When I learned of the 99 cent shrimp cocktail on one of the hundred Travel Channel shows about Las Vegas, I've been committed to try it if I ever went to Vegas. It is the absurdity of discount food, seafood no less, and its 'famous' status that gets to me. Similarly, on another show, a 99 cent giant hot dog was presented. It was available at another casino, Slots a Fun, further south on the strip. Yeah, it looked like loaf of baloney (yes baloney, the proper word might have you think it's higher in quality or something), but I was still going to buy and eat it.
So the years have passed and the price of the shrimp cocktail has risen, 1.99 in 2008, and now this year when I finally do visit Las Vegas, 2.99. That monstrosity of a hot dog is gone, replaced with hum drum standard Nathan's franks. Then there it was in front of me, a tulip glass full of pale shrimp, doused in a smooth red cocktail sauce. They were cold, watery, and completely flavorless. Any and all flavor is just the spicy horseradish and tomato of the sauce. Unadorned shrimp lacked so much of everything, that taking a salt shaker and sprinkling the contents into your mouth would evoke more of an ocean-y thought.
Oh right, about the casino. All of the table dealers were nice, even though I have no idea what their faces look like. Craps is a low roller friendly $5, and the machines were fairly loose. I'm glad I got that out of the way, although I'd only come back for the ample chests and gambling.