{"id":526,"date":"2010-07-18T16:23:25","date_gmt":"2010-07-19T00:23:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lisabrounstein.com\/blog\/?p=526"},"modified":"2010-07-18T16:23:25","modified_gmt":"2010-07-19T00:23:25","slug":"the-luxor-the-celebrity-chef-the-comedian-and-the-fat-girl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lisabrounstein.com\/?p=526","title":{"rendered":"The Luxor, the Celebrity Chef, the Comedian and the Fat Girl"},"content":{"rendered":"

I admit it, I love Las Vegas. \u00a0 I love to play the slots. \u00a0 I love roulette. \u00a0 I love the great restaurants. \u00a0 I love to people watch. \u00a0 It is a feast for all the senses in a most prurient way. Over the past year or so I have been spoiled by getting to stay at the Mandalay Bay<\/a>. \u00a0 Yes, I know there are more extravagant hotels in Las Vegas. \u00a0 But there is something about the Mandalay Bay. \u00a0 It smells a bit like heaven and coconuts. \u00a0 Unfortunately, my great offers this time around weren’t for the Mandalay Bay. \u00a0 I knew I would get 2 nights on the strip before we moved down to the South Point for my husband’s conference. \u00a0 I had some GREAT offers for the MGM Properties. \u00a0 So, I had to choose. \u00a0 I was leery of choosing the Luxor<\/a> even though in the past I have done well gambling there. \u00a0 My birthday there last year was awful. \u00a0 When you have to change rooms three times you just give up. \u00a0 It was crazy since my husband’s birthday celebration there 3 months earlier was amazing. \u00a0 Even the bed we had on his birthday was the most comfortable bed I had ever slept on. \u00a0 It seems that is the only bed of it’s kind in the hotel. \u00a0 With that said, we did opt to stay at the Luxor for the first 2 nights of our stay and while the woman at the desk told me she looked at the print out and we were going to have a pillow top mattress, we did not. \u00a0 She was adamant that we get the room with the jacuzzi jets in the tub. \u00a0 That was sweet but I knew it was highly unlikely we would use it. \u00a0 The mattress was old and quite bouncy. \u00a0 Given that it was bizarrely comfortable.<\/p>\n

I gambled, well, a lot. \u00a0 More than I anticipated. \u00a0 I got stuck at a machine. \u00a0 It was crazy. \u00a0 I was like a poster child for why you shouldn’t gamble. \u00a0 You know, I would hit a big jackpot and then give it all back. \u00a0 Then I would put my money in because, of course, I was going to hit another jackpot. \u00a0 Then I would give the money back and put in more of my money. \u00a0 Yes, I know that is how they built Las Vegas. \u00a0 Since I visited, the Luxor can definitely afford to buy it least one more pillow top mattress.<\/p>\n

Out of my last six visits to Las Vegas over the past year I have only stayed at one other hotel besides the Luxor and the Mandalay Bay (or THE Hotel at the Mandalay Bay) and that was New York, New York. \u00a0 Every time I have been to Las Vegas over this past year, \u00a0 I have walked by RM Seafood<\/a> which is at the foot of the Mandalay Place as you walk out of the Mandalay Bay Hotel towards the Luxor. \u00a0 If I say I have walked by it 15 times I may be close to accurate. \u00a0 I have read the menu a handful of times. \u00a0 I even brought my husband there last August when we stayed at the Mandalay Bay. \u00a0 He loves seafood. \u00a0 But no, we ended up eating somewhere else. \u00a0 So, this trip we had one free night together. \u00a0 I asked if he wanted to try RM Seafood. \u00a0 I had seen Rick Moonen a while back on Oprah where he made his signature catfish Sloppy Joe. \u00a0 Not my bag of meat (as they say) but I knew my husband would be thrilled to eat seafood. \u00a0 My mother was apoplectic when I told her we were probably going to go there. \u00a0 “OHHH!!! I love him. \u00a0 He should have won Top Chef Masters. \u00a0 If you see him, tell him I said so.” \u00a0 “Okay, Mom. \u00a0 I will…” \u00a0 As if I was going to see him. \u00a0 I called over to the restaurant. \u00a0 Made a reservation which was more like a, “Hey, can you seat two for dinner as soon as we can hoof it through the Luxor casino and through the Mandalay Place?” \u00a0 The answer was yes. \u00a0 We got there around 7:45 on a Wednesday evening. \u00a0 The place was hopping.<\/p>\n

