Vegas After Hours: Everything Good Happens After Midnight
The party doesn't stop when the clock hits midnight; this isn't a fairytale gala, you guys. This is Vegas and the best parts of your night are bound to be when you're full of liquid courage and on a serious quest for more fun with your crew.
Drai's After Hours
Long toted as the premier late night club scene here in Vegas, Drai's After Hours is still going strong and the perfect blend of nightlife and really late nightlife. When the incessant mega-club "BOOM TSS BOOM TSS BOOM TSS" starts to get to your drunken head, but you're not quite ready to head back to the room like a loser, just fall into a taxi wherever you are and tell the driver "Drai's!" Located in The Cromwell now, since moving from Bally's basement, Drai's seductive red lighting and great music will be the perfect way to phase into the next stage of your nightlife experience. And since it's open till about 5:00 a.m.-ish, you may want to bring sunglasses with you so you don't burn your retinas off walking out into the Vegas morning after you party all night. Just thinking of your wellbeing, friends.
Du-Par's Restaurant and Bakery
If you're anything like me, or a normal human being in general, you're going to want some late night grub after you've been partying. Let me set the scene for you: Your feet are quite sore. Your head is stumbling around bizarrely hilarious thoughts from your night mixed with judgements about that girl's disgusting barefoot parade down Fremont. (Seriously, avoid Hepatitis and the bevy of diseases waiting down there on the ground. Just walk slow in those stilettos and enjoy the rest of your life where your feet are still attached to your body). Walking towards the address "1 Fremont Street" sounds vaguely perfect right now, since the number one thing on your mind is not walking and it's so close. But you make it to the magical, burgundy, cracked-leather booth inside Du-par's Restaurant and slump down in its glorious, welcoming cushions. Before you know it, they're here. The reason your friend dragged you here in the first place. A stack of pancakes. Not JUST a stack of pancakes though. They're different...yet somehow familiar. What every pancake on Earth has always wished it could be. A plate of broad, golden and buttery cakes fresh off of Zeus's griddle of the gods, steaming a sweet-smelling vapor of what Febreeze should really investigate and replicate for their next best-selling product. Esquire voted these pancakes the best in America a few years ago, and the Las Vegas Review Journal had to do a double-take to make sure they enjoyed them, but I knew right off the bat that these are some of my favorite late night hotcakes.
Frankie's Tiki Room
There's nothing quite like finishing up the hazy after hours of your night in a small, dark dive bar, but its especially great when it's one a dive bar themed like a retro tropical tiki bar. Enter Frankie's Tiki Room after midnight and you'll see what I'm talking about. This bar is open 24 hours a day, so its really a great haunt any time, but you'll get some of your best people watching adventures late at night. Although it may start as people watching, we know that when you're intoxicated in a small bar sipping tropical cocktails, you're bound to make new friends. One of the best parts here is finding out how ballsy you're feeling by picking a drink whose potency is rated with three to five skulls. Ready for a five skull Friday kind of night? You're not alone.
Aces & Ales
Owned by Vegas resident and rockstar extraordinaire Keri Kelli of Alice Cooper and Slash's Snakepit, Aces & Ales is a killer option for your dead-0f-night shenanigans. There are two locations, one in the West and one on the East, and both are a heavyweight in craft beers, gastropub food, and vintage selections of Scotch, bourbon and tequila. In true Vegas fashion, Aces & Ales is open 24 hours, so you can stumble in here with some friendly regulars and great staff to enjoy some REAL beer that will put hair on your chest. Wander in between midnight and 3:00 a.m. for the late night "Hoppy Hour" offerings of $5 draft beer, specialty cocktails and food. Love what you're tasting? Bring home a growler full of your favorite craft beer to use as the next morning's "hair of the dog."
