Downtown Phoenix Journal

Downtown Phoenix Journal (DPJ) is published by Urban Affair.

"Urban Affair (UA) is a modern media network developed to promote Phoenix’s urban lifestyle by elevating urban ideas and related activities. This focus assists the development our urban core, benefiting the people, organizations, and businesses in the community, while making the lifestyle more accessible to Valley residents. UA generates ongoing interest in downtown with assets that include DowntownPhoenixJournal.com, RadiatePHX (monthly networking group), Coe House (historic art gallery office suite), and Urban Affair events. UA was founded in 2006."

One of the items that shows up weekly is a Yelp review of a downtown business. Not sure who selects it and whether or not the business has any say in it. What I do know is I was selected to be DPJ Yelper of the week for my review of the Meat Shop. I thought that was sorta neat. :-)

Vegas, July 2010

Almost hard to call this a Vegas vacation as I only spent one full day there. But I did spend 3 nights there and Vegas is all about the night anyway.



This was the view from my room on the 28th floor of Excalibur.



The bridge over the Colorado is almost complete and is set to open by the end of the year. Couldn't happen too soon as the wait East bound was over 2 hours. I actually go back through Laughlin most of the time to avoid the tie ups. Coupled with all the other road improvements over the last ten years it will be about an hour faster each way when the bridge opens.

On the second day I drove up I15 to have lunch with a friend near Cedar City, Utah. I had never been up that stretch of road before so it was an interesting drive.

Of course I am all about the food so here is a list of where I ate.
Day one
lunch - In and Out. Single cheese animal style with fries. It took almost 30 minutes to get my order and the fries were not that great
Dinner - Hyakumi inside of Caesers Palace. Japanese Teppanyaki. I had beef tenderloin, shrimp, chicken, veggies, miso soup, cucumber salad with crab, Asahi draft and ice cream. Easily the best meal of the trip.

Day two
Breakfast - Pyramid cafe inside of Luxor. Corned beef hash and eggs with potatoes and toast. Toast was cold, all the hot items came from chafing dishes. I had wanted to avoid the buffet, what I got was buffet food at a higher price :-(
Lunch - City Cafe and Deli in Cedar City. Great sandwiches in a family run little restaurant.
Dinner - Nine Fine Irishman inside of New York, New York. Chicken pot pie and a pint of Bass ale. Being acclimated to the heat, it was a very pleasant 95°, dry, with a light breeze, I sat out on the patio and watched the scenery as passers by watched me eat.

Day three
Breakfast - McDonalds. Greasy chicken biscuit, hash brown and orange juice.
Lunch - HK Star in Chinatown. Americanized Cantonese food. Beef with string bean and Shrimp chow fun. Shared with Yelper Angela H. Decent food, really cheap.
Dinner - Baja Fresh inside of Excalibur. Fajita burrito. It was ok.
2nd dinner - Bazic in China town. Mostly a Korean BBQ joint that opens from 7PM to 4AM. I was here for a Yelper party that started at 11PM. Even though it has a full Korean menu the "in" thing to get is 10 pieces of fried chicken and a litre of beer which Angela and I shared. Fun rowdy group!

In addition to eating and driving around I finally managed to see the shark reef exhibit at Mandalay bay. It is a nice aquarium but you get through it really fast. Crystal at City Center has more stuff open than it did when I was there at Christmas so I wandered around there. It was good to get away from the shop and do something different and I found some serious do nothing time in there as well.

Spicy mayo

I was sitting at lunch in Vegas with fellow Yelper Angela H and we were discussing heat in Asian dishes. One of the items we had for lunch was sliced beef and green beans in XO sauce which was listed as hot on the menu. With the exception of a few slices of jalapeno it really wasn't. Once we found out we both liked mayo, even though she does hot stuff and I do mild she offered up this condiment recipe. In a bowl mix mayo with a shot of Sriracha. Then use as regular mayo. Apparently mixing it in advance rather than trying to just squirt some on the sandwich gets rid of the hot spots and sort of mellows it out. I had it today on a ham sandwich and I really liked it. Now I have one more thing I can make from stuff I stock in the kitchen anyway. :-)

Sodas

I rarely drink sodas nor keep them in the fridge. I don't drink caffeine often and I am not a fan of HFCS or Aspartame. And refrigerator space is utilized for beer. :-) I stopped at Sprouts on my way home to get dinner fixins for the weekend (free range rib eye, fresh squash, hand stuffed brats, fresh cauliflower) and wanted some non alcoholic beverages to pack in my cooler for my trip to Vegas tomorrow. I was thinking 7-up or Sprite. Well this being a healthy type store, think Henrys or Sunflower if you are not familiar with Sprouts, they didn't really have a cold soda section. After digging I found in the aisle with the fruit juices a selection of soft drinks from Hansen's and Blue Sky that are actually made with real sugar. I picked up a six pack of Hansen's Key Lime and it is pretty good, a bit sweeter than with HFCS. They also make some diet versions that are made with Sucralose (Splenda) which they claim is better for you than Aspartame. And none of their sodas have caffeine. Even though their sodas cost twice as much, as little as I drink sodas It is not a big deal.