The Unqualified Culinary Critics

0:00:00
Welcome to the Unqualified Culinary Critics, a podcast centered around food and cultural experiences. We want to not only share our own perspectives in life, but hope that these stories connect in some way to each one of you as well.

0:00:12
On this two-part episode, we have another guest. He is the Operations Manager at 91.5 KUNV in Las Vegas and a new local to the Valley. Please welcome Jason Beatty.

0:00:24
Hello, it's good to be here. Thank you very much. I'm a big fan of this podcast. I listen to it every week when we upload them and it's quite a thrill to be with you guys today.

0:00:34
Thank you so much for agreeing to finally come on. It's been a while because like I asked you in August and then now we're recording January.

0:00:41
I can't believe that, that you would have asked me and I wouldn't have said yes, because I truthfully have been dying to be a part of this show.

0:00:48
Nice.

0:00:48
Thank you for the kind words.

0:00:50
Alrighty, so would you like to give a brief background about yourself?

0:00:55
Oh, a brief background. Well, okay. I am 45 years old. I was born in Rochester, New York, which is just about 60 miles east of Buffalo. A lot of people say, oh, you're from New York. I love the city. But the truth is where I'm from is nowhere near New York City, probably closer to Canada than it is to New York City. I went to college at State University of New York at Brockport. I got my degree in broadcast journalism. And then in my senior year of college, I got a position with CBS radio where I started as an intern and then I worked my way up to promotions director. And then finally from there I transitioned into on-air where I started as a radio DJ on Sunday nights, the coveted midnight to 3 a.m. shift where I stayed for a little while until I started moving up the ranks to the music director position where I was in charge of programming our top 40 station. And I stayed there from 1999 until 2007 when I left the United States for the Cayman Islands. I went and started working for a company called Hurley's Media in Georgetown Grand Cayman where I oversaw the programming of two radio stations, a top 40 and a country station. I also did the morning show there. A few years passed there and then we acquired two more radio stations. So I got to try my hand at programming a reggae station and a, it was a reggae and an 80s station. And then shortly after that, we acquired a television station where I got to expand my quiver into TV because I had studied TV all through college. I had intended on being a TV journalist, but radio happened. And then I became the on-air six o'clock news weatherman for the Cayman Islands. I don't know if either of you have been to the Caribbean, but it's probably the easiest weather forecast to do because every night it's just or every day it's just 88 degrees and sunny. After that wrapped up, COVID was on the doorstep. So I kind of thought that would probably be a good idea to start looking for another gig. So I ended up getting a job with I Heart Radio in New York as a morning show host and I was working at the Pride of Albany. It was 95.1 The River. I was there only for about seven months before COVID shut that down and then I was left to fend for myself for a year while I waited for COVID to pass. I got really into like diet and fitness and I didn't have too much to do. So I would just go to the gym a lot. And then finally COVID started wrapping up and there was an opportunity to come and work here at UNLV running the stations here. And in October, September, September 16th of 2021, packed up my Hyundai Elantra and drove across the country and moved to the corner of Pecos and Tropicana. And it's just been a Mojave bliss ever since. So you like Vegas? I do. I do. Yeah Vegas is cool. It's certainly a city you know having spent, because really you know Vegas since living outside of America, so I lived in the Cayman Islands from 2007 until 2019. So coming back to America I was very briefly in Albany and then I was back in Rochester, and COVID was just a whole different experience. So Vegas is really my first kind of back in America experience. So to be in a city so filled with so much to do has really been awesome. It's almost like, I don't know if you guys are old enough to remember what Napster was, you know, like when you could go on and download any song you want that's ever been made. You know, when you have to pick, when you have every song that's ever been made at your hands, where do you start? You know, that's sort of been the the challenge of Vegas. There's so much to do. Where do you begin? And I like to begin at the Van Gogh exhibit where Victoria works. But yes, it's a very cool city. It's a lot of fun for sure. Definitely full of a lot of weirdos too though yeah which sometimes can drive you a little nuts and I'm sure you guys aren't as impressed with the city

