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Diablo’s Cantina’s Opening Party Was El Bomb

Casinos and Gambling, Hotels, Las Vegas, Nevada, Nightlife, Sin City, Stories
Posted October 16th, 2007 by Christopher - 2 comments

She-devils at Diablo Cantina grand opening partyOkay, granted, I’m big on free food and even bigger on free liquor, but Light Group knows how to launch a new club, er, uh, bar… taqueria?!@#$? It’s more than just a Mexican food restaurant, for sure, but at the end of the day, it’s a restaurant and bar. You would have thought it was the next big thing – like Tao 2.0 or something – pretty funny, actually. For the record, I think all future openings in Las Vegas should also feature red devils on red carpets!

To be honest, we almost didn’t make it to the opening. Okay, to be precise we almost didn’t make into the opening – we made it there and for some reason the guest list which I’d been on for several days with a confirmation email didn’t have my name anywhere on it (or the other three people’s names who were in our party and were alleged to be on the list.) That’s always a bummer. I mean, I’ve stood in a line or two in my day. I’m not above it. I’m not used to it but I don’t mind waiting my turn. The thing was that there was no line to stand in. It was an either you’re on the list or you’re not going in sort of thing. Luckily the door guy got on the phone with someone and cooler heads prevailed (just as I was saying screw this noise and leaving – I might wait in line, but I don’t ever plan to deal with some backwards elitist weirdness at the opening to a Mexican restaurant and tequila bar. There is a limit, right? That would be mine, but I digress…)

the ice sculpture and shrimp free-for-allAfter that little bit of awkwardness at the entrance it was all smiles and laughs. What a great little time! Like I had said previously, they had red devils on the red carpet, complete with a movie premiere-style backdrop. Everyone seemed to have a smile on their face, which – I have to say – is a refreshing change of pace from the tired, moody-acting security guys and girls who look like they are just waiting for some key moment when they can leave for some place they think might be hipper or more fun. As it should be, everybody was following my lead – having a great time! Okay, fine – maybe it was just the tequila in my head that made it seem like everyone was following my lead… Or was it??

Patron is a splendid beverage – a wonderful invention at any price. When that price is $0.00 it becomes not only like the nirvana of the adult beverage universe, it creates a lovely sense of chaos, intermingled with random waves of uncontrollable laughter. Great stuff, Patron. I remember trying to shoot some video in the hallway for our forthcoming podcast and having had trouble with the noise level in the hallway we were in. Well, it was mostly trouble with my lips and cheeks – the Patron had numbed them to a level that didn’t support the volume levels I needed to produce to get a decent level on tape, so that was a bit of a no-go. Although, in retrospect, it did give us a break from hanging out at the bar where Danielle was putting the hurt on me. I almost fell in love.

On the way back we found the rather large ice sculpture we had somehow overlooked that was laden with large, yummy shrimp. Those things were great! They kept bringing around all sorts of treats and snacks – mini cupcakes (Kelly has a “mini” fetish.) There was a live band. There was more liquor than even I could possibly drink. In a nutshell – it was done right. Hats off to the Light Group!

the tequilas!An open bar party full of Patron in a casino setting with Christopher in attendance is going to mean one of two things. Either I am going to get creamed on the way out of the casino to the cabstand or I am gonna kill ‘em at the blackjack or craps table. There’s not going to be a middle ground. Unfortunately for me I did not have a lot of cash on me for whatever reason Saturday night. I only had a little but I still managed to take them for a buck-fifty in less than five minutes playing twenty-one.

When I’m on auto-pilot my card sense and card memory is pretty intuitive, usually. I saw a lot of small cards drop right away and knew the deck was quite favorable, though I wasn’t counting cards. They fell the right way and I ended up doing what would normally be very bad plays – splitting 20′s, doubling down on a 7 because the dealer had a 3 showing and I knew she was very likely going to bust, et cetera. I was on fire! I actually got paid for the trouble at the door earlier. Karma loves me. I love Karma. We have a lovely working relationship. ;)

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2 Comments

  1. Liz on October 16, 2007 :

    I want more of them scrimps! Those were the yummiest ever. I hate to go to Raffles Cafe to just get shrimp that compare to those at the opening… of course they are like $14 for 4 or 5. Boo

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