Tuesday, March 19, 2024
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Photos: The Park Esplanade Opens Today

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MGM Resorts opened “The Park,” an entertainment and restaurant area. This social gathering space, as it’s been called by MGM, will feature outdoor seating for the restaurants, plus entertainment provided by local artists.

MGM Resorts Chairman, Jim Murren said of The Park:

“Our vision for The Park was to create a new kind of experience for Las Vegas that would speak to the desires of today’s travelers. Within this beautiful outdoor setting, guests have opportunities to explore and discover. Whether it be to enjoy the beauty of desert landscaping, take a photo to share with friends of an important art installation, to enjoy cocktails and a bite to eat on a patio before an event at T-Mobile Arena, or simply to enjoy a quiet moment outside, The Park is designed to offer something for everyone.”

We had a little time before it’s opening for an exclusive tour and took a few shots.

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Chef Josh Smith Kicks French Food into Gear

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When Josh Smith first walks into a room, you’d never guess that he’s probably considered one of the best upcoming young Executive Chefs on the Strip. He’s ruggedly good looking and a beard that would make any Spartan soldier jealous — and so many tattoos that you almost expect Dave Navarro to follow behind him. However, that’s not what is making people turn heads: it’s the top quality, amazing French-influenced food that has been making both critics and tourists talk a lot about Bardot Brasserie by Michael Mina.

Chef Josh Smith of Bardot Brasserie
Chef Josh Smith of Bardot Brasserie

Also, Josh Smith is a local to Las Vegas. He was born here, then made his way into some of the best Kitchens in the United States including working for Chef Matthew Kirkley at L20 in Chicago. For those who don’t know, that was the highest rated restaurant ever in that City. This is a new trend in Las Vegas, where more and more local chefs are coming back to Vegas and making a mark on the culinary community after being trained by industry legends.

I had the opportunity to have a private chef’s tasting with Chef Josh Smoth this past weekend at Bardot in the Aria Resort with Michael Uzmann, the noted Food Traveler and Donald Contursi. Not only was I floored by the amazing food, the diversity and creativity of every dish, but how accessible the Chef has made it for everyone to enjoy French food. (We will have a review of the tasting soon)

Bottomless Rose Brunch
Bottomless Rose Brunch

There are dishes for those who know what they love, including the “quartet of duck liver preparations, the jar of mousse beneath gelee as pleasing as ever while a silken seared slice atop toothsome lentils was a favorite for those hailing from overseas, both the au natural torchon and aspic-laced terrine equally as elegant.” Then there is the legendary French toast, which has become not only a local favorite for brunch, but highly recommended by almost every single food critic. The food is clearly French, but also amazingly unique in every dish. From foie gras on top of French toast, to poached eggs and duck on waffles, the food is made to the highest quality, but at the same time something that reminds you of good home cooking at the same time.

We had time to sit down with Chef Josh Smith and ask him about his background, Bardot and much more:

What’s your favorite thing about French Cuisine that you really love? How do you think you are taking it on to a new level?  French cuisine is technical.  That’s my favorite part about it!  It’s all about taking something ordinary and making it extraordinary.  It’s so hard to reproduce sometimes that I really don’t mind sharing all of our recipes. What makes us special is how far we’re willing to go for each dish.  Three day process on the chicken, the mac and cheese, the gnocchi.  These dishes are all incredibly hard the way that we do them.  It’s not easy to do what Bardot does on a daily basis, it’s too much work for most and that’s why we’re different.

Hunter’s Waffles With Poached Eggs, Duck Confit And Maltaise Sauce
Hunter’s Waffles With Poached Eggs, Duck Confit And Maltaise Sauce

You’re part of a new trend of local Chefs that were born in Las Vegas and are staying in Las Vegas. How do you think growing up in Las Vegas may have made you a better chef? Growing up in Vegas aided me in really understanding my guest.  It also really helped me to understand volume and it shed light for me on what truly good service is.  We have so many hospitality professionals here.  They’re not serving as a means to become an actor/actress, they’re career servers.

