But there's one rare bird tourists will have trouble tracking down on Las Vegas Boulevard. It's easier to find a $939,000 Ferrari (Wynn Las Vegas) or a $1,000 martini (Capital Grille at Fashion Show) than it is to spot a local resident.

Thanks to factors both economic and pragmatic, Las Vegans typically eschew Las Vegas Boulevard in favor of bars, eateries and shopping centers well off the Strip.

Think of the Strip as Southern Nevada's version of Manhattan, says John Curtas, a local attorney and food critic who runs the Eating Las Vegas Web site and blog.

To New Yorkers, Manhattan represents "the big time," Curtas says. But most New Yorkers live in the Bronx, Queens or Long Island. Sure, they'll head to Manhattan to splurge, but they're more interested in scoping out great everyday places in their own neighborhoods.

Las Vegans maintain a similar relationship with Las Vegas Boulevard, Curtas says, and that's why locals ask him more than anything to steer them to the best haunts off the Strip.

Locals avoid the Strip for several reasons.

First, Las Vegans often believe Strip restaurants, clubs and stores tack an extra 10 percent to 15 percent onto their prices to gouge vacationers, so they think resorts will offer them less value for the dollar, Curtas says.

Second, full-time residents never want to feel as if they're a part of the tourist herd.

"I'm sure people who live in Daytona Beach (Fla.) and Hawaii rebel against the tourist spots, too," Curtas notes.

Finally, there's the practical matter of convenience, says Joel Jarvis, president of the business- and social-networking club The Link Las Vegas.

People who live here aren't on vacation. That means they're occupied with decidedly un-touristy activities, such as posting long hours at the office, maintaining social obligations with friends and family, attending kids' soccer games and sleeping. Locals simply don't have the time to drop half an hour on finding a parking space and traipsing across a mile's worth of casino floor to meet friends after work for a quick drink, Jarvis says.

"We're just so busy. Locals feel like they just don't want to go into that insanity (on the Strip)," Jarvis says. "We just want to be able to go somewhere that's easy to get in, without all these bells ringing and slots going and 100,000 people to fight through."

For David Chavez, a Link Las Vegas member and local business consultant, credit all of the above for keeping him and his friends off the Strip.

"We definitely stay away from the Strip altogether," Chavez says. "It's the hassle of getting in and out of places. There are a lot of tourists, and I don't think the pricing of drinks and other things is conducive to local people."

A new factor is affecting where locals socialize. The recession has everyone on the prowl for the best deals, Jarvis says, so some of today's top hot spots happen to be wherever locals can find deals for free food or booze. And that's not likely to be on the Strip.

Here are a few locals favorites:

• Restaurant Row. Clustered around and near the intersection of Paradise and Flamingo roads, this dining district claims nearly a dozen eateries ranging from Roy's, a Hawaiian-fusion place, to Gordon Biersch, a microbrewery that serves up pizzas, pastas, salads and sandwiches. Restaurant Row neighbors the Hughes Center, one of the city's biggest and priciest office parks, so it hosts scores of white-collar workers looking to relax after a hard day's work.

Chavez and his associates especially like McCormick and Schmick's, a seafood restaurant that has "great bartenders" who remember customers' names.

A small strip mall across from the Hughes Center on Paradise contains Ruth's Chris, a steakhouse that Jarvis says locals love for its food and customer service, and Firefly, a busy tapas place that caters to a young-professional crowd.

• Downtown bars. Forget those shiny new nightclubs on the Strip. Locals are flocking to bars on and around Fremont Street. The Griffin, Beauty Bar and the Downtown Cocktail Room have all gained traction with locals weary of getting "ripped off" at clubs inside hotel-casinos on the Strip, Curtas says.

Maybe a tourist looking to impress his buddies or his girlfriend won't balk openly at paying $300 for a $30 bottle of vodka, but locals find that idea "very offensive," Curtas says. Downtown offers a more authentic -- and more affordable -- experience.

• Locally owned suburban restaurants. At restaurants such as Marche Bacchus, a lakeside bistro in Desert Shores, and Vintner Grill, an upscale Summerlin eatery featuring seasonal fare, locals can escape the bland uniformity of franchises, chains and corporate-owned places, Curtas says. Nora's Wine Bar at Boca Park and Settebello Pizzeria Napoletana at The District at Green Valley Ranch also pack in the locals, who appreciate operations run by other Las Vegans.

"There's a certain vibe to being in a place where the owner is there," Curtas says. "The food is really good, but there's also a hominess at these places that you can't find on the Strip."

• Off-Strip resorts. Locals hankering for a casino experience avoid Strip hotels in favor of properties closer to home. Especially popular these days, according to Jarvis: the Palms on Flamingo Road and Summerlin's Red Rock Resort. They're relatively new and fresh, they're not too big and they're easy to enter and exit.

Chavez likes the South Point, a hotel-casino that's popular among locals thanks to its convenient location at the confluence of interstates 15 and 215. He heads there with buddies during the NFL season to watch Monday night football.

• Exceptions to the rule on and next to the Strip. One of Jarvis' groups, the Business Professionals, Up and Comers, Socialites and Entrepreneurs Club, meets Thursday nights at Charlie Palmer Steak inside the Four Seasons. The hotel, which is part of Mandalay Bay, anchors the south end of the Strip, so visiting doesn't require maneuvering the popular boulevard's busiest intersections. The Four Seasons also has no slot machines, so visitors don't feel like they're in Las Vegas.

Battista's Hole in the Wall, an Italian restaurant behind the Flamingo Hilton, is that rare resort-corridor restaurant locals will seek out, Jarvis says. It has its own convenient parking, and great food to boot, he says.

Contact Jennifer Robison at 702-380-4512 or e-mail her at jrobison@reviewjournal.com.