Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Oom Pah Pah & Rock 'n' Roll
Fabulous fakery—whether it's boobs or Egyptian pyramids—is a high art
in Vegas, and two of the most convincing “tribute eateries” actually lie
west of the Strip but are well worth a side trip.
The first, Vegas'
Hofbräuhaus Las Vegas
555
(4510 Paradise Rd., across
from the Hard Rock Hotel;
%
702/853-2337; www.hofbrauhauslasvegas.
com; Sun-Thurs 11am-11pm, Fri-Sat 11am-midnight; lunch specials Mon-Fri
$
8.95; AE, DISC, MC, V;
$$
-
$$$$
),
is a $7-million copy of the Munich orig-
inal, and those who've visited both would be hard pressed to tell the dif-
ference between the two. It's shingled with 50,000 beavertail roof tiles
imported from Germany; the famed pretzels are mixed in the Fatherland,
the dough then shipped over here to be baked; and artists took extensive
DVDs of the ornamental ceiling, walls, and beams of the original, projected
them onto the plaster here, and then painted by numbers, so to speak. So
all of the quaint, bucolic designs and signs are faithfully reproduced, from
the portrait of King Ludwig protecting the entrance, to radishes and pret-
zels dancing along the beams, to the words “It's worse to be thirsty than
homesick” over the stage area. Diners sit at the same long wood tables
and benches that they have had in Germany for the past 400 years, ever
since Duke Wilhelm V commissioned the original in 1589.
But this would all be beside the point if the beer weren't so splendid
that . . . well, after a couple of steins it seems absolutely normal to link
arms with the strangers around the table and sway back and forth to the
insistent beats of the live German band on stage (different acts are
rotated in from Germany every 4 weeks). The brew or brau you're drinking
is also the original, shipped in from Munich, and made in accordance with
the purity laws of 1516. What makes it taste so great? Glaciers. The water
in these lagers, wheat beers, and dark beers is drawn from a well that is
500 feet deep, whose waters, scientists tell us, are left over from the gla-
ciers that covered Munich during the so-called Tertiary period (bye bye
dinosaurs, hello ice age).
Will you enjoy yourself if you don't like beer? Absolutely. The food,
while heavy, is terrifically flavorsome, often smothered in beer gravy
(cooked 48 hr. before it hits the plate) and accompanied by tangy red cab-
bage and sauerkraut. I'm particularly fond of the
weisswurste
($9.95; white
go through their shtick as an impressive rainstorm rages, and in the evening, lasers
flash. To see the show, be sure to request one of the seats that faces away from the
buffet and into the atrium. It's the best view anyway, now that the big wall of fire
behind the buffet line (it gave it its “Firelight” name) has been permanently extin-
guished because of safety concerns. You'll still get a small glimpse of flame at the
excellent rotisserie section, a nice innovation that makes you wonder why more
buffets don't have rotisseries. Other choices include a wide array of Chinese food,
