Best Last Minute Deals Las Vegas

Best Sunday Champagne Brunch:

Head for Bally's, at Mid-Strip, where the lavish Sterling Sunday Brunch (tel. 702/967-7999) features tables dressed with linen and silver. The buffet itself has everything from caviar and lobster to sushi and sashimi, plus fancy entrees that include the likes of roast duckling with black-currant and blueberry sauce.

Best Group Budget Meal Deal:

Capriotti's again -- a large sandwich can feed two with leftovers, for about $5 each. Or split a bowl of soup at the Grand Wok (tel. 702/891-7777) in the MGM. This pan-Asian restaurant offers a variety of soups in such generous portions that four people can make a decent meal out of one serving.

Best Bistro:

We ate nearly the entire menu at Bouchon (tel. 702/414-6200), from Thomas Keller, in The Venetian, and didn't find a misstep, just what you might expect from one of the most critically lauded chefs in the country. But don't overlook Mon Ami Gabi (tel. 702/944-4224), in the Paris Las Vegas hotel. Offering lovely, reasonably priced bistro fare (steak and pommes frites, onion soup), it may be our new favorite Vegas restaurant (at least of the non-celebrity-chef variety).