The Show is UP: Chefs!

A food episode, yum! Dig in! Subscribe (it's free!) in iTunes or in Zune. Click on the date below to make it play or right-click to save it and listen at your leisure. Enjoy!

June 28: Hot Air In The Kitchen
...with Rick Moonen & Jet Tila



You know what group of Vegas notables rarely, if ever, find themselves at the center of controversy? Chefs. Normally, they just oversee their kitchens, sell their books and show up on daytime TV feeding perky anchors delicious treats. That's why it was so jarring when Rick Moonen of RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay ended up in the middle of a feud with Top Chef Masters judge Jay Rayner this month over why Moonen came in second in the Bravo series. We'll talk to Rick about that and then turn to another outspoken Vegas chef, Jet Tila of Wazuzu at Wynn Las Vegas. Tila talks about his Guinness record attempts, local restaurant picks, and shows he loved and hated. Plus, he discloses the ingredients of Steve Wynn's special California roll, which is not on the menu. Tila says you can ask for it, though.

In Banter: Vegas downscaled with Ross Dress For Less and more, the wacko Jacko auction, the silliness in Vegas! The Show's advertising and a special cameo by a friend playing WSOP events this weekend.

Links to stuff discussed:

Rick Moonen’s website, book and restaurant
Jet Tila’s Las Vegas Weekly blog and Facebook page
Steve’s AOL News piece on the chip collector’s convention
The McKee-Prosser wedding blog post
Rob Walch’s Podcast411 and Today in iPhone podcasts
Steve’s AOL News report on the MJ auction
Kardashian store coming to the Mirage
Riviera act claiming he's 2009 Nevada performer of the year, Greg London
An image of Vegas! The Show’s ridiculous rack card
Hubert Keller’s TV cooking show, which is moving to Vegas
Facebook page for The Strip Podcast
Steve’s LVW column on the Top Chef outcome

Pictorial: Taxi Tunnels!

Back in December 2008 when Steve Wynn walked me through the soon-to-open Encore Las Vegas, he made an off-handed remark about how the taxi staging areas at his resorts are decorated to entertain cabbies. It was a little thing and, while I made a mental note to follow up, I never did.

One listener who was fascinated by that notion was Diane Taylor, a writer and weekly contributor to the blog at Living-Las-Vegas.Com. Taylor was the one who won the KNPR auction in February and donated $370 for lunch with me and Miles. Wynn Las Vegas donated the lunch to KNPR, so today Miles and I honored her donation with a terrific visit at Society Encore with her and her husband.

Diane had made one extra request. She wanted to know if the Wynn would show us the taxi tunnels. And so I asked the PR folks and, sure enough, they were happy to oblige.

First, we went down into the Encore tunnel. That's where that sign above leads to. It's a two-lane, 15-car length area with reddish orange walls adorned with flat-screen TVs tuned to ESPN.


Along the walls, too, were these murals. All of them involved drawings of sexy ladies and some sort of subterranean (as opposed to subliminal, natch) message about something related to the resort. For instance, this one...


...features the blonde there saying to nobody in particular: "Botero restaurant features two of famed Columbian artist Fernando Botero's sculptures and three of his paintings."

This one's fun, too:


It's a run-of-the-mill pajama party, see, and the redhead who happened to show up in a French maid outfit and seems to have a duster protruding from her mouth, says, "The high rollers can be found in the private Sky Casino, which is located at the top floor of Encore." Naturally, then, the only reasonable reply from the blonde trying to make the blood rush to her head is, "Did you know that our largest suite is 5,800 square feet and includes three bedrooms, an elevator and butler service?"

I did, actually.

This one took two frames to shoot:


This time, it's a lineup of cocktail waitresses. The bubble on the right says, "It's interesting to know that Mrs. Wynn directs the designs of all staff attire" and the lady to her left asked, "Did you know Mr. Wynn began his career in 1967 as part-owner, slot manager and assistant credit manager of the Frontier hotel?" That's fun, but wouldn't it have been even better if she had said, "Did you know that Mr. Wynn once called the Frontier Hotel the single biggest toilet in Las Vegas?"

Meanwhile, at the pool...


...one woman says, "Inspired by the French Riviera, the pools at Encore are at the heart of the activity" while the ladies to the far right are marveling, "The restaurant Wazuzu features a crystal dragon made of 90,000 crystals and 2,400 flickering lights."

