Somehow, no matter how long we stay in Las Vegas visiting two of our children and five of our grandchildren, the time seems so short.  There were many side trips that we made, quick meals, shopping (me even more than my Bride), and the occasional glass of wine.  We always try to cram as much as we can with these trips, and there are some traditions that we try to maintain.  This trip we didn’t make a family trip to the cinema, as nothing was appealing across the board for us.  We did go bowling, it started out, just something to do the first trip out there on a gray day, and now it is a tradition; in fact, one of the grandsons actually bought his own ball and all the accoutrements.  The hardest part of the entire trip, was that we could not have one time with everyone together; between school and jobs, try as everyone did, we couldn’t have a complete family grouping and that was extremely hard on the group historian and photographer.   Hopefully, when we return for another visit, we can get everyone together.  

One side trip that my Bride and I made was that our daily morning 10K walk had us ending up at one of our favorite places for brunch.  We went to Echo & Rig, which is two stories tall, and the main floor is a bar and complete butcher shop with aging facility, and upstairs is the restaurant.  “A hot dog at the ballpark is better than steak at the Ritz.” – Humphrey Bogart is emblazoned on one of the windows.  We actually try to always eat out on the terrace overlooking the Tivoli Village complex and a fountain, the locals found the terrace to be cold, but to Michiganders it was very pleasant.  My Bride is also happy that she found out after our last meal there, that the Lemon Ricotta Pancakes are still being made there, but the write up on the menu doesn’t state it; and as for me, try as I might, I still can’t get past ordering the Braised Short Ribs Hash with Poached Eggs (my Blood Pressure and Cholesterol can accommodate me once in a while).  It was here that we discovered the perfect method to make a Mimosa.  We have the “Bottomless Mimosas,” so they bring an ice bucket with a bottle of bubbles and a very small carafe of Orange Juice, which is where I came up with the term “a tincture of Orange Juice.” I think that Orange Juice is more dear, compared to Charmat Method William Wycliff Winery “Brut” “American Champagne” NV; which is now part of Gallo (and they probably bought the winery for the designation).  A wine that was grandfathered in, so that it can claim the “American Champagne” designation and is I believe still made with Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier.  Actually, this wine is perfect for making Mimosas and we try to keep a case at home, just for our breakfasts when we feel fancy.

The other side trip that I will mention, is because the grandchildren all kind of alluded that they would enjoy a dinner at Capo’s Italian Steakhouse & Speakeasy.  It is probably the favorite haunt of the kids, starting with the sliding peephole that is opened to determine if you have a reservation, to the seamless “wall with a payphone mounted on it” that becomes a door to allow entrance.  A lounge singer crooning the classic songs of Sinatra, Martin, and Bennett which my grandchildren enjoy and you know where that gene came from. Though they must have had complaints, because they changed the lighting, it was so dark that the menus came with a flashlight, and you can see from the photos that the ambient lighting is still rather dark.  The kids were ordering up a storm, and in the old days, they would split dishes, now they each order plates of food, but they still share the dishes.  The only problem and I thought they were going to create a classic prison-film dining room scene of rebellion was when they were informed that the restaurant no longer made their Creamy Garlic salad dressing.  One thing that did stay the same was that they still carried and they refer to it as a “Baby Amarone” a wine that has always been on our table there.  The Allegrini Palazzo Della Torre Veronese IGT 2020 is just a great value, even in a restaurant.  Allegrini is a winery that has been based in the Valpolicella region of the Veneto since the Sixteenth Century.  This wine is a blend of forty percent Corvina Veronese, thirty percent Corvinone, twenty-five percent Rondinella and five percent Sangiovese.  A small percent of the Corvinone grapes is left to dry like raisins and then pressed and then are blended with the juice from the other grapes.   The juices are aged for fifteen months in second used Oak barrels and then blended together for another two months in the barrels and another seven months in the bottle, before it is released.  The use of the raisin juice is referred to as Ripasso Method and if they had used Molinara instead of Sangiovese, the wine would have been a Valpolicella.  The Corvinone grape is relatively new in name only, as it was originally lumped together with the Corvina Veronese, until it was discovered to be its own grape.  The wine is just delightful and really deserves some cellar time, but that really doesn’t happen that often in a restaurant and I am sure that they go through plenty of this wine in the course of a year.