Tuesday – May 30th, 2023
Today we were planning on doing something pretty special and really trying something Nw in Las Vegas. Turo is a new(ish) Car Sharing app that threatens to disrupt the Rental Car world in a very similar way Airbnb did to the hotel world. But right now it’s really upsetting rhe Exotic Car Rental Market in Vegas. So we decided to give it a go and treat ourselves to a nice car for the day…well treat myself…Kate really wasn’t very interested.
Eggslut…scratch that…Overlook Grill
One of the most hyped restaurants in Vegas at the Minute is Eggslut. This is the creation of the late Anthony Boudain and really goes down a storm. To the point that just about every Hotel now has its own copycat Restaurant. We headed over to check out what the fuss was about, however, the queue was out the door and around the block several times…
We figures we would try it tomorrow when we could come a little earlier and beat the queue. Instead, we headed to the Overlook Grill, Cosmo’s poolside restaurant.
We gt a nice table outside overlooking the pool and ordered some iced coffee. For food, Kate went with a California Ommlett and I had a Loko Moko! A Hawaiin specialty that consists of Beef Patty ver Rice, topped with Eggs and Beef Gravy. It’s really weird, to be honest, but I can’t resist them. Kate’s Omelet was excellent too, really fresh and light with a good helping of Home Fries that were really delicious.
Overall this was a really nice start to the day and we were finding more and more that the very poor service in the Cosmo was definitely not extending to the restaurants.
We then headed back to the room to gear up and then ordered an Uber to head out to our pick-up point.
Turo – Nissan GTR!
Warning – there is a lot of Car talk in this section. If you are not into cars maybe skip ahead. In short, we hired a Fancy car, drove to Redrock Canyon, then Mt Charleston, then back to the strip. It was Fast, noisy, and used a lot of Fuel.
First up Turo. If you don’t know, Turo is an app that lets car owners rent out their cars to other users f the App. This lets toy get rental cars much cheaper than with rental companies and you are dealing with a real and invested person and can choose the exact car you want. While this is a great way to get a cheap Hire Car, people have taken to using it as a way to rent out their Luxury and Exotic cars for short periods for prices a lot less than the Exotic Car Rental locations in Vegas.
It seems some people have got whole fleets of exotic metal that are renting out on Turo. And it was this sort of setup that we used t rent a Nissan Gtr for 24 hours.
Some of you will know all about the Nissan GTR, but for others, this is the ultimate Playstation Generation Car. it’s wildly fast and handles better than just about any other car in its class, and better than many way above its class too. Built to set records around the Nurburgring this is a real monster of a car, and one I have wanted to drive for a very long time. And from Turo, this was possible for only $235 a day!
Before heading over the Host wanted me to send him a photo of my driving license and a few other details and he would check me in remotely. This was amazing as other Exotic rentals required some pretty long laborious paperwork. I pinged the photos over and in 5 ins got the message all was done and to ring the host when I got to his location as he would not be there.
Arriving at a Small strip mall near China Town we headed around the back to see the GTR glistening in the Sun. The message arrived letting us know where the keys were and that was it. The car was ours for 24hrs. We walked around the car several times taking photos of any nic or scuff, just to prove it was not our fault. We had taken out a pretty hefty insurance policy too but best to have yourself covered.
We then jumped in, fired her up, let it warm up a little, and then headed off to headbutt the horizon!
Red Rock Canyon
Heading out onto Sahara Avenue, we were pretty aware it was a very busy built-up area with a lit of cops just hiding around every corner…not the best spot to play around with a 557bhp 200mph 4×4 Sports car. Naturally, we headed out of the City as soon as possible. First stop… Red Rock Canyon.
Red Rock Canyon is a National Conservation Area, so again not the best spot for a Supercar, but the scenery is wonderful and it is at least one-way. We entered the Park and completely forget you now need reservations. Fortunately, the old-timer at the gate didn’t seem to care and just charged us $1 for entry (we have an America the Beautiful Pass). We drove around the loop road, stopping off at various look-outs and getting some nice shots of the GTR.
Once outside the park on Red Rock Canyon Road, we were able to open her up a little bit and at least have a play with the 2.7 second 0-60 acceleration of Japan’s Fastest Ever production car.
After a few pulls up and down we decided to head even more into the sticks to have a proper play.
Mt Charleston
Our Uber driver had clocked we were going to pick up a Performace car and had suggested we head out to the I-95 to get away from Law Enforcement as much as possible. We are not huge speed freaks, preferring quick acceleration to high speed, but still, in a GTR you can lose track of any speed limit REALLY fast, so opening her up in the sight of a police officer is asking for trouble.
Out on the Freeway, the insane acceleration was clear to see. From 50, you could put your foot down and get into prison territory speeds in seconds, if you were so inclined. The large speed going right up to 220mph is a constant reminder of exactly what sort of car you are in.
Around halfway to Indian Springs we took a left and headed up toward Mt Charleston. Here the roads stop being so Arrow straight and we could actually have a proper play with the Car on the Twisties. There was a bit of cloud build-up over the mountains but it was still clear and dry.
Near the end of the mountain road, we took the Deer Creek Pass around the front of the mountain over to the other side of Mt Charleston. This was a lot of fun with some real corners and a chance to properly see what the car was all about. Finally, we picked up H157, Kyle Canyon Road, and followed this back down to the I-95. Another great road with lots of bends and plenty of opportunity to wind the boost up.
At this point, we had covered about 90 miles and…used around 3 quarters of a tank of Gas. We kind of hoped it would be a small tank, but when we filled up at the end it was a good 20 Gallons. Meaning she was a thirsty old Girl…the clue was in rhe MPG gauge that actually went down to zero on Full Boost.
