1. Where to find the best cheesesteaks in Philly.
“Pat’s is perfectly fine, but I find their steaks a bit too heavy,” Ron, a Philadelphia native, tells me after I regale him with the tale of my first-ever cheesesteak experience last fall. “Next time you’re in Philly, here’s what you’re going to want to do: stop by this place called Tony Luke’s, at the end of Oregon Avenue. Now, at Pat’s your steak probably had a few thick slabs of meat and then Cheez Whiz on it, right? Well at Tony Luke’s, you’ll find super finely sliced meat, a lot easier to eat, and more cheese options, you can choose between Cheez Whiz, provolone, or cheddar.” This guy knows his stuff. He tells me afterward that he wants to open a cheesesteak restaurant on the Vegas Strip the second he finds himself a good backer.
2. The backstory of one of the most beautiful bars on the Strip.
Halfway through our commute to the Cosmopolitan hotel, our driver Ryan says, “okay, I have to brag for a second, because I can’t help mentioning it every time the Cosmopolitan comes up…” I have zero clue what to expect next. “My brother is an architect, and you know what his last big project was?” I hold my breath. “He designed the Chandelier bar at the Cosmopolitan.” At first, my only response is a brief shriek. This thing is the highlight of the whole hotel, it’s a bar surrounded by a larger-than-life, multi-story chandelier—and Ryan’s own brother designed it!? “You wouldn’t believe how long that took to get done. He worked so hard on it! He lives in New York now, but every time I pass the Cosmopolitan, I can’t help but tell people about his work here in Vegas.”
3. How to manage the creative process.
“My brother and I, we’re a lot alike in that way: we both need our creative outlets,” Ryan the actor/driver says. “But him, he channels his creativity onto paper in his work as an architect, whereas I’m an entertainer of sorts—depending on who you ask. So we both have that need to express ourselves, but if you were to put a piece of paper and a pencil in my hand, I would have no idea what to do with it.” When I ask what kind of performer he is, I predict he’ll say he’s a comedian—it just seems like it would suit him—but his response is even better: he’s a stage actor.