There's also a restroom down there as well as signs indicating that the hotel holds a weekly NFL contest where taxi drivers who pick winning teams win stuff.

Obviously, the point here is to give cabbies something fun to look at and perhaps fill their heads with some good selling points while they wait to pick up passengers. Wynn started the taxi tunnel idea with Bellagio because he didn't like the way that the line of taxis looked at Mirage and Treasure Island.

LVCabChronicles, a Vegas taxi driver who blogs and Tweets about the trade, says that Paris, Riviera and Aria also have tunnels. He says cabbies are generally pleased with the Wynn folks and that "there is no question Mr. Wynn cares about the cabbies," but he also noted when I asked about the downsides:

"They are tunnels. You can get trapped in there, for sure. If business is slow and you commit to that tunnel, you can be in there a while. If a regular calls, I can't get them, I'm stuck. If my shift is over, I'm stuck. Plus, Wynn's driveway in general is way too small for the amount traffic coming and going, which lead to many cabbies hating that place at first. ... Worth noting: multiple companies forbid drivers from pick up at these properties when it rains. It gets very very slick in those tunnels."

Noted. And speaking of the Wynn tunnel, here we go.


The Wynn Las Vegas tunnel is lined with images of race cars. It's not quite the buxom babes spouting sweet somethings about the resort, but whatever. Here are some more shots:


I can sure see how that could get claustrophobic. There is, too, a unisex bathroom down here. LVCabChronicles said the vast majority of taxi stands at Vegas resorts don't have restrooms easily accessible to drivers. None of the other taxi waiting areas, he wrote, are decorated at all.

He also had praise for Bellagio, which "has a nice setup with a picnic table and vending machines and the restroom for drivers. They also have a dry-erase board that indicates the exact number of check ins/outs at that hotel that week which can be useful for drivers."

Hey! That could be useful to nosy journalists, too! Just saying!

Anyhow, that was a fun look-see at something most people don't ever think about or get to view. The Wynn fellow who drove us took us through the underground valet area of the hotel and we passed this:


That's the maintenance and storage area for the Ferraris that are sold at the resort.

Finally, since everyone's so curious, here's a shot of the new Switch Beach Club and Surrender Nightclub being built where Encore's west valet used to be. I was intrigued by the bridge built from Wynn self-park's second level because I wonder if that's going to be a faster way just to get to Encore from that garage without having to walk all the way around the resort.


But mostly, I wondered: What happened to the taxi tunnel for that valet stand?

The Show is UP: Charo!

Don't prejudge this lady. Yes, she's got the maracas, but beneath them is a serious musician and a veteran performer who has earned a place in Vegas performing lore. Also, she's delightful to chat with and tells great stories. Plus, it's worth it to tune in just to hear how I was nearly mistaken for a predator. Eek! You know the drill: click on the date below to listen or right-click and save to your computer. Or subscribe (it's free!) via this iTunes link or via this Zune link. -sf

July 23: Cuchi Cuchi for Charo

You think she's just a blond, air-headed, surgically enhanced... oh, wait. That's last week's guest. This week, we've got Charo the giggly, jiggly Spanish singer and guitarist, who in the early 1970s was making as much as Sinatra for shows on the Strip, is back in town with a new headliner show at the Riviera. Steve chatted with Charo this week about plastic surgery, her affection for RuPaul and where her signature “cuchi cuchi” line came from.

In banter: A weird WSOP interview story, a weird Panorama Towers ad, a weird Caesars Palace sign, a baffling Monte Carlo strategy and more.

Links To Stuff Discussed:

Steve’s NYT piece on the WSOP Bear Stearns guy
Charo’s website
Tickets to Charo’s show at the Riviera
Hotel32 at Monte Carlo
VegasHappensHere image of RS PALACE
Anthony Cools’ show extended for four years
VegasHappensHere.Com on the weird Panorama Towers job audition

The Strip is LIVE tonight w/Charo

You think she's just a blond, air-headed, surgically enhanced... oh, wait. That's last week's show. This week, we've got Charo. And while many people think the same things about her, the giggly, jiggly Spanish singer and guitarist happens to also be a highly respected musician and performer who in the early 1970s was making as much as Sinatra for shows on the Strip. So, with her return to Vegas as a headliner at the Riviera, we chat her up about plastic surgery, her affection for RuPaul and where her signature “cuchi cuchi” line came from.

