Lip Smacking Foodie Tours Launches Arts District Craft Cocktail Crawl
The folks behind a number of popular Las Vegas restaurant and bar tours, Lip Smacking Foodie Tours, are now offering an Arts District Craft Cocktail Crawl.
If you’re a Las Vegas visitor and have no idea what the Arts District is, you may be missing out, and this new bar crawl could be the perfect introduction to this sometimes overlooked part of Las Vegas.
The new crawl hits five bars that top our list of must-do places we haven’t done yet: Nocturno, Doberman Drawing Room, CC Speakeasy, Prowl and Viking Mike’s Alpine Yurt Bar. They had us at “yurt.”
We’ve done a couple of the Lip Smacking Foodie Tour packages, and they accomplish a number of goals.
They pick the places to try, they work with the venues to give guests a streamlined, VIP experience (immediate entry), and they handle all the other details that can sometimes be a buzzkill.
With this new tour, guests get five cocktails and gourmet dishes, all included.
The price for the two-hour tour is $99, which includes taxes and gratuities (feel free to tip more, because you aren’t one of those people).
Cocktail prices on The Strip can run $20 or more, so this is actually an excellent value with the drink curation, food and extras, including the services of a professional guide (alcoholic) who accompanies everyone to each bar and provides information about the venue, the food and drink, along with being able to share their extensive knowledge of the neighborhood.
Here are the descriptions of the venues on the agenda in the Arts District crawl.
Bar #1: “The evening begins at Nocturno, a semifinalist this year for ‘Best New Bar in the United States’ by the James Beard Foundation, a first for any bar in Vegas. Its bartenders take a very individualized approach, engaging each patron in conversation to ascertain their preferences to create a bespoke cocktail rooted in the classics designed just for them. Lip Smacking guests will get to sip the Crimes of Passion, an evocative tequila and mezcal cocktail with the tang of passionfruit and the heat of chili salt. It will be paired with a crispy prosciutto potato croquette dolloped with caviar, and N.O.C. chicken tenders flavored with pickle spice seasoning and served with addictive N.O.C. (no other chicken) sauce that spoils you for any other.”
Bar #2: “Next, it’s on to Doberman Drawing Room, a most eccentric manor done up in the spirit of a 19th-century drawing room with heavy wood, red velvet, fanciful tapestries and even taxidermy. This over-the-top social club has limited daily reservations open to the public. With Lip Smacking, guests can enter pronto to enjoy its signature speakeasy cocktail amid surroundings that engage all the senses.”
Bar #3: “That’s followed by CC Speakeasy, a hidden hideaway inside a real ice cream parlor. Enter through a faux freezer door to discover this tucked-away, elegant emerald green lounge. Guests will be dazzled by the Zen Garden, a yuzu-forward, floral and citrusy cocktail garnished with cucumber wheels. It’s paired with American Wagyu and bacon sliders slathered with CC’s secret sauce; and everyone’s favorite chicken and waffles finished with mixed berry jam, maple butter, and yes, a pickle.”
Bar #4: “Guests will take a walk on the wild side at Prowl, a cheeky cocktail lounge with lava rock walls, where an animated panther on a screen behind the bar seems to follow your every move. Inspired by Elvis’ Jungle Room at Graceland, it’s the perfect setting to sit back with a Tropical Howler, a pisco cocktail with house-made ginger beer, plus the floral notes of hibiscus and makrut lime leaf.”
Bar #5: “The final stop is one not soon forgotten. Viking Mike’s has transplanted the feel of a wintry Nordic yurt to this desert metropolis. With the fragrance of fresh-chopped wood and a chilly entrance purposely kept at 32 degrees, it immediately puts guests in the mood to savor a Lake Mead gin-and-mead cocktail that gets the perfect Scandi flourish of candied spruce.”
As usual, Lip Smacking Foodie Tours has done a stellar job of selecting venues that are generating buzz, but that you may not have visited yet. It’s like bar-hopping on your own, but without the lame places you might stumble into and regret.
When you’re done with the tour, you’re already in the Arts District, so you can venture out on your own to explore the other 2,600 quirky bars and restaurants in the area.
If you aren’t a drinker, you can still try one of the restaurant tours from Lip Smacking Foodie Tours. They’re a great way to sample Las Vegas venues and make new friends along the way.
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