You worked with Chef Matthew Kirkley at L20 in Chicago, which eventually closed despite being one the highest rated restaurants in Chicago, ever. What did you learn from that experience? Matt Kirkley was the hardest working, most talented chef I’ve every worked for.  He pushed me to see detail I was blind to, to truly understand time management down to the minute and he turned my idea of work ethic upside down.  He’s the most influential mentor I have had in decades.  That restaurant took the passion and talent I already had and added in organization and discipline!

What would be your three favorite dishes that everyone must try at least once? My favorite three dishes at Bardot?  That’s a truly hard question!
1. The roast chicken.  I put so much hard work into that recipe and it’s truly a masterpiece.
2. Our escargot. I’m really proud of the mix of influences I have on that dish and think it’s the perfect “Vegas” escargot dish. Novices don’t have to see the snail yet it’s technical and has fun ingredients like chartreuse!
3. I guess this is our tartare.  It is hand ground to order and I think we nailed the classic flavor profile we wanted. There are still all of the details I love in a good dish.  We even buy pee-wee eggs to use in the appetizer version so that the yolk isn’t too big.

What is the ultimate dish you’d love to make at Bardot  if cost wasn’t an issue?  I think we get to do just about all that we want at Bardot.  The only cost prohibitive dishes I can think of are ones like croquembouche.  The only thing that makes it prohibitive is the fact that it takes countless hours of labor but no one would ever pay you what it’s worth.  This doesn’t mean we never get to make these rare classics, it just means we don’t get to do them as often as we’d like.

When did you get your first Tattoo? How many have you done total approximately, and what is your favorite one?  I have 5 tattoos.  My 5 just happen to be pretty big, I think I’ve spent about 70 hours under the needle.  Symbolically my favorite is my railroad spike, it’s for my dad who just  passed away, he’s a retired union pacific railroad engineer.  Quality wise it’s definitely my right sleeve by Sung Song.  He’s the best, it’s a circus themed piece, I’ve always really loved the circus.

You can book at table at Bardot here

Backstreet Boys to Walk Vegas Strip

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Yes, it’s what everyone has been dreaming of. Everyone being any woman over 40 who still loves 90’s music.

Either way, in amazing wonderful news, the Brokeback Boys Backstreet Boys have signed an accord with Live Nation for a nine-show mini-residency in Las Vegas.

The deal is rumored to be some sort of trial run to see if they can drum up interest, and thus maybe pave the way for a longer, more permanent residency, not unlike what Britney Spears has going with Planet Hollywood.

Obviously if no one shows up, they will be backstreeting their way from Vegas to wherever 90’s pop stars go.
Nick Carter, who is basically the only one of the Backstreet Boys I know, is all over the media talking about this:

“We appreciate [the fans] so much for giving us such a great life and hopefully, we can do the same thing back by continuing to entertain you.”

While nothing really has been revealed, Carter did say it would be a really big “spectacular show,” combined with extended dancing, hits, and the five dad-bods enjoying themselves.

In all honestly, this is a show I’m going to go see since I was too, a fan of the Backstreet Boys in the 1990s. But I will deny it.

Why is Lagasse’s Stadium the Best Sports Bar in America?

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According to the Nightclub & Bar Magazine, Lagasse’s Stadium in Las Vegas is the “Sports Bar of the Year.” This always busy, 21+ establishment, located in the Palazzo was given their award during the Night Club & Bar Convention Trade Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center–only half a mile away from Lagasse’s. While Emeril Lagasse wasn’t able to attend, his Director of Operations, Mike Olsen was able to accept the award for him.

Olsen was excited about the award, and while didn’t talk about Disneyland, he did say he was “overjoyed to accept this award on behalf of Lagasse’s Statium. Our staff is indeed the best in the business, providing the ultimate sports bar experience in Las Vegas.”

So why is Lagasse’s so amazing? Why is it the best Sports Bar in Las Vegas and America? Does this bar really live up to the hype, and become a male Sports Bar wet dream? Yes it does and this is why:

1) There are so many TVs that you’ll get a tan. Last time I was in there, I tried to count the TVs, but then accidently got knocked over by one of their deliciously beautiful hostesses. There are over 120 flatscreen TVs, a private viewing room and a 300 inch+ projector screen with surround sound. There is every single game you can want, and during the Big Games it’s a testosterone filled electronic sports orgy.