We were reflecting in the car as we got back towards the City and overall, it was a bit boring. The problem is how insanely good the car is. Acceleration is so smooth and uneventful it’s easy to just take it for granted, you don’t feel like you are going that fast, it’s too smooth, stable, and ordinary. Compared to a Lamborghini or similar it just lacks the theatre.
In my own Back yard, or on a track without the risks of other traffic, wildlife, or police, it would be incredible, but in this environment, it was too much to risk pushing it and too sensible at lower speeds. It’s hard to complain about one of the most technically brilliant cars I will probably ever drive, but it just didn’t excite me as the Lambo did.
It also lacks the Celebrity Status a real Suuper car elicits. Driving a Lambo, everyone is interested, it’s like being famous. The GTR is more subdued, we got some knowing looks and thumbs up, but if you don’t know your cars you don’t care about a GTR.
Back at the strip things got really bad. The City is in the process of getting ready for the F1 in November, and this involves resurfacing the Strip. Somehow we had managed to avoid the designated dates that work was being carried out, however, arriving back at the strip they seem to have ignored the schedule, and heavy equipment had arrived and was tearing up the Strip.
It took us 45 mins to get from Flamingo to the Cosmo, and that is like 2 blocks, utter chaos. Back at the Hotel we dropped the car off in Valet and headed off to the room to get ready for our evening.
Jose Andres Bazaar Meats
We had some dining credit t use on our Platinum Amex and one of the options was Jose Andres Bazaar Meats. We are big Jose fans and big steakhouse fans so this seemed like a great option to use up our $180 dining credit.
The one downside to this was the restaurant was situated at the Sahara, and the strip was essentially off-limits to traffic due to the road works. So we got ready and headed back to Valet and jumped in the GTR for the pretty boring drive over to the Sahara via the Vegas Backstreets.
Sahara has FREE Valet, and it’s a good job it’s free as they simply left the GTR out front looking good for everyone to see. Inside we took a look around, we don’t come out to the Sahara that often and it’s quite a nice Casino.
We found the restaurant and headed in a little early but were seated straight away. We were definitely early as the restaurant was basically empty and a little chilly. At the entrance is the huge Fire Pit where the steaks are grilled over red-hot coals. There are Dry aging cabinets where you can see the meats before grilling and the whole kitchen area was open plan. The decor was fun and stylish and overall it was a very nice place to be.
We found the menu a little confusing, but the server helped out. The “Big Guys” are listed in price per lb which isn’t that helpful when you don’t know how big the steaks available are. This was cleared up by the server, but it still required a little maths to work out the cost. We don’t really like doing sums when dining…
In the end, we had a 1.5lb Waygu/Angus blend Ribeye from Rosewood Texas. Costing around $150 this is not a cheap cut of meat! It also took a long time to cook, over 40mins but that’s what you get for a big thick steak that is cooked properly.
While we waited we tried the Cotton Candy Foie Gras, at $10 these were the most expensive single bites we have ever eaten. Seriously they were just a tiny bit of fluff on a stick. And on the first bite, they were just cotton candy, but as the candy melted the Foie Gras came through and melted like butter, then as the two combined an intense taste of buttered popcorn appeared. It really was amazing, but not exactly filling.
We had ordered the Streak With Aspagas and Straw Potatoes which we both amazing the asparagus helping add a touch of green to our diet. We always seem to struggle to get veggies when in the States, and really end up graving them.
The steak was amazing. Obviously, we ordered it properly cooked, so medium rare, as advised by the server. It was not the single best Steak we have ever had, but it’s up there. We would have preferred a little more Char and a darker crust and maybe a touch more seasoning, but the middle was perfect and melted in the mouth, the fat had rendered perfectly and was like butter, only beefy meaty gorgeous butter. The Steak came sliced for sharing and the slicing was a little rough, meaning there was a lot of meat left on the bone. After polishing off the Slice meat I turned my attention to the bone. Attempting to slice the remaining meat off, it was quite a struggle.
In the end, I decided I had paid $150 for this so I don’t care how I look, and took to the bone with my teeth caveman style. I felt a lot of shame, but the beefy buttery wonderfulness soon overshadowed any guilt. gnawing that bone is one of my best dining experiences to date!
Overall a fabulous meal and with the AMEX Dining credit an absolute Steal.
Gambling Fail
Back at the Cosmo, we headed out to continue our Gambling Strategy. This would be almost risk-free, as the initial Bankroll of $100 was getting taken off the table. Instead, we were trying to double up the winnings from yesterday.
We started this off with a drink in the Vesper bar, where we had a little credit. Two Vesper Martini’s to get things going for the evening. We then reprised our place on the Double Diamond Machines near the Waitress hatch.
Service was excellent and we received 2 Martinis, each, along with a Cosmo and Lemon Drop. Unfortunately, our luck was out this evening. Kate’s small bankroll ran dry with almost no wins and my $100 held up for nearly two hours but eventually dwindled to nothing while I just couldn’t hit anything big to get over the hump, leaving with nothing.
Our original bankroll was still intact so really we had two nights of fun and several drinks for very little money in total. This was the end of our Gambling at the Cosmo, and at least they had not taken anything from us, even if we hadn’t taken anything off them. Our remaining GAmbling unds will be 100% free play so wins are all but guaranteed!
Walking Total – 5,483 Steps – 2.8 Miles
Possibly one of the easiest days on our feet in Vegas. Mainly as we were either in the GTR or an Uber, we even Did Velat at the Casinos we visited, so Walking was very light.
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