Go: Where to Go, What to Do & Why

By James P. Reza

As this goes to press, your faithful Go tour guide can only hope that all has gone smoothly and that the world is finally settling into a post-election state of relief that can only come, well, post-election. Regardless of whose buttons you wear, you have to admit that the 2004 election season was a psychological minefield for the electorate, an overwrought, emotional, nasty, brutish affair--and that was just in County Commission District F. It seems everyone was anxiously waiting for it to be over, one way or another. At the end, it seemed to matter less who won than for it all to simply go away.

Perhaps anticipating a repeat of the drawn-out debacle that plagued our Third World State of Florida in 2000, the next week in Las Vegas is relatively quiet when it comes to concerts and events (thankfully the following week picks up again). There are a few, however, and we'll get to them in a moment. But first, let's briefly revisit our discussion of the quality of local service raised last week.

In the time since, I've had several people relate to me that they too have noticed a dramatic decline in service levels across Southern Nevada, a troubling development in a city that defined the service economy so convincingly that cultural pundit Kurt Andersen called it "the Detroit of the 21st century." Locally, many customers are finding themselves making choices on where to spend their money--be it restaurant, nightclub, retail store, spa/salon, whatever--more often based on how they are treated in these establishments and less on the quality or exclusivity of the specific goods or services being purchased. It's not very scientific, this sampling of mine, but in short it means that if the beer is average but the barkeep exceptional, we seem much more likely to return than if the reverse is true.

Also in the past week I've had the pleasure of experiencing two restaurants where both the grub and the service were top shelf. The first is Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab (792-9222), an upscale, high-profile, big-buck Strip joint featured in this week's Eat column found on Page 41. The other is Quinta Belina (227-9191), a relatively undiscovered family-operated gourmet Mexican restaurant (no combo plates here) set adrift in the sea of nondescript strip malls that disassociate us from our neighbors and mercilessly disguise every business within.

Though oceans apart in atmosphere and price, these two eateries each offer high-quality food and exceptional service. The result? Regardless of how much your final check reads, you are left feeling like you would have gladly paid more for the experience. That, friends, is value.

The mantra: downtown

Forget those spanking-new overpriced condo towers that are seemingly planned for every urban street corner. When we live downtown, we want a pad at City Hall! Far from having political aspirations (my skeletons are dancing on my front lawn, not stashed in the closet), instead we're championing Mayor Oscar Goodman's suggestion that the existing half-moon city hall be converted to a condo project and a new city hall built on the city's 61 acres. Despite the Review-Journal's notion that such a project would be difficult to sell because the building has a "dated look," some of us actually like buildings that were built before 1989. Hey, if the 1970s look is good enough for the penthouse pad of the Golden Nugget's Tom Breitling, it's good enough for us.

And speaking of the Golden Nugget and vintage Vegas...the man with the golden voice, Tony Bennett, returns to the downtown property this week for a trio of shows in the intimate Theatre Ballroom (Nov. 4-6; 385-7111). Bennett is said to be a guest, along with hottie Jaime Pressley, at the resort's VEGAS magazine November issue launch party on Friday. The party is also themed to the style of vintage Vegas.

Also Friday--and certainly profiled within a brush stroke of its life elsewhere in the Mercury--is the return of First Friday, downtown's art and culture bash. Big news this month? Vegas faves the Nines are resurrecting themselves to play Dino's First Friday after-party. Yes, they are.

And elsewhere...

Rapper Method Man returns to Vegas this week, joining with Verbal Ase and JuSSoul Thursday at the House of Blues (Nov. 4; 632-7600)...The Tubes. Clever rock 'n' roll? Crappy new wave? Subversive punk? Eh, we dunno. We just know they were popular with certain fringe-of-musical-society types in the 1980s. Check 'em out at Boulder Station on Friday (Nov. 5; 547-5300). More easily described are emo-metal quartet Coheed and Cambria (See how easy that was?). They play the House of Blues Friday with Underoath and 3 (Nov. 5; 632-7600).

The last time the Supreme Beings of Leisure played Vegas, it was to a handful of folks at the House of Blues. Though electronica's five pop minutes are over, for a great many others the genre is here to stay. They'll be the ones in the queue waiting to hear the trio's laid-back trip-hop style at Ice Las Vegas on Saturday, when Supreme Beings open for Nick Warren's latest house/trance project, Way Out West (Nov. 6; 699-5528). Way Out West is also notable for featuring percussionist Damon Reece, whose substantial cred extends to stints with Massive Attack, Spiritualized and Echo & The Bunnymen.

And finally, former Smiths frontman Steven Patrick Morrissey is quietly returning to fill the Hard Rock's Joint with an unequaled quality of angst next week (Nov. 13), just a few months after appearing there in support of his new album, You Are the Quarry. If only he could make up with Johnny Marr--we'd vote for that.

Native Las Vegan James P. Reza loves Morrissey, but not like that. E-mail the author at jpreza@cox.net.