St.Paddy's weekend
Normally, St. Patrick's Day is not a day of celebration for me. 1) I'm not Irish; 2) I'm not a party person. This year, however, St. Patrick's Day fell on a Friday and my husband found a great entertainment combination for us.
It started with a stay at the Sands Bethlehem Casino Resort in Bethlehem, PA. We have been here a few times before for different events. This weekend we came for the comedy of Dave Attell and Jeff Ross, who were playing at the Event Center. The past few times we have attended concerts at the Sands, we have chosen to stay at the hotel. It's convenient and allows us to attend our event as well as enjoy other activities the resort has to offer. The hotel is not cheap-the room costs about $220 a night. However, it is a beautiful room with many amenities, very comfortable, and easily accessible to the Event Center, casino, shops and restaurants. The next time we stay here (which will be in the summer) I will take photos of the actual room. Check in is always easy and quick and the employees are very friendly and professional.
The Event Center is right off the elevators and off of the main shopping area. Even with a very popular show, they get the line moving quickly. The seats are like folding chairs, but they are very comfortable. The arena is set up with a main floor, a raised area to the left (which is where we usually sit) and a balcony. There really isn't a bad seat in the house. There are usually two projection screens which allows those further back to see more clearly. The sound has been great for every event we have attended there. There are concessions available for purchase (and alcoholic drinks) and when you leave the event, you exit through the Vision Bar, which is usually in full swing once your show has ended. The only draw back is there is no bathroom facility inside the event area-you have to exit and be scanned back in.
Dave and Jeff didn't disappoint. They may be a little raunchy for some people, but they played very well off each other. Their crowd work was great-they really involved the audience, getting down off the stage and engaging with people, bringing the camera with them. The finale of the show involved bringing people on stage to "roast" them and there were plenty of volunteers.
The casino area of the resort has many slot machines well placed in the area, with a few table games scattered strategically, a couple of bar areas, and a small entertainment stage alcove, where a U2 cover band was playing that night (in homage to one of Ireland's greatest rock bands on St. Paddy's Day; they sounded pretty good). There are also a few restaurants on the edges of the casino floor and a food court area attached. The food court has a good selection of places and some of the places are open pretty late, in case you want a midnight snack to bring up to your room or eat in the dining area.
If you are a fan of Emeril Lagasse, you will like the restaurant choices at the Sands in Bethlehem. He has a chop house, a fish house, and a burger joint in this complex. This visit, we decided to give the chop house a try-and it didn't disappoint. The Chop House opened at 5pm, so we decided to have dinner before the comedy show.
As it was St. Patrick's Day, they did have a special menu available. I ordered a Manhattan from that menu. It was like a standard Manhattan, but made with blood orange flavor. It was smallish, but it packed a mighty punch and it was very flavorful.
The Mahattan was a perfect foil for the clams on the half shell we ordered for an appetizer. The clams were very fresh and served with a trio of horseradish, cocktail sauce, and a remoulade sauce, as well as malt vinegar. It was $20 for a dozen, but if you like clams on the half shell, it is definitely worth it.
My husband ended up getting a 16 oz New York strip, which was delicious (I had a few bites).
I opted for the Jail Island salmon. I have no idea where Jail Island is supposed to be, but they make mighty fine salmon! It was cooked perfectly and had a teriyaki glaze that crisped up the skin, which was delicious. The vegetable selection with the dish could have been a little more inventive-I think I got three snap peas. The description said the salmon was on a bed of ramen with a dashi broth. The ramen was all clumped together and I don't know what happened to the dashi broth, but it definitely didn't make it to my bowl. This would have been better paired with a risotto or some other cooked grain, in my opinion. The salmon, though, was fantastic.
Whenever we go to a fancy place like this, we always make a point to get dessert. There were many good choices, but we settled on the creme brulee. This had to be one of the best creme brulees I've ever eaten. It was very light, with the subtle taste of lemon throughout. I wish there had been another pistachio tuille because that was delicious too! It was a perfect dessert to share-plenty for both of us.
The resort also has a wing of shops that is usually open from 10am to 11pm. There are a variety of clothing shops for everyone in the family, as well as some specialty stores. My favorite is Charming Charlie, an accessory store for any jewelry wearing, purse loving gal. There is also a bakery and an arcade on this level.
The Sands is a favorite of ours. It's about a 3 hour drive from where we live, but well worth it, as it has everything we want in one location. I wish the new MGM National Harbor had taken a page from the Sands design.
The next morning, we drove down to Baltimore, MD (about a 2 1/2 hour trip) to see Stomp at the Hippodrome Theater. Stomp is a percussion show that's been around for about 20 years. I have always wanted to see it, but for one reason or another, it just hasn't been possible. So I was thrilled when my husband suggested it for Saturday and he had no problem driving down there.
The Hippodrome Theater is a lovely old theater unfortunately located in a very crappy area of Baltimore. Luckily it is attached to a parking garage that, once you get off the elevators or stairwell, brings you right into the Hippodrome complex. The theater itself is a good size, seats are very comfortable, and staff was very helpful. We had what was described as "partially obstructed view" seats. What that meant was that we couldn't always see what was going on at the very extreme left of the stage, which, for this particular show, really wasn't an issue. I wish I had thought to take photos, because all the architectural details around the theater were very fascinating.
