LAS VEGAS — There are signs throughout the neon city that the Vegas economy has lost some of its shimmer. Casinos have laid off hundreds of workers. Hotels are slashing room rates. Foreclosure signs mar suburban streets.
And now, the 99-cent shrimp cocktail has broken the dollar mark.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday, June 17, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 46 words Type of Material: Correction
Shrimp cocktails: An article in some editions of Sunday's Section A about the new $1.99 price of Las Vegas shrimp cocktails said that in 1999, the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino raised the price to 99 cents from 50 cents. The price increase was in 1991.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, June 22, 2008 Bulldog Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 47 words Type of Material: Correction
Shrimp cocktails: A June 15 article in Section A in some editions about the new $1.99 price of Las Vegas shrimp cocktails said that in 1999, the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino raised the price to 99 cents from 50 cents. The price increase was in 1991.
The price of the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino's signature dish recently rose to $1.99, the victim of the escalating price of bay shrimp. The increase was the first in 17 years, and was viewed locally as an ominous indicator. People railed against the change on Internet message boards.
"Gas at $4 a gallon is one thing, but this is just too damn much," one posting says.
Though Las Vegas brags about its high-end suites and shops, midlevel casinos dominate gambling off the Strip. They bait mainly locals and penny-pinchers with $6.95 steaks and $9.99 prime rib. Financially, that's getting tougher.
Station Casinos Inc., which runs 17 off-Strip casinos and taverns, has trimmed other expenses to cope with 18% to 30% jumps in rice, flour, corn and vegetable-oil-based products such as salad dressing.
Boyd Gaming Corp. yanked specials at some of its nine Vegas properties, including the $10.95 Texas T-bone at Gold Coast Casino. Managers refused to bump up the price: "It would have no longer been a special," said company spokesman Rob Stillwell.
In that context, it's surprising that the 102-year-old Golden Gate shelved the shrimp cocktails' 99-cent price tag. The dish was the casino's brainchild in 1959, and it serves a ton of cold-water shrimp each week in tulip sundae glasses, slathered in secret-recipe cocktail sauce. It has outlasted most of the city's 99-cent breakfasts, the cut-rate buffets and the Rat Pack-era casinos that touted them.
"It's this Vegas-style dinosaur that has lived on in the new Vegas," says Anthony Curtis, president of the Las Vegas Advisor website, which lists the cocktail as the city's top value.
Golden Gate co-owner Mark Brandenburg's stepfather, Italo Ghelfi, swiped the idea from his former home of San Francisco. He initially sold Fisherman's Wharf-style shrimp for 50 cents at the Golden Gate, where Brandenburg's mother was a cocktail waitress.
In 1990, Brandenburg got into the business in downtown's Glitter Gulch, a string of old-school casinos. He combed the books and discovered that the casino lost about $300,000 a year on shrimp cocktail. Customers would buy dozens, take home the leftovers and serve them at parties.