2) Legasse’s Stadium has Radio Studio Built in. Game Night with Matt Perrault debuded on Jan. 4 on Yahoo Sports Radio. This internet radio show allows not only guests to listen to interviews from Sports Stars, but allows them the chance to be a part of the show via social media and life. “Creating an unparalleled experience for sports fans, guests can be part of the action during the live broadcasts from The Palazzo Broadcast Studio. Matt Perrault will interact with fans throughout his show answering questions from social media, and even bringing in sports fans from the Lagasse’s Stadium dining room for quick chats and hot takes.”

3) The Food is Really Good. I mean really good. Emeril BAMMED the heck out of his bar and created these amazing sandwhiches, salads and apps. Seriously, where else can you get the ultimate pretzel, served with beer and a three cheesy sauce. If you’re looking to be a little more upscale, Emeril did a Foie Gras Burger, with “1/2 pound patty of our own blended Angus beef topped with seared Foie Gras, sautéed mushrooms and caramelized onions with a foie gras black truffle aioli.” I would go there just for the food.

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You can reserve now with OpenTable

Neil Moffitt of Hakkasan Addresses False and Misleading Rumors

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Rumors about Neil Moffitt and Hakkasan have been perpetuated by several websites recently. One of their alleged former investors and former Chairman of the Company has been named in a money laundering investigation that has nothing to do with Hakkasan or its management. There is no suggestion or allegation that Hakkasan is or was involved in any way in money laundering or any other illegal activity. We want to set the record straight for Hakkasan and nothing in our prior story was intended to suggest they are anything other than a profitable, successful company.

We had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Moffitt about these issues and the future of the company.

First, getting to the rumors about Hakkasan and its relationship to Khadem al Qubaisi, the former Chairman of Hakkasan. What is his current involvement in Hakkasan, and is he involved at all with the company at this point?
Mr. Al-Qubaisi has resigned as Chairman of Hakkasan, and is no longer involved in the operation of the company.

Are you planning on staying with the company?
Yes, I have no intent of leaving Hakkasan Group, having first built Angel Management Group and now Hakkasan Group from the ground up in Las Vegas. Having false and troubling rumors spread about a company that employs 6000 people and is the most successful nightlife company in Las Vegas makes my job very challenging. Since my concern is my employees and their families, I will always do my best to rise above the nonsense and focus on our expanding markets and numerous future ventures. Hopefully, it will never come to light that our competitors spread these rumors because that would be disappointing and unfair to the hard working men and women of my company.

Hakkasan has made a lot of money, perhaps having the most successful nightclub in Las Vegas. What has the company been doing with the profits?
Our goal over the last two years has been to prepare our company for very aggressive international growth, and we are fortunate enough to have an ownership group that encouraged us to reinvest our profits into growing our infrastructure and executive team, in preparation for that expansion. At this time, we have more than 25 deals in some stage of development, and the team required to execute that volume of projects could only be built by investing heavily in overhead.

Wynn announced that they were moving away from big name DJs, and focusing on Ultraclubs. Victor Drais basically claimed this is the death of the Mega DJ. What are your thoughts about this?
I think this is complete nonsense, and it’s unfortunate that certain operators feel that in order to market an alternative concept, they need to profess the death of a competing genre of music. It’s often the case that dramatic, unsubstantiated proclamations grab more headline space than facts. As a company, we believe in diversity in our programming approach, and will continue to book ‘mega DJ’s’ as well as live acts, celebrity hosts and any other events that our customers tell us they’d like to see in our venues. We understand our business extremely well, and our booking decisions are driven by facts and data, not politics.

What would you like people to know most about Hakkasan as a company, and its employees and the services it provides?
Hakkasan Group is a top notch company that exemplifies integrity and hard work. Its employees and management have broken every record and ceiling in Las Vegas and beyond. We look forward to continuing our tradition of excellence in service and products.