The show itself was amazing, better than I imagined. The troupe uses every day objects to create rhythms and beats and the way they interact with each other is beautifully choreographed. They had some interesting, non verbal audience interaction as well. The show itself was about two hours. I would definitely go see it again.
The Hippodrome is not a bad walk to Inner Harbor, and since we had a nice afternoon, we hoofed it down there to have dinner at P.F. Chang's before heading back home.
St. Paddy's weekend was a lucky one for this gal. Food, fun, and plenty of entertainment-the luck o' the Irish was with me ;)
It started with a stay at the Sands Bethlehem Casino Resort in Bethlehem, PA. We have been here a few times before for different events. This weekend we came for the comedy of Dave Attell and Jeff Ross, who were playing at the Event Center. The past few times we have attended concerts at the Sands, we have chosen to stay at the hotel. It's convenient and allows us to attend our event as well as enjoy other activities the resort has to offer. The hotel is not cheap-the room costs about $220 a night. However, it is a beautiful room with many amenities, very comfortable, and easily accessible to the Event Center, casino, shops and restaurants. The next time we stay here (which will be in the summer) I will take photos of the actual room. Check in is always easy and quick and the employees are very friendly and professional.
The Event Center is right off the elevators and off of the main shopping area. Even with a very popular show, they get the line moving quickly. The seats are like folding chairs, but they are very comfortable. The arena is set up with a main floor, a raised area to the left (which is where we usually sit) and a balcony. There really isn't a bad seat in the house. There are usually two projection screens which allows those further back to see more clearly. The sound has been great for every event we have attended there. There are concessions available for purchase (and alcoholic drinks) and when you leave the event, you exit through the Vision Bar, which is usually in full swing once your show has ended. The only draw back is there is no bathroom facility inside the event area-you have to exit and be scanned back in.
Dave and Jeff didn't disappoint. They may be a little raunchy for some people, but they played very well off each other. Their crowd work was great-they really involved the audience, getting down off the stage and engaging with people, bringing the camera with them. The finale of the show involved bringing people on stage to "roast" them and there were plenty of volunteers.
The casino area of the resort has many slot machines well placed in the area, with a few table games scattered strategically, a couple of bar areas, and a small entertainment stage alcove, where a U2 cover band was playing that night (in homage to one of Ireland's greatest rock bands on St. Paddy's Day; they sounded pretty good). There are also a few restaurants on the edges of the casino floor and a food court area attached. The food court has a good selection of places and some of the places are open pretty late, in case you want a midnight snack to bring up to your room or eat in the dining area.
If you are a fan of Emeril Lagasse, you will like the restaurant choices at the Sands in Bethlehem. He has a chop house, a fish house, and a burger joint in this complex. This visit, we decided to give the chop house a try-and it didn't disappoint. The Chop House opened at 5pm, so we decided to have dinner before the comedy show.
As it was St. Patrick's Day, they did have a special menu available. I ordered a Manhattan from that menu. It was like a standard Manhattan, but made with blood orange flavor. It was smallish, but it packed a mighty punch and it was very flavorful.
Whenever we go to a fancy place like this, we always make a point to get dessert. There were many good choices, but we settled on the creme brulee. This had to be one of the best creme brulees I've ever eaten. It was very light, with the subtle taste of lemon throughout. I wish there had been another pistachio tuille because that was delicious too! It was a perfect dessert to share-plenty for both of us.
The resort also has a wing of shops that is usually open from 10am to 11pm. There are a variety of clothing shops for everyone in the family, as well as some specialty stores. My favorite is Charming Charlie, an accessory store for any jewelry wearing, purse loving gal. There is also a bakery and an arcade on this level.
The Sands is a favorite of ours. It's about a 3 hour drive from where we live, but well worth it, as it has everything we want in one location. I wish the new MGM National Harbor had taken a page from the Sands design.
The next morning, we drove down to Baltimore, MD (about a 2 1/2 hour trip) to see Stomp at the Hippodrome Theater. Stomp is a percussion show that's been around for about 20 years. I have always wanted to see it, but for one reason or another, it just hasn't been possible. So I was thrilled when my husband suggested it for Saturday and he had no problem driving down there.
The Hippodrome Theater is a lovely old theater unfortunately located in a very crappy area of Baltimore. Luckily it is attached to a parking garage that, once you get off the elevators or stairwell, brings you right into the Hippodrome complex. The theater itself is a good size, seats are very comfortable, and staff was very helpful. We had what was described as "partially obstructed view" seats. What that meant was that we couldn't always see what was going on at the very extreme left of the stage, which, for this particular show, really wasn't an issue. I wish I had thought to take photos, because all the architectural details around the theater were very fascinating.
The show itself was amazing, better than I imagined. The troupe uses every day objects to create rhythms and beats and the way they interact with each other is beautifully choreographed. They had some interesting, non verbal audience interaction as well. The show itself was about two hours. I would definitely go see it again.
The Hippodrome is not a bad walk to Inner Harbor, and since we had a nice afternoon, we hoofed it down there to have dinner at P.F. Chang's before heading back home.
St. Paddy's weekend was a lucky one for this gal. Food, fun, and plenty of entertainment-the luck o' the Irish was with me ;)
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