Las Vegas - Hail Mary! Casino puts faith in Virgin Mary grilled cheese

Hail Mary! Casino puts faith in Virgin Mary grilled cheese

"Hail Mary! Casino puts faith in Virgin Mary grilled cheese"

What do you get when you mix an eBay auction with an online casino and a hip cafe in Vegas?

Believe it or not, maybe a religious experience.

The recipe came into being after a decade-old half of a grilled cheese sandwich, with what appears to be an image of a woman on it, was sold on eBay recently for $28,000 to the Antigua-based Goldenpalace.com online casino. Last week, the sandwich, which its creator (and former owner) contends has the image of the Virgin Mary on it, made it to Sin City and the Hard Rock Cafe as part of its "The Passion of the Toast" tour. The famous grilled cheese was on display from December 8-10 at the cafe.

Reporters, camera crews and passersby alike snuck glances at the oddly mold-free pieces of bread with Land O' Lakes cheese in the middle. The image looks strikingly like a woman, most admit, as they pass by the small glass case. Some of them pray or seek good luck. Others debate the identity of the image on the mystical sandwich.

"I don't think it looks like the Virgin Mary, but I think it look like a '20s movie star, like Jean Harlow or Gloria Vanderbilt," commented an older woman, who gave her name only as Bridgette and said she was a Las Vegas resident.

Tourist Monica Diggs, who was visiting from Denver, first said it did look like the Virgin Mary, but minutes later recanted a little after her female friend expressed doubt about the holy likeness.

For its throngs of believers, though, the Vegas premier of the sacred sandwich might seem a little sacrilegious. Not so for the woman who created it. Diana Duyer herself is no stranger to playing the odds.

"I've won a lot of money at the casinos -- about $70,000 -- over the years," confesses Duyer of her good fortune after toasting the holy sandwich 10 years ago. Some of that money was even won at the Hard Rock in Florida.

Duyer was on hand at the Hard Rock Cafe to talk about how much her life had changed since that fateful day a decade ago when she took one bite of her sandwich and realized "she was looking at me."

That "she," Duyer firmly maintains, is the image of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Whether the 1.7 million eBay viewers were also true believers or just curiosity seekers is unclear, but they amounted to enough clicks to pique the interest of Goldenpalace.com. After coughing up the better part of $30,000 to Duyer for the grilled cheese, the casino (which has its server based on an Indian reservation in Canada) took the revered former food item on a road trip from Florida to Las Vegas. A writer for the Miami Herald was the driver, but Diana Duyer is also a big part of the plans for Goldenpalace.com.

Mrs. Duyer renewed her vows with husband Gregg outside the Hard Rock Cafe -- and in front of the Virgin Mary grilled cheese -- almost immediately following her press conference last Wednesday. Dyer came dressed in a "The Passion of the Toast" T-shirt.

That name, of course, parodies the Mel Gibson blockbuster crucifixion movie released earlier this year, "The Passion of the Christ." Diana Duyer, who also gets paid for her travel expenses by Goldenpalace. com, saw little problem with the grilled cheese tour's name being ... distasteful?

"They bought it, so they can call it what they want," she says of the online casino's tour title.

The creator of the object of worship, however, says she is still fond of the small sandwich, which is enclosed in a larger glass case (which encases the smaller transparent baseball card holder that's been the grilled cheese's home for the last 10 years).

"It's like part of the family, it was with us for so long," she says. "It is time for the world to see it."

Goldenpalace.com would like to see that happen, and if the world happens to see the online casino's name along with it, then that's fine too, says Goldenpalace. com's marketing director.

"From the business perspective, it is getting a lot of attention," he says.

Careful not to offend anyone with declarations of total faith in the holiness of the sandwich, Goldenpalace.com stance is that of "judge for yourself."

"We aren't taking a stand saying this is, or isn't, the Virgin Mary," cautions Black. "We are just taking it out to the community."

Black says he's not concerned about the naysayers having a chuckle at the online casino's expense, either. In fact, Goldenpalace just purchased a "haunted cane" off eBay for $60,000 and plans a similar tour with that find.

All the marketing talk doesn't matter to one Anna Fertek. The Las Vegas woman, who appeared to be in her late 50s or early 60s, just went to pray for her daughter before the Virgin Mary.

For Fertek, that trek led her to take her grown daughter and grandchildren down to the Hard Rock Cafe parking lot as storm clouds gathered overhead last Wednesday.

The hoopla didn't get in the way, either. Fertek even scored a few souvenir "The Passion of the Toast" keychains.

"Believe? Oh yes, I do," she said in her European accent after her pilgrimage. "I believe this might help. I really do."