As if you need another reason to come: It's Also Adventures in Dining 1 Year Anniversary!
Plus Chinese New Year! Plus my birthday! Plus it can be your birthday, too (why not?!)!

Almost exactly a year ago, a small band of Adventurous Diners ventured to Fong's Garden for a debaucherous night of food and Stevie Nicks covers. It's my birthday and I'm not shy, I celebrate ALL MONTH long with the culmination of the festivities to hit its climax on my actual birthday, on the very last day of the month: January 31st. Nobody understands the importance of my birthday to me better than EX-boyfriends. Notice the word "EX"? Yes, birthdays are serious business in my book.

Wing Fong opened Fong's Garden in 1955. The soft-spoken Chinese businessman and philanthropist was integral to Las Vegas History. Without him, there would be no Nevada State Bank nor Judy Bayley Theater at UNLV (he spearheaded fundraising for the theater and served on the bank board until his death). He championed for minority rights, married a pretty schoolteacher and opened up his authentic Chinese restaurant to a bevy of movie stars, socialites, and the Rat Pack. During its heydey, Fong's Garden had lines out the door clamoring to get in for a glimpse of the creme de la creme.

The aesthetic feast for the eyes that awaits at this place holds a special place in my heart for this aging glamorous beauty and the tacky wonderfulness inside. It has the most incredible Pagoda Facade and neon lit sign outside with a painted "GOOD NIGHT" and the silhouette of a wall-sized owl outside (photo opportunities a'plenty). The entry has etched dragon glass windows with trompe l'oeil pagoda wainscotting and painted details. From the shocking hot pink archways to the fog-emitting goddess fountain to the cherry red vinyl & brass booths to the shiny chrome old-timey cash register, one can never be sure if they're actually on the set of a Quentin Tarantino or War Kong Wei film. The restaurant is absolutely stunning in its salute to kitsch complete with a karaoke mirrored stage, lanterns, mismatched bouquets of bright silk flowers, miniature waiters in tiny red bell-hop style vests and an old school hostess with helmet hair who vacuums aimlessly around the tables using one of those old vacuum sweepers as if on auto-pilot.

A little bit Twilight Zone, a little bit the place that time forgot, a little bit nostalgic and a whole lot of visual splendor. You can't possibly get enough or take it all in at one sitting.

The patrons range from down and dirty cowboy gamblers to aging cocktail waitress types with bleached blonde hair fried to the high heavens and sexy karaoke girls with gold Let's Get Physical Olivia Newton-John sequins headbands. Hot. This place receives a thorough thumbs up on every level. Mostly a Filipino crowd but stray crazies from Downtown, too - always a good mix. WE. ARE. VERY. INTO. IT.

Fong's is now a Chinese-Filipino restaurant. We'll order a huge variety of entrees to sample and share including their famous sizzling pork sisig because we're down with crunchy, lemony and oniony, YUM. The sizzling pork sisig holds for a prestigious reputation as the very best in town. We've tried it and we like it a whole lot. And we plan to shock the tastebuds with some bitter melon, too. Other Chinese and Filipino favorites will round out the menu. We're going for variety since this is an anything-goes kind of place.

This is gaudy Vegas dining AT ITS FINEST. Let's give their usual Filipino power ballad clientele a run for their money when we belt out a few karaoke tunes of our own afterwards. Karaoke starts at 9PM.

FORMAT: The menu will be set and it's $20 (slap a twenty on the table when you arrive). Birthday cake for everyone! Frosting on your noses, optional.

ATTIRE: the fake-fancy – long stem cigarettes, rhinestones, boas, bowties, socks with high heels, blazers with patches, highwater pants highlighting your package (yes, cameltoes are legal), wigs, falls, eyelashes, ascots, lizard skin shoes, purple suits, mint green prom dresses, metallic rainbow Flashdance sweaters, top hats, gloves, whatever you've got that you wouldn't dare wear anywhere else. We take our fashion cues from transvestites and dandys, thank you very much.

P.S. This is REALLY my birthday celebration. I happily accept all gifts, cards, flowers, poems, hugs, seedlings, jewelry, perfume bottles, gold, spices, silk, fruit, and other tiny luxuries. My favorite birthday celebration was held at a restaurant in L.A. called Modada (long gone) which seated 60 and 75 of my nearest and dearest friends showed up! I asked all of them to bring me toys as gifts. Sure enough we had hula hoops, jump ropes, flying fairy dolls and bouncing balls going inside the restaurant. We were promptly banned from ever returning to the restaurant but it was well worth it!