0:05:19
because you guys have both grown up here yeah born and raised on the east side yeah east side yeah so I I know about the weirdos yeah I mean and and the dry

0:05:28
like the really frustrates me and you tell me if if it frustrates you is the

0:05:32
driving the way people drive here yep yeah shocking yeah honestly though, okay. I remember growing up and like the driving wasn't that bad I think it's just because so many people have moved here from different state go ahead you can say from California Yes, not just California, Arizona, too. Okay, and everywhere to the Arizonans do not know how to drive

0:05:54
I am everywhere. It's all over the place. I can I easily every day I am almost killed by someone driving with California license plates. Yeah. I'm

0:06:04
shocked. The only time I got into a car accident it was with somebody who had a California license plate and it was because they ran the red light. Right, yes. I kind of, I'm sorry, but I have it again, I have something to do. You know, yeah I'd like to speak with

0:06:17
whoever is putting together the driving tests out there for sure. But I think it's

0:06:21
definitely because it's like so many people from different states who have different rules are all coming in here and it's just a mess.

0:06:28
Yeah, it's dangerous. And I had lived, like I had mentioned when I first moved here, I was living at the corner of Tropicana and Pecos and there's a large, I don't know if you know, there's a Walmart there. It's not the greatest Walmart, but it does the job. But I truthfully was dying to move from that address because I would have to drive through that parking lot every day and imagine how bad it is on the roads driving. Then transition that into a parking lot situation where it's ten times worse. So that was one of the negative comments I left when they said, how do you feel about living here? It was the parking lot almost kills me every day.

0:07:06
Yeah, I don't blame you. I'm actually from California but I... Oh, well no

0:07:11
disrespect. I'm sure you drive great. Hear me out.

0:07:15
I'm not going to defend anybody here, but I was born in California. I was born in LA, just the east side. So when I learned how to drive, I got my license here. So I've been living in Vegas longer than I've been living in California.

0:07:29
Okay. Yeah, it's never short of just shock. I'm always amazed that the people who will drive as fast as the traffic will allow in that right-hand lane, so I was always taught that that right-hand lane is really for making turns Yeah, but people if they can't get past you on the left They will full blow like blow right past you on the right-hand side top speed and I always see people almost like you know They're skateboarding they fall off their skateboard and fall in the lane. I fear for their lives. Yeah, I I feel the same way

0:08:00
Yeah, so let's kind of go past the driving part and I do have some questions about your current experience right now So if I may ask have you been to Vegas prior to moving here? And did you ever think about moving here at all if you had not worked here like retire? I had never thought about living in Las Vegas. I had only been to Vegas and this is a great story

0:08:18
I'd only ever been to Vegas once for one day. So when I was 20, and I hope that my boss doesn't hear this, but when I was 20, we came to Las Vegas because my friends lived in Phoenix. So my buddies from back home, a bunch of us, there was a few of us that went to college and then a few of the guys got into working at Outback restaurants. And my buddy Josh, Tim, and Sean really advanced up the old Outback hierarchy pretty quickly, and they got to a point where they were going around to different cities and opening Outbacks, like getting the kitchen set up and whatever. So they had somehow gotten transferred out to Mesa, which is in Phoenix. So we had come out to Phoenix to see the guys, and they had said, hey, let's go to Vegas. I was only 20 at the time, so I had to commandeer some sort of a false identification, which is another story in itself. But I did, in fact, get that false identification. And we came to Las Vegas and figured, you know, typically the guys from New York, we stayed at the New York, New York for one night and then hopped in the car and drove back to Phoenix. And that was like 1998. So I think that was the year Victoria was born.

0:09:40
Yeah, it was.

0:09:41
Love it, right?

