Dining Outside in Las Vegas

View at dinner. (Kate Symmonds)

Al fresco dining in Las Vegas? It’s not only possible, it can be tons of fun.

Last night, my daughter, her fiance and I got lucky and scored an outside table at Mon Ami Gabi at the Paris hotel on the Strip. It was around 9 p.m., the temperature somewhere in the 80s and we were right up against the railing with a splendid view of the Bellagio fountains.

While Mon Ami Gabi counts as a bit of splurge in my book, it’s a moderately priced restaurant by Las Vegas standards. The steak frites is a house specialty at about $22 and it’s very good.

And with the view we had, I wouldn’t trade it for a $65 entree at the Strip’s really expensive places.

Spain Is For Wine Lovers

I was just looking at the photos from my recent trip to Spain and this one made me want to go right back.

Yes, that’s a wine rack in a supermarket with Freixenet cava at 5.25 euros and decent red wines from the area for less than 1 euro a bottle.

And all I managed to get back in my suitcase was a bottle of wine from the Bierzo region and a big chunk of the Galician cheese called tetilla — both long gone now. Adios.

WineDiaper: Pamper Your Booze

It is well-known that in the spring of 2006 I pioneered the use of the vodka diaper for transporting alcoholic beverages in luggage.

Imagine my chagrin at finding that my idea has been adapted by the makers of the WineDiaper, which is said to “cradle your wine in a padded container” and is alleged to contain “absorbent material to quickly soak up any spills.”

My sister just used WineDiapers to transport two bottles of Georgian wine back to the United States, and I admit they arrived quite intact (and delicious).  And they looked considerably less bizarre than my Huggies-swaddled Russky Standart.

But seriously. Shouldn’t a purist use real diapers?

New York Restaurant Week (Plus) Begins

New York’s Restaurant Week kicked off today and lasts until July 25.

I know, that’s two weeks. Well, almost. Saturdays are excluded and some restaurants don’t participate on Sundays, either. And then there’s another restaurant week in the winter, so I guess this is summer Restaurant Week. Or fortnight. Or whatever.

More than 275 restaurants are participating, offering prix-fixe lunches for $24.07 and dinners for $35.  Taxes, tips and beverages are extra.

So if you hanker to dine fancy in New York at a discount, now would be the time to check out the details.

Starbucks Wi-Fi Goes Free

Starbucks made wireless Internet access free at 6,700 company-owned stores as of yesterday.

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Report: Airline Food Unsanitary

Much of the food served on airliners is prepared in unsanitary conditions, USA Today reports. I would find this much more alarming if I could remember the last time I got food on an airliner.

JetBlue To Sell Meals On Long Flights

Apparently concluding that man cannot live on potato chips alone, JetBlue is planning to offer meals for sale on some of its longer flights, according to the Flightglobal.com aviation news Web site.

The airline will start rolling out five meal options – four boxed meals and one cheese and cracker tray – in the next few weeks on all flights scheduled to last more than three hours and 45 minutes. The meals will cost $6 each.

JetBlue is known for providing free unlimited snacks and drinks but has never provided or sold more substantial fare. Hot meals are out of the question. JetBlue aircraft have no galleys.

KLM Experiments With Premium Meals In Coach

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is testing the sale of upgraded meals to passengers in coach who don’t want the standard airline economy-class food. Passengers will be able to choose one of four specialty meals when they check in online and pay for it with a credit card, the airline announced.

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Frugal Traveler Finds Free Entertainment, Cheap Drinks

I was amused last night to see a couple at our hotel who seemed to share my sense of frugality.

They were sitting in the chairs provided in an alcove of the open-air lobby, a floor above the bar where a guitarist was playing Hawaiian music. They had pulled their chairs up to the edge of the alcove, so they could see down into the bar, and were applauding vigorously.

The man had a glass — it looked like one of the water glasses from the guest rooms — with an amber liquid in it. No inflated bar prices for him!

McDonald’s To Offer Free Wi-Fi

I don’t spend a lot of time at McDonald’s, but I’ll be a lot more likely to drop in when the free Wi-Fi kicks in.

McDonald’s offers wireless Internet at 11,000 of its 14,000 U.S. restaurants, and has been charging $2.95 for two hours of access. In mid-January it will drop the fee, according to the Associated Press.

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