Monday, September 17, 2012

A Deal Near the Strip: Terrible's Casino Cafe

It's not often these days that outrageously "I can't believe it" deals are found on the Strip, but traveling a few blocks from the Strip (a walk if you are ambitious!) can yield some great deals that appeal to both tourists and locals. One such place is Terrible's Casino which is on the corner of Flamingo and Paradise. Flamingo is the street houses Bally's, Bellagio, Caesars and the Flamingo Casino. Terrible's is down a few blocks from the Strip on the Bally's side of the road.

While I don't frequent Terrible's Hotel & Casino very often, I have eaten at both their buffet and cafe before when there were specials. My Las Vegas Entertainment book used to house a few 2-for-1 buffet coupons and that usually led me to the establishment.Unfortunately, Terrible's hasn't been in the book for the past few years.

The deal that I'm going to talk about is a simple one: breakfast. It's $2.99 every day and you just need to sign up (for FREE, of course) for their Player's Card. The Deuces Wild breakfast, as it's called, comes with 2 eggs, 2 pancakes and 2 strips of bacon. Next to its newspaper ad it has stamped "Best of Las Vegas" as voted by locals at one time or another.

When it's breakfast, it's really hard to screw up....really, so while I haven't had this one lately, I can't imagine it being anything further than what it should be. I've also had their other breakfasts including a Hawaiian Loco Moco and that was also pretty good. That is a normal priced menu item.

The casino is a smaller one. It's in a location that is supposed to attract both tourists and locals so it must balance its prices. For just a penny under three bucks...I don't think there's much room for any complaints here.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Happy Hour at Brio Tuscan Grille (2 Locations!)

When you don't want the typical bar menu items for Happy Hour, Brio Tuscan Grille at Town Square and Tivoli Village (Summerlin) make for a great outing. Now, their Happy Hour used to be $2.95 items, but I guess it was so popular that they felt an extra dollar wouldn't hurt their crowd. In an evolving menu - as restaurants should be doing anyways - there are new and old items on this Happy Hour Menu. Some of these items I can personally vouch for, while on other items, I'll need others to let me know!

There are two Happy Hours which satisfy the late afternoon crowd as well as the after dinner crowd. The times are: Monday-Friday: 3-6:30pm and Monday-Thursday: 9pm-Close. Happy Hour is available ONLY at the bar.

Here are some of the items on the menu with some commentary. Overall, you can't really go wrong at Brio. Even their full menu (although a quite a it pricier) has always dished up great stuff:

ALL $3.95:

Beef Carpaccio - served with field greens, capers, mustard aioli and Parmigiano-Reggiano. (I've had this one before and I thought it was very tasty and quite healthy of a dish. Thinly sliced beef with some nice cold salad greens. Although I'm not a huge capers fan, you can easily request them off or they are easy to just remove yourself.)

Spicy Shrimp & Eggplant - pan seared shrimp with Romano crusted eggplant and a black pepper cream sauce.
(This has got to be one of my favorite dishes of all time. When done right (and there were a few times that the dish didn't come out temperature fresh hot-hot like it was supposed to) it is spectacular. Crispy eggplant with a gooey center topped with shrimp and the sauce is what really completes this dish. It's described as a black pepper cream sauce but it resembles a red pepper cream sauce to me. Anyways - I HIGHLY recommend this one!)

BRIO Burger - grilled to order with Provolone and housemade chips. 
(There is a "secret sauce" of something on this...I don't prefer it so I usually leave it off. I get mine grilled medium and it's a nice size. It's not a full burger, so don't expect that, but it's a smaller burger that is just right. I love to order this with the Spicy Shrimp & Eggplant because I dip the chips in that sauce!)

Margherita Flatbread or Sausage & Pepperoni Flatbread - just like it sounds on flatbread.
(The flatbread is a nice lighter version of a pizza without all of the bread. It's nice and crispy with a little bite to it. The Margherita has tomatoes and basil on it and it's refreshing. The Sausage & Pepperoni is equally delicious.)

Ravioli Caprese - Romano crusted ravioli topped with tomatoes, fresh basil, fresh Mozzarella and cilantro pesto drizzle. 
(The ravioli can be a little dry only because it's crusted and deep fried so the moisture can be taken out of it. The toppings make it tasty however and the pesto drizzle...anything with pesto is always a plus with me!)

Roasted Garlic, Spinach & Artichoke Dip - served bubbling hot with Parmesan flatbread.
(The dip is pretty good. I'm quite picky on my spinach and artichoke dips. My main thing with hot dips is that it's GOT TO BE bubbling hot. Although the description on the menu is that it comes out bubbling hot, I have had to send mine back before because it wasn't. However, if you kindly ask your server to make sure it's bubbling hot - you stand a better chance at getting it the right temp the first time. When it does come out bubbling hot - it's delicious! I did have to request an extra few pieces of flatbread to finish off the remaining dip.)

Shrimptini - chilled shrimp served in a martini glass with classic cocktail sauce and flaxseed cracker.

Tomato & Mozzarella Capri - sliced Kumato tomatoes, fresh Mozzarella and basil; served with balsamic glaze and field greens.

Crispy Shrimp Piccante - Romano breaded shrimp drizzled with a spicy aoli. 

Out of all the offerings on the Happy Hour menu, the last three items are the only ones that I have yet to try. So, for the most part, you have my first hand accounts of each dish.

Food isn't the only Happy Hour items. There are $5 Drink Specials that include the following:

Sangria Rosa, White Peach Sangria, Mango Mojito, Strawberry Mojito, Pomegranate Cosmo, Black Raspberry Cosmo, Tavolo Matto Chardonnay, Tavolo Matto Pinot Grigio...and more!