0:09:43
So I was 20 then. And it was an adventure-filled night. I wish I remember. I remember certain parts of it, but I do remember being at the circus circus. They did some kind of like a steak and eggs, all-you-can-eat thing in the middle of the night. And the waitress came up to us and took our order while she was smoking. What do you guys want? And that was the last time I had ever come to Vegas. But I'm a fan of the city, that's for sure. Just curious, just wanting to know.

0:10:11
Yeah.

0:10:12
Did you ever think about coming back after that?

0:10:14
Yes, as a matter of fact, it's so weird because I always feel like I sort of have like an extra sensory because I'll go off on binges on things like on YouTube and then sometimes it'll just kind of happen. So I had been fascinated and all through COVID, before I had ever thought about working here at UNLV, I had been watching a lot of videos about Las Vegas. I wanted to, hey, here's what you need, 10 things you need to know before you visit the Strip. And I was really planning on coming here for a visit. And then as I was kind of like, you know, working from home doing production and stuff for different radio stations. I had found a lead on a job at BYU, Brigham Young in Salt Lake, and they had a college station and they were looking for an operations manager. And I had gotten pretty far along in the the talks for that position when the position for KUNV popped up and

0:11:06
that's the one I ultimately ended up taking. Wow, BYU, that's very

0:11:11
different from UNLV. Very different, yes, very different. And I will say that last summer I got a chance to go to the public radio programmers convention which was in New Orleans and I met the new operations manager for BYU and I can see why they didn't pick me He was definitely a much more traditional public radio figure Where I was not. Have you tried any local restaurants? Yes, I certainly have. I would have to say my favorite local restaurant is Pop's Cheesesteaks. You guys ever been there? Is it the one off of North Decatur? Yes, it is. So I refer to it as the Philadelphia Embassy. Okay. Because it is the best cheesesteak I have had probably outside of Philadelphia. It's as authentic as it gets. In fact, I just was at dinner two weekends ago for my girlfriend's birthday. We went to Mon Ami Gabi. Oh, the one in Paris? Oh, just like it was so lovely. Yeah, and the fact that you've got that great view of the fountains and that great atmosphere, the steak was fantastic. And my girlfriend then said, hey, where do you think you'd like to go for your birthday? And I said, we'd go to Pops. That's what I was thinking. Maybe we'll get a couple of cheese steaks from Pops. Also a big fan of a place, you know, I saw it on TikTok. You guys ever heard of that app, TikTok? Yes, but I don't use it. Never. A lot of times I'll kind of get my where am I gonna eat ideas from there because there's a couple really good profiles that do like Vegas food focus. So I went to a place called Shang, which is up on West Flamingo and they make like fresh noodles like ripped like fresh cut noodles boy It was just just fantastic and I got a it was very similar to like a pho You know like a Vietnamese pho, but Yeah, it was fantastic. It was a bit like a spicy beef pho and my girl got some kind of a pork belly pho

0:13:08
It was really really good. Yeah, have you tried any like higher-up restaurants because you did mention Monami Gabby It's kind of higher up, but I'd say not as higher up as Oscars or the Palm or the Monaco

0:13:24
Have you tried? You know, I can't say I've been to any Extreme fine dining places. What's the name you work at Virgin? What's the name of that Italian restaurant right across the street in that Plaza? Very traditional kind of Italian joint any idea. No, I can't think of it off the top of my head. We'll have to look it up. Yeah. It's right in that plaza right next to Virgin. Sylvester? No, not Sylvester. It's just a very legit, yeah, if you Google, you pull up the map, you'll see it. But I got a chance to go there and had some really good pasta, some really good octopus too, and got a chance to meet the owner for some reason. I don't think I sound like I'm from New York But he immediately was like hey, are you from New York? I came over and started talking to me it turns out. He's from New York as well. You got it there No, is it Ferraro it is that's exactly what it is Ferraro's a great wine Really fresh pasta food was food is really good. That's good. Do you have any suggestions on where I should go? I've been thinking about going what's a steakhouse that everybody goes to it's in every airplane magazine

0:14:29
See this is why we're the unqualified Probably give you a list after okay, I've been to some that's the thing too like if you put me on the spot I'm gonna forget everything I've ever known

0:14:40
So let me ask you because you you so you like steakhouses Yeah So you like steakhouses?

