FoodTrek: Skip the Strip, It's Downtown Vegas, Baby

Glitz and glamour, a fortune at the press of a button, the playground for legendary stars like Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and the spiritual home of Elvis Presley -- without even speaking the city's name, we know this to be Las Vegas. You would think Nevada would just cease to exist, because its famously infamous city is a place where you don't have to name the region or the state, you simply mention what happens here, stays here. All-night mega-club parties hosted by the latest (pseudo) celebrity. Beers in bong-sized glasses and cocktails with alarming neon hues. Every headline show is Cirque du Something-or-Other. High end luxury shops seeming to have more locations than Starbucks. It's a place that seems literally made of diamonds, which leads one to think, if we're surrounded by such profane wealth, is it even special anymore? I decided to track down my own diamonds in the rough, and stayed away from the Strip for the most part -- my fortune was made in old-school Downtown Las Vegas.

Keeping in real in Las Vegas, Downtown Style - Photo by Wasabi Prime