People tend to forget that Mandalay Bay began as a rival to the Bellagio and the Venetian. When it opened in 1999, Circus Entertainment (or whatever the corporation was called then) intended it to be as upscale as anyplace in town.
ELV note: This just popped into our “in” box. All we can say is, it was just a matter of time (more…)
R.I.P. Ruth’s Chris: 1989-2011
Even when it was enjoying its greatest success throughout the ’90s and early aughts, Ruth’s Chris (and it’s owner Marcel Taylor) never received enough recognition for being the gastronomic game-changer in bringing national attention to Las Vegas’ restaurant scene. Spago always gets credit for shaking the gourmet ground under us when it opened in late 1992—and thereby starting the culinary tsunami that brought so many high-end eateries to our desert shores—but the little-known fact is, the rumblings really started three years earlier, when Taylor, then a dealer at Caesars, convinced Ruth Fertel (founding owner of Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and one of his regular big players) to let him have a Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse franchise on Paradise Road.
ELV note: Say what you will about Pizza Face, Carne Face, So Long, or whatever he’s calling himself today, beneath the profanity and posturing there’s a lot of passion for the heart and soul of restaurant cooking. This comment pretty much sums up a lot of foodies’ feelings about what Bradley Ogden was and what has become of it.
John Curtas thanks for posting this…. this is truly sad but me personally as many, knew it was coming, it was just a matter of time. Its like a family member is passing away and emotions are being brought.
(ELV update: It was announced to staff at the restaurant last night — 8.26.11 — that Jan. 2, 2012 will be the last day of operation for Bradley Ogden. We have also heard (unconfirmed) rumors that the menu will become more steak and burger friendly for the last several months of operation. Stay tuned).
Jet Tila’s Iron Chef America viewing party at Insert Coins Sunday night provided a nice, if poignant piece of punctuation to the ending of his praiseworthy pursuits and presence in these parts.
He was a great chef as chefs go, and as chefs go, he went.
This just in: Jet Tila, one of the brightest lights in Vegas gastronomy, a passionate, committed chef who, we hoped, would stick around once he broke from the shackles of the Wynn/Encore’s hypocrisy, will be leaving his post at Wazuzu very soon, almost exactly three years since he came to Vegas.
Eating Las Vegas has confirmed that Rosemary’s Restaurant, a mainstay on our local restaurant scene since 1999 has officially closed its doors, effective immediately.
It is a very sad day for lovers this venerable place, and for everyone who values locally-owned purveyors of fine food and drink.
Beyond that, ELV can say no more until he recovers from news.
This just in: Drew Terp, the self-proclaimed “big white boy” running Bar Masa and Shaboo in the Aria Hotel and Casino, has parted company with the restaurant and the hotel.
Despite rumors to the contrary, Chef Masa Takayama is still completely engaged with the operation, and discussions of his Vegas demise (by ELV and others) have been greatly exaggerated and are untrue…according to folks-in-the-know at Aria.
In other news, Nora’s Wine Bar in Summerlin has closed.
As recently as two years ago, this two-story mall, slightly west of Decatur on Spring Mountain Road (right across the street from Raku), was ELV’s go-to spot for a panoply of pulchritudinous pan-Asian eats. Now:
Noodle Palace – gone
Penang Malaysian – gone
Ay-Chung Cafe – gone
Provence Korean Bakery – gone
Shuseki – looking seedier every day.
Restaurant reviews, quips, picks and pans-with some seriously salivating history-from the man who eats his way through Sin City every day.