0:14:45
Yeah, but not just those. I kind of go almost all over the place, but that's just because of my upbringing, too.

0:14:51
I see. That's another thing. What about you, Vee? Do you like steaks as well? I've actually never been to a steakhouse.

0:14:56
Never been to a steakhouse?

0:14:57
Yeah, so I've mentioned this a couple times on the podcast. I don't really go out to eat too much, and I never really grew up even eating fast food. So it's like everything that I try now is on my own venture. So it's like I'm the one who has to go out and seek this sort of stuff.

0:15:18
So if you had to pick a cut of steak, what cut of steak are you usually going for?

0:15:22
See, I have no idea what that even means. We got filet mignon, we got like ribeye, we got sirloin, porterhouse, all that kind of stuff. See, the closest thing I get to that is like carne asada that my family makes. Carne asada.

0:15:35
Okay, so that's probably like a ribeye usually because I know my family, I dated a girl from Monterrey, Mexico, and they did Karni Asada and they were using a ribeye. Yeah. I'm a ribeye guy. What about you? Same. My father liked ribeye too.

0:15:49
Like the ribeyes. Well, even then, like even when it comes to meat, I don't really eat red meat that much. I like, I prefer chicken over everything.

0:15:56
That's okay. Yeah. Red meat for a steak's a treat. Yeah, probably six nights a week, I'm eating some sort of chicken or ground turkey or that. Yeah, steak's sort of a treat.

0:16:05
Yeah, I would agree.

0:16:06
Yeah.

0:16:07
Maybe we got to take you to a steakhouse so you can get the experience. Yeah.

0:16:10
Now, here's what I'm kind of eager to know. And being that you guys are kind of experienced, I haven't been able to find any really good Chinese food yet. OK.

0:16:19
Ashley's ready.

0:16:20
Ashley, please.

0:16:21
There is not because I've been to several Chinese restaurants But I can't say that any of them are Reminiscent of the ones I know from New York and I know that like that's a New York thing to say And I don't mean in a New York way. It's okay. I mean, hey, New York, California. It's all good

0:16:40
Okay, I'm gonna hold against you what you got is the Chinese food out here

0:16:44
Just not as good or am I just going to the wrong places?

0:16:50
Okay, so ironically, I will admit, I don't go to a lot of Chinese restaurants. So I'm a little bit, you're a little braver than me. I will sit it right now.

0:16:58
Okay, okay.

0:16:59
So there was a restaurant off of Spring Mountain and Twain, and it was called Joyful House. And it's a really good place. I don't know, have you been?

0:17:07
I haven't, no.

0:17:08
Unfortunately, that place closed up recently. And it's mainly because the owner just wanted to do some other things and I understand that. So they had like Hong Kong style, maybe I don't, maybe traditional as well. Chinese cuisine, like the Peking duck, they'll have like the Hong Kong style crispy noodles and all that kind of stuff. Right. But that stuff is good. I've tried P of Ching's, but honestly I'm not a fan of P of Ching's. Panda, same thing.

0:17:32
Now, you know, I call it Panda in a pinch, right?

0:17:36
I don't think that counts.

0:17:38
Yeah, a panda and a pidge. The one thing that's really, I'm sorry to steal, the one thing that's really thrown me, because I am personally like a lo mein guy, but when I come out here, it's a lot of chow mein, and I can't say I have a ton of chow mein experience.

0:17:54
Yeah, same. I've been like eating the Hong Kong style crisp noodles, and that's chow mein. Chow mein, yeah. Lo mein, I think you can get that in dim sum too, but I think they have that in other menus as well.

