As you are surely aware, if you are one of the seven or eight people who are inclined to visit this blogsitething on a (mostly) regular basis, I have been presenting an ongoing series of stories which not only chronicle my recent trip to Las Vegas, but are intended to make you, the reader, very very hungry...This post is the likely conclusion of said series...Prepare for the hunger, for it begins...now.

Barbeque Capitals of the USA: Kansas City, Memphis...Las Vegas!?..
As I have already mentioned, I was staying with my buddy Andy and his wife Andrea while I was recently in Sin City...Certainly, one of the benefits of staying with friends and/or family, as opposed to in a hotel, is said friend's (or family member's) ability to try out and then recommend "stuff" that you can, in turn, enjoy while you are under the influence of that host's hospitality...Obviously, we had already experienced favorable results regarding such a scenario with the Peruvian restaurant from the night before and on this day (Tuesday, as it's commonly called), we were set to try another "recommended" establishment in Famous Dave's Barbeque...Granted, Andy had yet to try it, but it WAS recommended to him by a "co-worker." As such, if the place ended up being "no good," we knew that there would be a ready scapegoat...Regardless, I'm always up for a little barbeque action, as are most human beings that I've come in contact with. With that thought in mind, we called up Big Al, told him where the place was so that he could meet us and then hit the road, heading toward what we all hoped would be lunch chock full of smokey, ribby, meaty meat bliss...

Jeez, That's a Lot of Food...
When we arrived at Famous Dave's, we were greeted by that familiar smell which screams "smokey, meaty goodness," so that, right off the bat, was a good sign...The interior of the restaurant was what you might expect from a barbeque restaurant...Large booths, lots of wood accents to the walls, etc. and, of course, blues playing on the P.A. Our server on this particular day seemed to me to be trying a little too hard to be our "buddy," but he was (at least) significantly more capable and friendly than the lummox who served had served us at Rum Jungle only a day or so prior...Once Big Al arrived, we all settled down to the business of choosing what hickory smoked hunks of meat would adorn our individual lunch platters...I can't quite remember who, but one of us (maybe it was all of us simultaneously) suggested that we try an appetizer...As a group, we chose the "sampler," which turned out to be a large platter filled with a few of pretty much every appetizer which the restaurant had to offer...Not necessarily "thinking," we all enjoyed the appetizer fare which, in hindsight, would've probably been enough for lunch on it's own, not giving much thought to the heaping bounty that may have been following it to our table...

And "heaping," it surely was...

I had ordered a rib and chicken platter, Big Al had ordered a similar platter, with the addition of a "hot link" so he could have lunch for the next day as well...Andrea and Andy, on the other hand, had ordered the "extra large full rack of ribs." Mind you, while some of the popular chain BBQ places such as Tony Roma's specialize in "baby back" ribs, Famous Dave's offers spareribs, which are significantly larger than their aforementioned diminutive cousins...As such, when this utter monstrosity was delivered to the table, abject shock set in and was humorously evident on Andrea's face...Suddenly, as we all stared at the expansive spread of meaty meat goodness laid out before us, there were none among the group who didn't regret that appetizer decision...Soldiering on, however, we all dug in and did our best to eat what we could. In the end, boxes were required and enough food to feed a small Ethiopian village for a week was carted out of Famous Dave's...As Barbeque goes, I'd have to give Famous Dave's high marks, possibly even an "A." I'll surely look to eat there when I return to Las Vegas, but I will do so a wiser man: No appetizer unless we skip dinner the evening before...Them's the rules...

I Can't Believe I Ate The WHOLE Thing...
initially, while planning the trip which I have been chronicling, it was decided that, at some point, I/we would be joining Big Al for some Japanese fare, more specifically at an all-you-can-eat sushi joint which he and my sister-in-law had tried and subsequently approved of. Of course, this being really the final evening which I would be in town and considering our all having just literally gorged ourselves on all manner of MEAT, it wasn't looking as if the all-you-can-eat thing was going to happen...Additionally, the group summarily rejected the idea of dining at a Japanese steak house called Geisha after perusing the menu online for similar "too full to eat" reasons...It was decided that, since we would all be competing in "Pub Quiz" at McMullen's Irish Pub that evening, we'd just get pub food and drinks if we were hungry...'Cause we'd be at a pub...And it'd have food...And stuff...

I'll Take Potato Famine For $100, Angus...
"What the crap is Pub Quiz," I can hear you asking...Well, it's a quiz...At a pub...Seriously...basically, there are many pubs across the country that do this: your table is your team...You declare your intention to compete in the quiz and, at an appointed time, the quiz begins. You have a series of answer sheets before you where your team captain writes (duh) "answers" to questions which are asked by the Quizmaster via microphone over the pub's P.A...Apparently, Andy and Andrea (along with some people with whom Andy works) compete regularly, albeit at Fado, not McMullen's...I was thrilled to be along for the "recon mission," so to speak, to find out whether or not McMullen's would be the new place for the Pub Quizzin'...Big Al, on the other hand, was taken completely unawares by the whole thing but, like a good plumber, just went along for the ride and did, in the long run, provide some valuable answers...

To make a long story short, the food, drinks, dessert (I had sticky toffee pudding!) and the quiz were mostly awesome at McMullen's...Our team that evening ended up tied for 2nd place (out of, perhaps, 20 teams) after it was all said and done (though we had to settle for 3rd after losing the tie-break question)...I won't go into how many more questions we would've gotten right had I not been overruled (*cough* hint hint), but suffice to say that it was more than enough fun to want to do the pub quiz during my next visit...

So that's that!..I hope that, over the course of this "series," I have not only made you all feel the debilitating pangs of hunger, but that I've given you that "travelin' jones" which would push you, if you haven't already, to visit Las Vegas and to see what manner of frivolity, gastronomical or otherwise, that it has to offer...Ooh, when you DO go, play a dollar slot for me...Thanks...

Labels: get outta town, I eat food, lame stories, tales of triumph