Five years ago, Alessandro Stratta saw his twelve year relationship with the Wynn hotels come to an unceremonious end — when his ALEX restaurant was abruptly closed. You can debate all day long what it meant for the Wynncore to replace the finest in fine dining with a bunch of no-talent dj’s and douchebags, but there’s no doubt that gastronomes from around the globe were crushed.
Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien. (The best is the enemy of the good.) – Voltaire
There are passion restaurants and there are money restaurants. ALEX — the jewel in the supposed crown of the Wynn hotel — was supposed to be both, but was unceremoniously shut down on short (ten days) notice, despite being the very embodiment of the former, but (apparently) failing as the latter. What really went on behind the scenes leading up to its untimely demise will probably never be known, but the shudder has been felt by the entire Vegas food world (that now extends around the globe), and provides the perfect catalyst to review, and speculate about, what has happened to dining in restaurants, in Las Vegas, over the past seventeen years.