0:18:05
Yeah, it's just, it's not as like, saucy as I would like. I like mine kind of very saucy and just saucy. And the ones out here, and I've tried, if I showed, like I told you, I was living at the corner of Pecos and Travacana. If you drew a 10-mile, not even, a 5-mile circle, I probably have tried every Chinese restaurant within that radius, all to no avail. Yeah, I would try going towards the Spring Mountain area. Okay, that's good, that's great advice. Thank you. Because I

0:18:39
remember there was another Chinese restaurant and I'm like, I don't know why these places got to close up because they taste good, but I guess the business

0:18:46
just, I don't know. So you say you don't really do a lot of Chinese food. Why? Why are you just don't trust them?

0:18:52
Oh, I do. It's just I want to try other places as well. Yeah, and we can get to that in another part. So, I mean I've been trying those places and it's like I'm good whatever. I'm not gonna be crazy about like it has to be this. I'm more concerned about the taste. Yeah, and if it just tastes good, the atmosphere and all that.

0:19:09
Yeah, but I gotta go out a little bit more. I'm just a little more sheltered right now. Victoria, I'm curious because you mentioned that you've never really, you never really ate a ton of fast food growing up. And why is that? Your parents were real controlling on what you guys ate?

0:19:22
Oh, no, no, no. My mom was just a stay-at-home mom, so she'd always cook. Okay. We didn't really have a reason to go out and eat. You always had, she was always cranking out food. Yeah. Sure, sure, that's good. And if, I mean, if she didn't cook one day, we still had a bunch of leftovers. So it was very nice that my mom was able to do that. Yeah, for sure. But yeah, I've like kind of going back to what Ashley was saying. I know you're you're not

0:19:45
Chinese, you're Vietnamese. No, no, no, I'm Chinese. I'm Filipino. Oh, little, little Spanish.

0:19:51
Okay, you're Chinese, Filipino and a little Spanish. Yes. It's a good mix right there. Yes. I have friends who ate all of those. And that would make a real good superhuman right there. So I knew I liked you.

0:20:01
But I feel like I don't know if you feel like this too with like your culture and like the cuisines that come out of your culture. But like me, I'm Mexican. I'm not going to go out and eat Mexican food because I got that at home. So like here when people come in, they're like, oh, what's a good Mexican restaurant? I'm like, my house?

0:20:17
Right. You know, it's so funny is when I went to Monterey and visited, we went to a mall and I was really surprised at how every, it was like tamales, enchiladas, tostadas, and then the next stall was tacos, enchiladas, burritos, tostadas. So you know like in an American food court it's all hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and that. This is the same thing in Mexico except with Mexican food. Yeah. And boy yeah you're right, that's a great, great cuisine. Yeah. And yeah, usually the moms are the ones who know how to cook it the best.

0:20:52
Yeah, they do.

0:20:53
For sure.

0:20:54
For sure. So, just kind of thinking, like, so you mentioned you've been here for a year and a half. What do you think of the food so far?

0:21:03
Food has been, food, what is the food? Food's been great. You know, I think I, like I said, it's my first experience kind of back in America in a big city, so like there's a lot to choose from. Knowing where to start has been the challenge. I was really quite surprised when I moved to Vegas with the Hawaiian selection. Yeah, we're like the ninth island. Yeah, so really that the whole Hawaiian side of things and I am being in our proximity right next door to that plaza here at UNLV, there is a poke place. So poke had made its way down to the islands when I was living there. It definitely didn't make it to Albany, New York, that's for sure. So I got a first chance to try the poke from Poke Heaven next door and I have said on the record that that is the best lunch I've ever had in my life. I went a little poke crazy there for a while. But then I got a chance, you know, living on this coast, when you're from New York, Hawaii is like where you go on your honeymoon. But when you live out here, Hawaii, you can fly out there for the weekend. So I flew out to Hawaii and got a chance to have poke there and was really quite impressed. Because I've always liked sushi, and I found poke to be just like the sushi without the rice, which is just fantastic.

0:22:22
Yeah. Well, I bet it tasted even like better over there in Hawaii, I can imagine.