Yannick Mugnier Out at Wynn

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Yannick Mugnier has been terminated from his position as Senior Executive Director of Nightclub operations.

A source close to the company said it was for bringing an underage girl into the nightclub at the request of a DJ.

Mugnier has been with the Wynn since 2007.

Alleged Former Hakkasan Investor Entangled in Major Arab Money Laundering Investigation

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Neil Moffit, through his attorney wanted to make clear of the following things:
– He personally is not involved in any investigation, nor is the target of any investigation.
The company itself (Hakkasan) isn’t under investigation.
Khadem al Qubaisi is no longer the chairman of the company or personally affiliated with the company at this time
– Moffit is not stepping down from Hakkasan and has no plan to.
Hakkasan is “highly” profitable and needs no outside investment

We want to make clear that all allegations are nothing more than allegations.


Not so good news for Hakkasan’s Former Alleged Investor, who has been under a lot of scrutiny lately, and  currently unsubstantiated* rumors flying left and right about the founder Neil Moffit leaving the company, to Federal Investigators looking into the company’s finances. However, today the rumors seem to have come to a head, with the FBI and Department of Justice and FBI issuing international warrants for people connected to the company through investments and possibly even management

Robin Leach even posted yesterday that there was going to be a major shakeup of the nightlife industry, with three execs stepping down.

robinleach1

While the story is complex is essentially about Billions of Dollars that were stolen from a Malaysian Development Fund. Investigators believe that the money was stolen by several individuals and then laundered through both real estate and corporate investments in the United States and other places.

One of those places, it is alleged, is through Hakkasan’s alleged former owner Khadem al Qubaisi.

A full account of how the money may have been laundered to Hakkasan can be found here.

BusinessInsider also notes that Neil Moffitt is trying to quickly get rid of one of the most expensive apartments in New York, by dropping the price almost 1/3. * Read Note.

According to the New York Post, this could be the world’s largest money laundering scandal, and has done an extensive profile of one of the people involved.

This comes only months after rumors that Hakkasan was trying to sell many of the assets that they bought, since their investors were no longer paying the bills. According to VegasTripping.com:

Rumors are swirling that Hakkasan is looking to divest itself from portions of their acquisition of The Light Group from Morgans Hotel Group. The original deal, which was announced in December 2014, outlined that Morgans would sell 90% of TLG assets to Hakkasan Group for $36 million smackers, a black 1976 Les Paul Custom three pickup, a future draft choice and a mustard-stained copy of Tim’s book. The deal was expected to close pretty quickly – January 2015 (except for the book, which apparently arrived today.

Alex Cordova, one of the founders of Hakkasan in the United States, announced this month he was leaving the company, and recently took a new job with a competitor.

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4/2/2016  Additional info can be found about the former alleged owner’s connection to money laundering via this search
4/2/2016 Hakkasan’s former alleged investor Owner Behind Purchase of Walker Tower + Money Laundering Investigation
4/2/2016 Hakkasan’s former alleged investor Owner+Arrest Warrant

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4/2/2016 – Hakkasan’s Legal Affairs Wanted to me to make it clear the rumors from VegasTripping of Moffitt Leaving are unverified, unsubstantiated. I am willing to make that change, because I did note it was a rumor.  They want me to note that Hakkasan wasn’t selling properties because of their bills, and this is also unsubstantiated. Of course, as I mentioned, these are rumors. However, since the former alleged OWNER of Hakkasan (identified in numerous sources) is the target of the investigation, I stand by this story.
4/2/2016 – Moffit’s personal attorney contacted me, to say Moffit does not in fact own this apartment. The press is reporting as such, but we have struck out.

