VEGAS DINING NEWS: How 3 Can Still Eat for Under $20 (Hint: Don’t Order Martha Stewart’s $266.95 Potato)

Yes, it’s still possible for three to eat for under $20 without a time machine. And former Casino.org and current Vegas411 blogger Mitch Schneider proved it last weekend by spending $19.47 (including tax) for three $5.99 cheeseburger specials at the Lucky Penny Café at Red Rock Resort.

This all-day special is a “quarter-pound patty, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, burger sauce” served with fries and pickles.

The only caveat is having a player’s card (free at the rewards desk if you don’t have one), drinking water to keep the price below a Jackson, and finding your way from the Strip.

The deal is also good at the Lucky Penny at Green Valley Ranch and the Brass Fork locations at Sunset Station, Santa Fe Station and Palace Station, which is only one mile west of the Sahara.

Martha Gets Smashed

On the opposite side of the budget spectrum, Martha Stewart posted an Instagram video last week illustrating how to prepare her Smashed Baked Potato. She described it as “one of the most asked for” dishes at her Bedford by Martha Stewart eatery at Paris Las Vegas, where it sells for $266.95 including 4 ounces of Golden Osetra caviar and tableside presentation.

The clip shows a pair of gloved hands halving a baked Yukon potato, using two small spoons to gut the insides, then seasoning them with crème fraiche, butter, chives, and bacon lardons.

But her followers’ reactions were far more entertaining.

“i just make this myself at home for 2 dollars 😂,” one commenter noted.

“God forbid the rich have to put sour cream on their own baked potato,” griped another.

“It’s a phuqn baked potato,” sneered a third. “Are you doing an Indian street food satire skit?”

To be fair, without the caviar, the side dish only costs 15.95 and still gets prepared tableside.

Dining Ins & Outs

Naughty Patty’s will be the new burger joint at the Cosmopolitan, where Holsteins Shakes & Buns got bumped by Amaya Modern Mexican Restaurant but will soon open a new location downtown.

Therapy, a popular restaurant and nightspot in downtown’s Fremont East Entertainment District since it opened in a former Dollar Store in 2015, has been sold, according to What Now Vegas. The contemporary American restaurant will be replaced by an EDM nightclub called Electric Mushroom.

Prime Steakhouse has reopened at the Bellagio. It closed last September for renovation and served guests using the former Picasso space until recently. (Picasso closed last August after 26 years.)

Sen Thai Noodle plans to open shortly at 3380 Arville St., Suite C-D. That’s about 1.5 miles west of the Strip in Chinatown.

Health to Pay

Las Music Karaoke & Bar, in Chinatown at at 4821 Spring Mountain Road, was closed by the Southern Nevada Health Department on March 14 for 22 demerits. They included “spoiled, contaminated or adulterated” food (5 demerits), food not at proper temperatures (5), equipment not “approved, properly designed, maintained and operated” (3) food not “protected from potential cross-contamination (3), food contact surfaces not “properly cleaned and sanitized,” (3), person in charge not “present, demonstrates knowledge and performs duties” (3).