0:22:27
It was really good. But my friend, whom I became best friends with from the islands, now he's living in Maui. So, you know, there were a bunch of... Maui has got a real big tourist center. And he said, dude, trust me, don't get the poke from the restaurant in the tourist center. He's like, come with me to the grocery store. And boy, was he right. They had a whole counter set up dedicated to fresh poke, all the different kinds of fish and the sauces and oh it was just fantastic and it was about a quarter of the price. So big fan of the Hawaiian, I was really quite surprised with all the Hawaiian influence.

0:23:01
That's good, yeah.

0:23:02
I'm glad you mentioned Poke Heaven because literally anytime I come down here I always go there too because I'm just like, it's so good.

0:23:10
We were looking for lunch on Saturday and it was a little sad that they had actually, they said they don't have enough staff to open anymore on Saturdays. But there is a new poke place just across TROP in that plaza where Vons is. It's called, I think it's called like Go Poke. It was actually pretty good. But you know when you've got a favorite spot, nothing's quite as good.

0:23:29
Yeah, no, they sustained me through many semesters here at UNLV.

0:23:34
You know what, super healthy, like so good for you. I usually, you know, from when I first started hitting it, I was getting the rice But now I've nixed the rice and just went with the greens there was nothing bad in that for you And if unless you go off on those crazy sauces, but they're delicious

0:23:47
Yeah, it's just good to talk about that kind of stuff I never really tried poke because I don't be surprised It's just I kind of grew up into a family, and I don't think she will even bother with poke. I think she's heard of it but she's not gonna probably care for it

0:24:08
because it's raw. Yeah, well I mean for a long time I think you know everyone was kind of afraid of sushi a little bit right? Because it was uncooked but you know I've eaten a ton of sushi in my life. I don't think I've ever gotten sad.

0:24:19
Honestly I feel like with sushi it's just we got to worry about the mercury.

0:24:23
Eating too much. That was me the other night. I go to Yama up in Spring Valley next to Golden Tiki. That's an all-you-can-eat. Yeah, I've definitely come close to mercury poisoning. Yeah.

0:24:36
After eating there.

0:24:37
Oh, dang.

0:24:38
Yeah.

0:24:39
Ashley's like, I could never.

0:24:41
So you won't eat sushi, you don't like raw fish at all?

0:24:44
I can eat raw fish, but just out of moderation. Gotcha. So I mentioned this in an episode in the past. I tried all you can eat because like my brother He did it and he's like he's a pro. He can do it. So I'm like I want to try that I'm trying it and I'm had this thought in my mind It's like you're eating raw fish and I'm like kind of just ruined my moment my experience Yeah, my girlfriend is the same way she does

0:25:05
She's not a huge fan of fish, but she likes us like sushi But there will come a point in the meal where it starts to taste too much like fish and she has to stop. But I'll tell you another thing I love about Pokehaven, which they do, is they call it taco, but it's essentially octopus. That octopus is, that's as good as it gets right there. Well, tacos, the Japanese word for octopus.

0:25:27
Is it? Yeah. Oh, I like taco.

0:25:29
Yeah.

0:25:29
My four years of Japanese in high school coming in clutch. That's the only thing I remember. They taught Japanese in your high school? Yeah. That's fantastic. I went to a magnet high school.

0:25:41
So my goodness. Yeah, I like taco in Spanish and taco in Japanese.

0:25:45
Yeah, nice.

0:25:47
Can't go wrong.

0:25:48
Yeah, do you eat it raw or has to be cooked?

0:25:51
The octopus?

0:25:52
I don't think they're serving it raw. I think they're serving it maybe like a ceviche style because it's definitely cooked but they just put it in the most wonderful hot sauce and it reminds me a lot of when I was in the Caribbean There's something called conch. Have you guys ever had conch? No, so, you know those shells?

