover at Sea Catch. But the peacefulness of the scenic canal calms any turmoil. The hit of my lunch last week was the "top neck" clams. What are they? Bigger than little necks, but smaller than cherrystones, the waiter said. But the ones we got were easily cherrystone size, fraught with flavor, briney, fresh, meaty. Got to go back during happy hour and guzzle some more.

One of my sons suggested a T-shirt with the legend, "I survived H-20 at Joe's!"

Please let me know when you plan to go. I'd like to join you.

StephenB