Our most
recent tour of casino and racino tour covered Mississippi, Louisiana and
Arkansas:
Tamales and T-Bones –
The tamale trail is a part of the Mississippi Delta Blues country where the
blues and tamales are a part of the culture. So in addition to a review of
casinos and racinos, we decided to take in some of the culture and history of
the area between Tunica and Vicksburg, Mississippi. From An Introduction: Hot Tamales and the Mississippi Delta: “Many
hypothesize that tamales made their way to the Mississippi Delta in the early
20th century when migrant laborers were brought in from Mexico to
work the cotton harvest. The African
Americans who shared the fields easily recognized the basic ingredients: corn
meal and pork.”
Traveling
from the Tunica casino area south, a visit to the Tunica
Museum will get you off to a good start. Following our tour of the museum
we asked for their recommendation for a good local restaurant and were directed
to the Blue and White, a
converted Pure Oil gas station.
Originally built in 1937. Tamales
- ok; catfish sandwiches - outstanding; atmosphere - local. Next stop heading south on Highway 61: Clarksdale
and the Delta Blues Museum. Across the street from the museum is the Ground Zero Blues Club, co-owned
by Morgan Freeman. The Club features
performances by both local and national blues bands….and great hot
tamales. Be sure to ask the waitress for
the real, corn husk tamales, not the appetizer tamales.
Our next stop
was in Greenville at Harlow’s Casino
and Hotel for an overnight stay. We
had dinner at the famous Doe’s Eat Place
a few miles from Harlow’s. Best to dress in your flannel shirt, jeans and
baseball cap. Be prepared to order steak,
although they do have tamales on the menu. But you should really be ready to order
their large T-Bone steak. They have beer
available, but if you want wine, you can bring your own. We were seated in the
kitchen area overlooking the preparation of fries and pounding of salad lettuce. It’s definitely worth the experience. Harlow’s
was a great stay, a very clean hotel with a well-managed and lively casino
owned by Churchill Downs.
Tunica and Tough Love – Everyone following the casino world
is aware of the decline in casino and hotel revenues in the 9 casino Tunica
area. Each time I review the area we
stay at one of the nine. This time it was the Roadhouse Casino and Hotel -- a
confusing mix of an old English Tudor exterior design with a Willie Nelson
interior with whiskey barrels and barn wood walls. It was a cold February night
when we arrived, wind blowing…quite miserable.
Parking was a mess so you couldn’t park near the place. Once inside the casino area we discovered
quiet. Their motto is “If you don’t like
noise, come on in.” But the quiet was a
result of few patrons, other than a handful of slot players and one blackjack
table active. The restaurant was closed.
The only food available was microwaved chicken wings and frozen burgers. Even more depressing was the hotel room. A nice bathroom and jacuzzi area surrounded
by a filthy carpet with 3-foot diameter stains. The crown moulding above the
curtain was falling down from water leakage. The dresser and cabinet drawers
were wide open and wouldn’t close. In simple terms, a dump. I provided the
check-out hostess with my feelings and business card, but haven’t heard from
anyone. So here’s my tough love to the
Roadhouse: It’s frankly an embarrassment to the Tunica Casino industry. Note: We’ll see if it's still open at the
end of 2015.
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