Wynn Offers Elad "Suggestions" On Plaza Design

OK... here's the first fun bit from my Wynn chat Wednesday night. Apparently, Wynn's not too fond of the horrible mock-up of the future Plaza Hotel and is trying to be "helpful." (The rendering is pictured here, courtesy of VegasTodayandTomorrow.Com.)

Friess: Have you seen the renderings of what the Elad Group wants to put there?

Wynn: Yes, but they're in the earliest stages of it. They were all over here today with their drasings reviewing traffic lights and driveways. ... Drawings will change, concepts will change, we're not near done with the Frontier yet.

Friess: Did you make any suggestions about how it will look because it doesn't look very interesting.

Wynn: Mmhmm. I did, yes. To show the drawings was a little bit too soon. The fact of the matter is the demolition was enough. You don't have to show everybody your drawings. Besides, you can't get paid for it. They're not a public company, there's no reason to show people an unfinished product in my opinion. But they're smart guys, these fellows.

How neighborly! I wonder how Adelson feels that the most prominent Israeli business interest in Vegas is cozying up to Steve Wynn!

Venetian SHUT OUT on Michelin Stars

NOTE: MICHELIN GUIDE DIRECTOR JEAN-LUC NARET JOINS US LIVE ON TUESDAY@ 7:15 pm PT ON "THE STRIP" TO DISCUSS.

As I predicted, Michelin completely snubbed the Venetian in terms of handing out stars in its first-ever Las Vegas dining guide. The guide was supposed to hit today at noon, but the evidently leaked it on their website by accident and then went all the way with a press release.

The guide includes 127 restaurants in Vegas and just 16 of which received any stars. Still, that's a lot more than I thought they'd give out.

The big winner was not a surprise: Joel Robuchon (MGM Grand) got three stars, the highest rating. Alex (Wynn), Guy Savoy (Caesars) and Picasso (Bellagio) landed two stars, all excellent choices. You can go back and hear "The Strip" podcast's interview with Robuchon from earlier this year by clicking here or right-clicking here.

One-starrers were: Alize (Palms), Andre's (downtown), Aureole (Mandalay Bay), Bradley Ogden (Caesars), DB Brasserie (Wynn), L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon (MGM), Le Cirque (Bellagio), Mesa Grill (Caesars), Michael Mina (Bellagio), Mix (Mandalay Bay), Nobu (Hard Rock) and Wing Lei (Wynn.)

Steve Wynn, 4. Adelson, 0. (I'm giving Wynn credit for Picasso, too, since he created the place. Not giving Wynn credit for Le Cirque as it was an established NYC institution.)

Anyhow, Adelson's gotta feel the pain there. Adelson gets Thomas Keller, Wolfgang Puck and Mario Batali and can't buy a star. Painful. But equally painful for Wynn might be that Bartalotta di Mare got shut out. That's interesting because it was Paul Bartalotta and not Alessandra Stratta who was nominated for a James Beard Award the year the hotel opened.

A few thoughts:

* They were awful generous with the one-stars and yet left off some really amazing places including Craftsteak and Nob Hill (both MGM Grand), Charlie Palmer Steak (Four Seasons), Tableau (Wynn) and Hugo's Cellar (Four Queens).
* We've eaten at Alize at least three times and always found it below average for the price.
* Bradley Ogden and L'Atelier are in the "don't go" section of "Gay Vegas." Miles has famously referred to the decor of L'Atelier as having "the look of an upscale Chilis" and we were so disappointed we left it out of Conde Nast Traveler's Hot List that year.
* We're fans of Mix and Mesa Grill, but I can't say it meets the level of technical excellence I believed the Michelin stars required.

A couple of other interesting details: They only checked out 13 restaurants that would cost $25 or less per person. That gives quite a bit of insight. By contrast, for their first-ever Los Angeles guide, which also is out this week, they reviewed 263 restaurants and gave out just 18 star-ratings -- and not a single three-starrer.

Wow. Vegas food has really, really arrived.

Adelson's grandmother's testicles

So I'm reading this longish AP piece about Macau which basically says -- shocking! -- that it's a hot new gaming market. Fine. The Review-Journal published it because, even though it's the most important story for Las Vegas interests going on in the world, they're too cheap to send someone down there to check it out.

The writer, William Foreman, does a fine job, although it's kind of obvious he's new to the Adelson-Wynn world because he doesn't even bother to note how much these two hate each other. (Hear my Wynn and Adelson interviews from the podcast or see what Norm wrote about it.)

Anyhow... this is the part that made me want to barf in my Cheerios:

Adelson brushed off speculation that Macau could be threatened by the possibility the Chinese government will legalize casinos in other parts of the country.

"It's like the threat to my grandfather that my grandmother will develop testicles and then she would be my grandfather," he told the AP.

Umm...gross.