0:26:07
Oh, I think I've heard like a conch shell

0:26:09
So if you crack you if you ever on the beach next time you're on the beach you see one of those shells You'll probably see that someone smacked a hole in the back of it and then they take a poker and they pull the Slug out that lives in there and they chop off the guts and then they chop that That conch up into like nice little pieces with some lime, some scotch bonnet peppers, a little bit of hot sauce, a little bit of ketchup, they stir it all up and then you put on a saltine cracker. That's just about the most delicious thing you're gonna ever eat. And we'd make that on the boat. The guys would dive down, grab the shell, pop it and eat it. But they also have like conch fritters which is just like kind of like a like any kind of fritter where they ball a little bit of dough and drop it in some oil. Super yummy. But very, very similar to the octopus.

0:26:50
That's good to know, I was just curious.

0:26:52
What's the weirdest thing that you've ever eaten? Or that you think is weird at least?

0:26:57
Weirdest thing I've ever eaten? That's a tough one. I'm sure I've probably eaten some weird stuff, but I feel like the one thing that's jumping out at me as soon as you said that would be a sis egg. So I had some sis egg, which is Filipino, right? They had a legit Filipino place down on the island very popular with Filipinos A lot good Filipino community there. I insist egg is essentially like intestines, isn't it? Well when I eat it, it's not intestines, right? Right, but I think the traditional one is like intestines around Yeah, and maybe it was pork. It was something it was but it was it was really good sizzling sisig and it came out with a whole bunch of different meat pieces. Yeah, I really, really dug that. I think there was an egg on there too.

0:27:45
I think they usually put eggs in there.

0:27:47
Oh yeah.

0:27:48
I'm really not afraid too much of food. Usually everything tastes good.

0:27:52
Is there anything you won't eat?

0:27:54
I don't think there's anything I won't eat. I don't know if I would be thrilled to eat bugs. I know people go to like Thailand or Bangkok and the first thing they got to do is like try a scorpion or something on a stick. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think so. Yeah. I don't think I need to. Yeah.

0:28:11
They do that in Mexico, too. Yeah. And China as well.

0:28:14
When I went to China, I never did that.

0:28:16
So, yeah, that seems almost like a tourist thing. I feel like, yeah, we eat these all the time.

0:28:21
Ten bucks. My brother, when he was in high school, he actually had a teacher who went to Mexico came back and he brought back like, um I think it was like a bag of ants. Yeah, and he was like, oh if you guys try this, I'll give you guys extra credit

0:28:34
Really? Yeah. No, I think I've had chocolate covered ants and I don't remember them being that bad

0:28:39
But how could they be they're covered in chocolate? Yeah, you know chocolate makes everything better. That's right

0:28:45
Have you been like all over Vegas so far? Um, yes, I have

0:28:49
and around like South Vegas and down into Henderson. I can get around Enterprise all right, but yeah I've been I've been around. I haven't been up to Mount Charleston yet though I'm kind of eager to go skiing. Do you guys ski? I hate the snow. Yeah I'm like that's why I'm a desert rat. Yeah yeah I have a my motto in life is vacation to snow don't live in it. But that's just I haven't been up there yet. Okay, and

0:29:38
Have you been to besides New York, New York? Have you been to any casinos that stood out to you here? Yes

0:29:44
Yeah, yeah, geez a bunch of them, you know, I've been to almost all of them on the strip But I think my favorites, you know, I really dig Fremont Street Fremont Street one, you know when you're from Vegas and you guys know like getting your car up there is really challenging and expensive. So I kind of see myself spending more time over downtown and on Fremont Street. And I'm a fan. I'm not really a gambler. I don't really make enough money to gamble. But I have spent a few nights over at the D. That's a lot of fun. What's the other one? Circa?

0:30:21
Circa?

0:30:22
Circa. Circa. Yeah, Circa is pretty good too. I sort of like my casinos to be youthful and energetic.

0:30:29
Oh yeah.

0:30:30
Because I've certainly hung out at a bunch of casinos that are the complete opposite. And I like to have, you know, I like shots and fun and a fun atmosphere. And I find that Circa kind of meets that need.

