Fried Twinkies, Ya’ll!
I’ve been to Las Vegas many times, but I’d never managed to stray too far from the Strip. However, a girl can only eat so many eye-popping buffets and expensive tasting menus at restaurants helmed by celebrity chefs before she starts craving the culinary delights of the common folk. So this time, I wanted to see the real Sin City, the part that’s still a little seedy, where $8 all-you-can-eat surf-n-turf can still be found.
I’m talking about Freemont Street, the gambling mecca for tourists on seriously tight budgets. Freemont is about a 15-minute cab ride from the Strip, and it’s everything I dreamed it would be. This is where you find the lowbrow casinos where the locals are trying to win rent money on $2 blackjack tables covered with threadbare felt dotted with cigarette burns. Now, I’m not a gambler, but who can resist a $2 minimum bet? I actually did pretty well, making enough dough to eat a Fried Twinkie a day for four months. Not that I’d actually do that.
Back to TwinkieQuest: you see, I’ve been hearing about these Vegas Fried Twinkies for years, but you can’t find them anywhere on the Strip. No, these Fryolator-cooked delicacies aren’t meant for mass consumption by the folks who stand outside Treasure Island to watch the free pirate show. You have to seek these babies out, as I learned when I wandered through a half dozen casinos before I finally found them.
In true Las Vegas fashion, anything worth getting to requires a long, winding walk past endless rows of slot machines, but there it was--a little fast-food stand at the back of the Mermaids Casino, offering 99-cent deep-fried Twinkies. Jackpot!
So, what’s it like? A bit like funnel cake, slighty crunchy on the outside with a gooey cream filling inside. Not bad, actually. But definitely not something you couldn’t eat a lot of. I also tried some deep-fried Oreos, which melted all over my hands and were sickeningly sweet. I couldn’t finish them, and I had an intense sugar buzz for about 20 minutes before my system started shutting down and I developed a sudden, overwhelming urge to take a nap somewhere between the Keno machines and the Carribean Stud Poker tables. Thank goodness there was a Starbucks nearby (of course there was!), or I might have fallen asleep next to a wino with a paper Burger King crown on his head.
My gustatory challenge complete, I went back to the Wynn in search of some steamed vegetables to detox myself.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Yep, that’s me, cradling a Fried Twinkie and asking the Lord to forgive me for actually eating it. Thank goodness there was a defibrillator nearby.