As a woman of size, I always scope a place out to make sure I am going to fit where they are taking me to sit and to be sure that I am not going to bump into people along the way. \u00a0 Once seated I always plot my way back out of the restaurant and watch as people are seated so I don’t have to say, “excuse me” as I bump into the back of someone as they are eating. The hostess took us to a perfect table. \u00a0 The table moved so I was able to sit on the very comfortable bench. \u00a0 My husband sat across from me. \u00a0 We read the menu back and forth to each other. \u00a0 You know, “Oh wow, did you see the crab cake?” \u00a0 “They have barbecued macaroni and cheese.” \u00a0 I don’t know who the people were sitting next to us but they were clearly “someone” when they were done their waiter came by and said, “Rick took care of it. Dinner is on him.” \u00a0 Or something like that. \u00a0 How nice of Rick! I didn’t even think that was “Rick” as in the “R” in RM. Our waiter was great. \u00a0 John ordered the crab cake appetizer and the Cioppino for dinner. \u00a0 He barely spoke to me during dinner. I ordered the macaroni and cheese as starter, and the pan roasted chicken with a side order of mashed potatoes for dinner. \u00a0 Just typing it my mouth is watering. \u00a0 Even though we wanted dessert we were full from the outrageous meal and didn’t order it. \u00a0 We ate exactly what we wanted. \u00a0 (Of course a little over a week later, writing it, I would KILL for what I left on that table.) During our meal the GM came over to our table and chatted with us a bit. \u00a0 What a charmer! Then Rick, himself, came over to our table. \u00a0 Yes, Rick Moonen! \u00a0 It was such a wonderful surprise. \u00a0 He was charming and humble. \u00a0 His food is definitely a work of art and it shows. \u00a0 He clearly LOVES what he does. \u00a0 I look forward to going back again not just for the food but for the atmosphere of being around people doing what they love.<\/p>\n

Then we moved down to the South Point Hotel<\/a>. \u00a0 My husband was going to attend TAM8 (The Amazing Meeting)<\/a>. \u00a0 Financially, we figured next year I will attend as well. \u00a0 I was so pleasantly surprised by the room at the South Point. \u00a0 It was big and spacious…not a lot of furniture cluttering up the space. \u00a0 But there was enough furniture to relax in different places in the room. \u00a0 The two chairs at the table did not have arms. \u00a0 The couch was firm and comfortable. \u00a0 The bed was a bit firm but nice. \u00a0 The pillows were great (even though I brought my own.) The bathroom was perfect. \u00a0 One of my pet peeves as a big woman is a toilet that is crammed between two walls. \u00a0 I have hips and those hips don’t need to rest against a wall while I sit on a toilet. \u00a0 Sorry to paint a picture you may not be interested in, but suffice it to say, this bathroom was awesome! \u00a0 Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t a 4-star hotel. \u00a0 The toilet seat is plastic and there wasn’t a clock in our room. \u00a0 We did have a flat screen television on the wall so I was able to eat a great deli sandwich from the deli in the hotel and catch a rerun of South Park while John attended a dinner. \u00a0 As someone who, admittedly, can sit at a video poker machine for hours I will say their chairs in the casino weren’t very comfortable. \u00a0 It was as if the chair was pitched forward. \u00a0 Or it could have been the way my large ass fit on the chair. \u00a0 I don’t know. \u00a0 I definitely was aware of the seat and I can say I haven’t noticed that in other casino’s. \u00a0 At least I didn’t notice it at the Luxor.<\/p>\n

One night at the South Point we found ourselves sitting in the bar. \u00a0 John had a beer and I was sporting a killer headache. \u00a0 It could have been from staring at a video poker machine all day in an uncomfortable seat with canned air. \u00a0 Regardless, I had a club soda. \u00a0 I noticed that Paul Provenza<\/a> was sitting with a group of people. \u00a0 I am a HUGE fan. \u00a0 No pun intended. \u00a0 I really am. \u00a0 The Aristocrats is sheer genius!! He had spoken earlier at the conference. \u00a0 I would have LOVED to have been there. \u00a0 So, here he was sitting with some people. \u00a0 I wasn’t sure if he was with those people or if they, like me, just had to meet Paul Provenza. \u00a0 I didn’t want to interrupt. \u00a0 As time went on he got up to leave and I had the amazing opportunity to say hello and tell him how inspiring I thought his new show the Green Room on Showtime<\/a> is. \u00a0 We had a great conversation about stand up comedy. \u00a0 He introduced me to his friend and producer of the Green Room, Barbara Romen. \u00a0 Both of them were very generous with their time and attention. \u00a0 Those brief conversations spurred me to consider performing stand up again. \u00a0 Maybe…we’ll see.<\/p>\n

It was a great time. \u00a0 It definitely had me look a what’s next for me and it had me take a hard look at where I fit, both literally and figuratively.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I admit it, I love Las Vegas. \u00a0 I love to play the slots. \u00a0 I love roulette. \u00a0 I love the great restaurants. \u00a0 I love to people watch. \u00a0 It is a feast for all the senses in a most prurient way. Over the past year or so I have been spoiled by… Continue reading The Luxor, the Celebrity Chef, the Comedian and the Fat Girl<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[8,14,20,27,29,39,40,47,48,49,50,52,53,56,57],"class_list":["post-526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-in-los-angeles","category-vegas","tag-actress","tag-bbw","tag-comedy","tag-fat-girl","tag-fat-women","tag-las-vegas","tag-lisa-brounstein","tag-oprah","tag-paul-provenza","tag-rick-moonen","tag-rm-seafood","tag-the-luxor","tag-travel","tag-weight","tag-writer","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lisabrounstein.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lisabrounstein.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lisabrounstein.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lisabrounstein.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lisabrounstein.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lisabrounstein.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lisabrounstein.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lisabrounstein.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lisabrounstein.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}