0:30:43
I feel like downtown is definitely for the locals.

0:30:47
Absolutely. Even more so, I find the Arts District is for the locals because the tourists know about Fremont Street. The brave tourists will leave Fremont and go to East Fremont, but most tourists don't know about the Arts District. And the Arts District is one of my favorite parts of the city for sure.

0:31:06
I like that you mentioned Fremont Street because when I was growing up, and this is before I permanently decided to relocate here, I did stay in downtown when I was a kid, but I want to make a correction in the previous episode So yes, I am from California. Yeah, but I also had another house. I was I also lived in Summerlin Thanks to my dad. So I have like maybe 0.5% memory of being in Summerlin Oh, yeah so my dad sold that house and then we just started to look for another house here in the valley and just being in the plaza, just witnessing and seeing the whole, I don't know if movement's the word, but I can just say like being in Fremont Street and just looking at the atmosphere, it's nice.

0:31:47
Yeah, for me Fremont Street is like, as a guy from New York, that's what I thought Vegas looked like. You know, you could walk it, you know, you could just jump around from casino to casino. When you come here, you're like, these are like huge malls, you know, you really can't like walk the mall on the street. So I enjoy that kind of feeling where you can kind of easily hop around to different places, all the lights and and then you know when you're feeling brave and you want to get away from casino things you just walk out and head down East Fremont where all the bars

0:32:18
and the restaurants are you know. Yeah. Yeah. Well I mean the beginning of Vegas started in downtown right? Yeah it started at Fremont Street. Yeah, because of Golden Gate, it's one of the first

0:32:27
restaurants. That's right, Golden Gate, El Cortez, and those are the originals.

0:32:31
Yeah, like I'm at, not restaurant, I'm at hotel. But yes, like, yes, El Cortez, Union Plaza, before you came, the D was Fitzgerald's. Okay. So that's another thing, and then Golden Nugget came like years later. I don't know everything about downtown. I've stayed there before, but I don't know much about it. When my

0:32:49
friends come down and they say, hey, where should I stay? I tell them to stay around Fremont Street just because it's easier. You can always take a cab to the strip. But, you know, trying to pick them up and get around is just so much easier when that when they're on Fremont or downtown.

0:33:02
So do we have any last thoughts like you have any final questions? I will save those for the next episode. Oh, that's right. Part two.

0:33:09
Yes. We have any final thoughts right now before we wrap up?

0:33:12
Um, no. I don't think I do. I think I'm eager to see what we're going to talk about next. All right. So please do stay tuned for part two. We're going to be meeting with Jason again, and we're going to be talking about food, a little bit more about food. So, yes, that'll be coming up in the next episode. And I want to thank Victoria for putting time aside to come here. I know it's a little bit hard because of work and stuff. All good. Yeah. And I want to thank Jason for appearing, for agreeing to finally appear.

0:33:46
My pleasure. And props to Victoria. Victoria, I have stolen the way you say jazz and more.

0:33:52
Oh my God.

0:33:53
Now when I do a morning show, I say it just like that every time. I stole that from you.

0:33:57
That's funny. I want to leave the show with asking people who visit here and I do ask, be a little bit nice with your response if you were to get back to us. What do you think of Vegas when you come here? And when I say be careful, we have some really passionate Vegas locals here that are very ready to defend themselves when it comes to, you know, the culture and all that.

0:34:18
And I'm one of them.

0:34:19
Oh yeah.

0:34:20
Watch out. I'm one of them too, just FYI. So yes, what do you think of Vegas and have you been to any restaurants that stood out to you? Like all that kind of stuff, let us know. And if you have not already, please do follow our socials. We have Twitter, that's spelled U-N-Q-C-L-U-C-R-I-T and for Instagram, it's Unqualified Culinary Critics. Critics. So with all that, thank you very much for listening and take care.

Transcribed with Cockatoo