Category: Openings

What the f…k?

Rumor has it that Switch, the Mark Poidevin-helmed restaurant slated to open soon at Encore at Wynn….or Encore at THE Wynn or THE Encore at THE Wynn, will have a design and decor that switches mid-way through every evening. Get it? This change-o-rama will include: a ceiling that turns over, window and wall coverings that transform themselves….and costume conversions for the entire staff….once a night every night.

Just what these apparel mutations might be is anyone’s guess: Trousers to mini-skirts? Blazers to wife-beaters? Or perhaps from this to this?

And what the f…k does any of this have to do with food? The mind reels.

Steverino’s favorite in-house decor-guy Roger Thomas is the mind behind this design, to which ELV can only say: Go get ’em Rog! But watch out for all them moving parts!

Larry Forgione Makes Vegas An American Place

He calls himself one of the Dirty Dozen — along with Jimmy Schmidt, Jeremiah Tower, Jonathan Waxman, Alice Waters, Wolfgang Puck, Paul Prudhomme, Mark Miller, Bradley Ogden, Charley Trotter, Michel Richard, and last but not least Jean-Louis Palladin — chefs who forever changed America’s eating habits. In no small way, every time you pick up some fresh ginger root or raddichio at the supermarket, you owe a quiet ‘thank you’ to this group.

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MINUS 5 ICE LOUNGE under construction and opening soon

If someone told you a bar would soon exist in Vegas with a 3 drink maximum, having a 30 minute time limit per imbibing session, and invented and owned by New Zealanders, you’d think they were crazy, wouldn’t you?

Well, they’re not, but the Minus 5 Ice Lounge is (crazy, in a cool way)….and it’s destined to be one hot place very soon. These ice bars started in Auckland, New Zealand and there are 5 others in the world — two each in New Zealand and Australia, and one in Portugal. From what we’ve seen, 3 stiff drinks are just an aperitif to Kiwis and Aussies….but perhaps drinking at 23degrees F will cool even those blokes down under.

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