Plus, behind the scenes of a bizarre poker interview and other news from Vegas.

Join us at 7 p.m. PT at LVRocks.Com for the live steam, chat room and studio cam. Or wait for the podcast version and subscribe (it's free!) via this iTunes link or via this Zune link. Your call.

The Show is UP: Marie Osmond, Part I

Off to the tax lady now. Enjoy the show! Click on the date below to listen or right-click and save to your computer. Or subscribe (it's free!) via the iTunes link or via the Zune link. Enjoy.

April 2: Marie Osmond, Part I

She’s a little bit country and a little bit, well, you know the rest. But she’s also now a big bit of a Strip headliner. Marie Osmond, she of the gigantic gleaming smile stretched across the Flamingo, joins us this hour to talk about show business nepotism, performing with everyone from Groucho Marx to Snoop Dogg and the night she and Donny performed their Vegas show in the dark.

In Banter: Freaks at O'Sheas, MGM drama, Follies bye- bye, Vegas impersonator jailed in Suriname.

Links to stuff mentioned:

Tickets for the Donny and Marie show
The 2009 results of the R-J’s Best of Las Vegas survey
The VegasHappensHere.Com post on the mayoral chips for Airmen
The website for SeaWorld’s Military Program
Sites for Minskoff and Mandalay theaters, both of which now house The Lion King
KNPR, the Las Vegas NPR member station
A Las Vegas Sun piece on Freaks, a gross new show at O’Sheas
VegasHappensHere.Com on MGM making their payment
MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren’s letter to employees
News on Hooters, Riviera and Bally’s closing its sportsbook until September
Mike Weatherford’s coverage of the closure of Folies Bergere at the Tropicana
Gaming Today’s Monti Rock III on Bobby Slayton’s Trop deal
Norm Clarke’s coverage of the Toni Braxton impersonator jailed in Suriname

Random pix I haven't shown you

While dumping extra images off my camera's memory card and organizing stuff on my laptop, I came across a few shots I'd taken in recent months for this blog but never had a reason to post.

The first was this one from our suite at Trump a while back. I liked it because it struck me that for all the fanfare, the Fontainebleau is really just a humungous version of its little brother up the block, the Riviera.


See that? The Riv is in the foreground looking so itty bitty, but the shape's the same and so, to some extent, is the exterior. This also shows just how grotesquely large the F'Bleau is. It may make us forget how sprawling and imposing the MGM Grand is when all is said and done.

Meanwhile, one day I was coming west on Spring Mountain Road and I noticed this:


Fun, huh? Of course, Wynn Road has been there for many more years than Wynn Las Vegas. I don't know exactly how long, but it was already there in 1996 when I first moved here. But I've never seen anyone shoot the two signs together, so I did.

Over at Las Vegas City Hall one day, I learned about a little free museum they have that you have to ask the clerks to let you into. Most of the stuff is obvious -- old city maps and pictures -- but I'm thinking we're the only city in the world whose museum offers a collection of...


...mayoral Bobbleheads?

This one has nothing to do with Vegas, but "Lost" fans will appreciate that I was playing my Petcast co-host Emily at Word Twist on Facebook when the seven-letter answers were...


...OCEANIC and COCAINE. Makes you wonder if the fact that the name of the airliner is an anagram for the drug means anything to explaining what's happening on the show.

And, finally, just something nice to look at.


Who said the desert landscape around Vegas is boring or ugly?

Chips Ahoy, Again

For the second year in a row, I covered the always-fascinating annual Casino Chip and Gaming Tokens Collectors Club convention at the Riviera. Here's this year's report, from Sunday's New York Times. Don't miss the priceless closing quote from Christine Smith of Glencoe, Ill.

The Riv's $20m Room Remodel

When we were at The Riviera the other night for this...


...I spotted these signs below showing the sleek new room product coming soon to the aged property. It's not quite the "gleaming gem" that this press release about the $20 million renovation effort over-enthuses, but it's something. I mean, at least there'll be iPod docking alarm clocks, which is more than can be said for the brand-new "world's most beautiful hotel" Palazzo!


I do wonder why properties like this go all-out on prettier rooms when it's the gross, stinky casino that makes people want to pack a gun. The press release said the casino was DONE being renovated, in which case the contractor is fired because it's unnoticeable. But at least they're doing something noticeably nice to the sports book.


Thank GOD it's "smoker friendly." Where else on the Strip would they boast that?