Las Vegas Mixtape v24: Buzzy Burgers, Beautiful Sounds, and a Metal Health Check-up

1. Track #1: Hard Hat Lounge @Downtown Vegas

It’s easy to cozy up to the Hard Hat Lounge, a classic 24/7 dive bar with gaming machines on Industrial Road. It was established in 1962 and serves Bobby Meader’s “Stay Tuned Burgers,” while the jukebox spins Rancid, the War on Drugs, and DIIV.

The Hard Hat’s charred double burger delivers on the buzz around it. This irresistible creation comes with homemade sauce, American cheese, onions, and pickle chips on a potato bun. Order the heavenly tater tots (crispy outside, soft inside)—and enjoy it all at the bar, on a high-top communal table, or outdoors on the patio (next to the free parking lot).

Vegas-born Frank Sidoris bought the Hard Hat in late 2022. This all-around nice guy—a longtime guitarist in Slash’s band who’s also a member of Wolfgang Van Halen’s Mammoth WVH—remodeled the self-described “industry bar, venue, and burger joint” before reopening it in December 2023. Don’t leave without seeing the terrific collection of hard hats on the wall; fittingly, construction workers get $1 off on select drinks all day.

Meanwhile, look for the Hard Hat to stage its third annual free block party on Friday, November 1, from 8 pm until late (open to all 21-and-over guests). Expect “a full stage for entertainment, music, food, raffles, and beer,” with local bands Same Sex Mary and Zach Ryan Band lined up.

2. Track #2: “A Big Beautiful Block Party” @Downtown Vegas

Taking the stage on the second and final night of Life Is Beautiful spinoff event “A Big Beautiful Block Party,” James Murphy of headliner LCD Soundsystem said to the crowd, “It’s hot. I don’t know why you guys like it here.” Spoken, lovably, like a true New Yorker.

Opening with the hypnotic percussion-is-king “Get Innocuous!” from 2007, the co-ed big band kept the crowd moving on the ample concrete grounds next to the Plaza Hotel & Casino. LCD came to conquer, armed with their patented neo-disco/art-electro-punk combo platter, which imaginatively synthesizes elements of Talking Heads, Patti Smith, and David Bowie. The Starman’s influence was especially felt on the atmospheric and moody “I Can Change.”

Why do so many people love James Murphy? Consider the band’s sardonic gem “Losing My Edge,” with his hilarious freestyle spoken lines: “I’m losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.” Murphy’s infectious everyone-can-piss-off attitude ruled this block party.

Preceding LCD was another neo-disco group, the UK’s Jungle, whose self-titled debut album is now 10 years old. They were captivating from the get-go with their funky, bass-heavy wall-of-sound and falsetto vocals. Their outstanding new single, the retro-groovy but modern-sounding “Let’s Go Back,” keeps the band seriously in the game as an important dance music act. Visually, their red-centric stage production was dazzling.

3. Track #3: Chicago Joe’s @Downtown Vegas

In an ever-changing city, some places blessedly remain the same. Take Chicago Joe’s, an Italian restaurant in a small, converted brick house in downtown Vegas. Next year, the proudly old-school eatery built in 1933 turns 50 (it opened in 1975).

There’s no doubt that the city’s mobsters all dined here, with their eyes firmly on the door in between bites of pasta. In fact, Chicago Joe’s fully embraces its mobster past. Just look at the bullet hole motif in the restaurant’s sign outside.

This is not a place that serves Instagramable food. Instead, it specializes in Italian classics like Fettuccini Alfredo and Scallops Marinara.  Chicago Joe’s mission is to warm your soul, down to the red checkered tablecloths and year-round Christmas lights hanging throughout the space. There are even white lace curtains—and wood paneling, too—suggesting an Italian grandmother’s home. Me, I was very content eating my chicken parmigiana and penne pasta in front of the fireplace in one of the three rooms.

The restaurant’s “Lite Bite” dinner menu, offered Tuesday through Saturday before 6:30 pm, is a good option with “smaller prices” and “smaller portions”—it’s also an invitation to save room for one of their six desserts like the Godiva chocolate cheesecake.

4. Track #4: Quiet Riot, Pavilion @M Resort Spa Casino in Henderson

Back in 1983, I wrote the Epic Records bio for Quiet Riot’s breakthrough third album, “Metal Health,” after listening to a cassette copy of it. Amazing to think it would become the first metal album to hit number #1 on the Billboard pop albums chart, move 10 million copies worldwide, and help kickstart (with Motley Crue) the glam metal genre with the band’s cover of Slade’s “Cum on Feel the Noize.”

Recently, at the packed Pavilion at the M Resort Spa Casino in Henderson, the band’s bassist Rudy Sarzo (one of rock’s major league players from the classic line-up), Vegas-based guitarist Alex Grossi, lead singer Jizzy Pearl, and drummer Johnny Kelly celebrated that album and its hit follow-up disc, 1984’s “Condition Critical.”

It was a blazing and commanding arena rock-worthy performance, with Pearl’s vocals easily and impressively hitting the high notes.

Songs like “Slick Black Cadillac,” “Party All Night,” “Metal Health,” and “Mama Weer All Crazee Now” (the band’s other Slade cover) sounded as youthful and optimistic as ever.  On this night in 2024, it was comforting to hear Quiet Riot tap into the days when the hedonistic Sunset Blvd rock scene had its eye on the next party and ladder to the top. The future looked so much brighter back then.

5. Track #5: Around Town Medley

All my favorites, including the okra, cauliflower/potatoes, garlic nan, potato-filled nan, and samosas, tasted strikingly light, and the chicken tikka masala was as creamy/dreamy as it needed to be. While you dine, it’s hard not to look up at the TV screen on the wall playing Bollywood films with colorfully costumed Indian actors dancing to pop-dance music. This keeps the mood at Angara lively and fun.

Fast-casual eateries with counter service may not qualify as “fine dining,” but SkinnyFATS is a smart and satisfying choice. This Nevada/Utah chain, with branches all over Vegas, has a menu that favors healthy options but includes fried delights like the “Blazewich” with Nashville hot chicken.

I took the healthy route and ordered the Mangolorian with seared ahi tuna, jasmine rice, Hawaiian mix, mango basil, and cilantro.  This excellent union of flavors was affordably priced at $15—a perfect dish I ate on the eatery’s outdoor patio in downtown Summerlin on a glorious night in the mid-‘80s with only 16 percent humidity and no insects in sight (my idea of paradise).

Walking around after dinner, I happened upon the dress rehearsal for the annual “Parade of Mischief.” The family-friendly Halloween season parade with creative floats runs through downtown Summerlin’s streets every Friday and Saturday at 6 pm through October 26.

Bonus: it was wonderful to hear “Goo Goo Muck,” a 1982 cover tune by the groundbreaking psychobilly punk legends The Cramps, used in one of the choreographed dances. Good music—including this nugget featured recently in an episode of Netflix’s “Wednesday” (a spinoff of “The Addams Family”)—never dies.