Alex Cordova Joins as Head of Wynn Nightlife after Leaving Hakkasan

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Wynn Nightlife scored probably the biggest upset against their nearest competitor Hakkasan Group, by hiring one of the founders of Hakkasan Group Las Vegas, Alex Cordova. Cordova was officially the Executive Vice President of Marketing at Hakkasan since its founding, after Angel Management Group, the company he co-founded was bought by Hakkasan. However he was known by most in Las Vegas not only as the main representative and leader of Hakkasan, but the person who responsible for its enormous success in the past few years

Cordova is quote as saying on Billboard.com:

“To work with Steve Wynn, a true visionary, Maurice Wooden, Sean Christie and the resort’s entire nightlife team is an opportunity of a lifetime. I look forward to building on the successes of Wynn’s nightlife and daylife venues. I especially look forward to the opening of Intrigue, which is sure to pave the way for the next generation of nightlife on the Strip.”

This comes only days after Sean Christie, the Chief Operating Officer of Wynn announced a change in their business model regarding clubs, removing DJs from the mix. Hakkasan Group is known for being partially responsible for the DJ “bubble,” where some virtually unknown DJs went from making a few hundred thousand a year to tens of millions.

Cordova is replacing nightlife legend Jess Waits who left Wynn in the summer of 2015 and is now part of the Alon Las Vegas project which will be across from the Wynn.

Monte Carlo Suffers Massive Power Outage

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Early Tuesday afternoon the Monte Carlo suffered a massive blackout of it’s electricity, just minutes after a purported last minute test of the T-Mobile Arena electrical system. Visitors were surprised around 1:30pm on Friday April 1st, when the lights completely went out leaving all guests without any method of seeing. Photos sent by a visitor to our publication show a completely dark casino and mall, with only backup emergency lighting in some places, and virtual darkness in others.

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Photo Credit: Gigi Ghazal
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Photo Credit: Gigi Ghazal
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Photo Credit: Gigi Ghazal

 

Moet Hennessy Rep Says Jon Taffer has “Damaged” Bartending

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In a scathing post, Brian Stewart of Moët Hennessy says that Jon Taffer, of Bar Rescue fame, has “damaged” the bartending industry. In a Facebook group called “Bartenders Against Jon Taffer,” the well-known Moet representative took on Jon Taffer, calling him out for putting himself in on the head of the industry. While the post is somewhat tempered, Stewart blasts Taffer personally by saying:

… I say this Jon Taffer I have been a bartender for 14 years …. You should maybe take a step back just for a moment and see the damage you have done by not keeping with the times. This industry is not always a SCIENCE…its should mostly be a passion. There is so much passion amongst this group that in a few moments your words turned our passion to anger. We have worked very hard at keeping with the trends and helping to set them that maybe its time you do too.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler, the Author of the Bar Book: Element of Cocktail Technique, agrees that Jon Taffer might not be the expert we’ve lead to believe. In a angry article on Food Republic, the cocktail blogger takes on Taffer, calling him a “bulging-eye host” and questioning if Taffer had ever been in a bar recently. In the article entitled “What Does TV’s Jon Taffer Really Know About Bar Science?” he questions not only Taffers credentials, but basically calls him in an idiot when it comes to how make a Bar successful – even going as far to attack Taffer’s signature “Butt Funnel” as a fire-hazard.

Morgenthaler says of Taffer:

If there is one bright light that comes from an interview such as this, it’s that we now know what many of us had long suspected: that beneath your formidable presence, behind all of the shouting, and swear words, and insults, there’s a fool who is horribly out of touch with the past, present, and future of bars and bartending in this country.

Of course one must assume that Morgenthaler is trying to get attention with this article. He’s trying not only to sell his book (which has amazing reviews and you can buy on Amazon) but by taking down the “King” of Bartending, he’s making it clear he has other solutions that you can hire him for. “King of the Hill” type articles where you bash the top dog is often the best way to get attention, as long as you can back up your credentials and background.

Philippe Grandbois, General Manager of the Notch8 Restaurant and Bar in Vancoucer agrees that Taffer is a bullshit artist. Taffer “put himself on this stage, with bullshit claims and a brazen disregard for facts and reality,” Grandbois wrote in a Facebook post. “His “techniques” of helping business’ are like the Donald’s. Full of wild accusations and laden dishonesty. A wake of closed venues are his legacy, a laundry list of bad facts and poor demeanour.”

What do you think of Taffer?