Vegas Magazine

Openings: The Container Store

Tue, 15 May 2012 17:51:00 -0400

Las Vegas has finally gotten an outpost of the country’s premier storage retailer, The Container Store, located in Town Square. The 22,000-square-foot store opened May 12 and features more than 10,000 multi-functional products that can tackle everyday living and workspace problems.

From closet organizational pieces to travel essentials to dorm room staples, 16 different lifestyle departments cover numerous options tailor-made for stylish neat freaks. You’ll even find home décor accents, gift-wrap, and shelving. We love the store’s hanger selection, with a whipping 80 styles to choose from.

Shoppers can also create unique, customized shelving and drawer systems with a little help from The Container Store’s elfa modular system designers, who are on hand to offer free design advice. Town Square

Tui Lifestyle Perfects Turnkey Design

Mon, 14 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

A Mandarin Oriental condo furnished with Tui Lifestyle’s Avenue collection

A new brand of turnkey interior design hopes to lure buyers of second or third homes to Las Vegas with affordable luxury-room packages now available at CityCenter. Brokers are excited to welcome the company, Tui Lifestyle, whose designs seem tailor-made for the type of high-rise buyer attracted to the Strip.

“In CityCenter, it’s about buying into and being part of a residential community,” says Nicole Nejezch, director of sales for CityCenter Realty. “We’re located in the heart of the Strip and our buyers have access to all the excitement of Las Vegas.” The turnkey option is an attractive choice for second-home buyers, she says, because of the time savings. “It allows them to immediately begin enjoying the lifestyle they envisioned when they purchased at CityCenter.”

Miami-based Tui offers a dozen interior options that can be mixed and matched inside Helmut Jahn’s 37-story, 335-unit Veer Towers and the 47-story, 225-unit Residences at Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. Prices start at $12,995 for a one-bedroom residence, and include custom-made upholstery, case goods, and mattresses.

Add to that the Turnkey Collection for $6,995, which features more than 144 items, including fine art, bed linens, bath towels, cookware, fine porcelain china, glassware, custom-made flatware, scented candles, and bathroom essentials, right down to the soap dish, toothbrush, and toothpaste. Tui keeps costs down by designing, manufacturing, and marketing the collections itself. A complete home remodel can be done within 14 days.

“We searched them out; we like that Tui is commensurate with CityCenter quality and aesthetics,” says Tony Dennis, executive vice president of CityCenter’s residential division. “We have tried to position turnkey furniture packages within five percent of the purchase price.”

Tui comes to Vegas on the heels of successes such as the relaxed, upscale style found at downtown Miami’s 67-story Marquis Residences, designed by Arquitectonica. The four-year-old firm counts Francis Ford Coppola and Jennifer Lopez among its clients; it has also provided complete interiors for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Tui, headed by former Marine-turned-CEO Jason Atkins and Palm Beach interior designer Noranit “Tui” Pranich, boasts a 7,500-square-foot showroom in New York’s SoHo district alongside Ralph Lauren and Armani, as well as locations in Miami, Toronto, Atlanta, and Scottsdale. Tui Lifestyle, which opened in 2008 with three employees, today has more than 65 employees, along with a 285,000-squarefoot distribution center and 22 buildings with 46 design models throughout the United States.

“We are very excited to enter the Las Vegas market and showcase our collections,” Atkins says. “CityCenter was a perfect fit. We believe Las Vegas buyers will benefit from the flexibility offered by our collections.” Ready-to-go Tui packages carry names like Sophisticated, Innovative, Deluxe Lazy, Riviera Avenue, Metropolitan, and East Hampton. Sophisticated, for example, features modern luxury furniture with an Asian twist, including sofa and lounge chairs upholstered in silk-blend fabric flanked by ebonized teak cubic side tables. The custom coffee table has a built-in space for a specially made porcelain vase and flower arrangement. The Metropolitan package is all black leather, polished stainless steel, and dark walnut finishes.

“It’s really hard to come by immediate gratification,” Dennis says. “But Tui Lifestyle comes as close as possible with a proven track record for delivering value-added products with little or no effort on behalf of the buyer.”

Veer Towers and Mandarin Oriental have 560 condominiums, with 162 units still available for purchase. At Mandarin Oriental, one-, two- and three-bedroom units range from 1,110 to 4,000 square feet, with prices starting at $975,000. Veer Towers offers studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom flats, as well as penthouses from 500 to 3,300 square feet, with prices starting at $350,000.

CityCenter broke ground during the height of the real estate boom but finished during a deep recession, forcing owner MGM Resorts International to take hundreds of millions of dollars in write-downs on the condominium supply. As a result, CityCenter, which had 2,400 condominiums available when it opened in December 2009, began a rental program for both unsold and owned condominiums late last year. In addition, sales efforts for the unsold residences inside the 57-story Rafael Viñoly-designed Vdara were halted; the 1,500-unit, crescent-shaped building now operates as a nongaming hotel.

Brunch Plans: Postrio Bar & Grill

Sat, 12 May 2012 02:22:00 -0400

Lobster club sandwich at Postrio Bar & Grill

The new weekend brunch at Wolfgang Puck’s Postrio Bar & Grill is positively crave-worthy. “We're seeing it grow in popularity every weekend,” said executive chef Michael Tiva of the menu, which he's stacked with sweet and savory dishes like corned beef hash topped with fried organic eggs, buttermilk pancakes with candied pecans and maple butter, and an Italian-style breakfast sandwich layered with prosciutto and wild arugula. Order a side of Puck’s famous truffled potato chips with blue cheese and you’ve got the perfect marriage of old and new. And there are more new dishes to come: “We've already expanded the selections by a few items, but we haven't yet made the menu as large as we plan to,” added Tiva. We spoke with the chef to get more insight on the brunch and the restaurant's genius Bloody Mary recipe.

What was the inspiration for the new brunch menu?
MICHAEL TIVA: We have several restaurants that offer full-time breakfast within the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group, but some of the inspiration was taken from the original Postrio restaurant in San Francisco, where breakfast was offered daily. We have updated some classic WP brunch items, and there are a couple of brand new items as well.

Who worked with you on developing the menu?
MT: Wolfgang himself, as well as the corporate culinary team and our sous chefs.

The brioche donuts with jam are so delicious. Have the sweet dishes been more popular than the savory ones?
MT: We find that earlier in the day, the sweeter items sell better. The heartier, more lunch-oriented items sell better later in the day. But this is Vegas, so a traditional morning for our guests doesn’t always occur. It's never cut and dry what the guests will want.

Postrio’s Bloody Mary
SERVES TWO

9 ounces tomato juice
2 ½ ounces sweet dill pickle juice
1 ¼ tablespoons fresh lemon juice
¾ teaspoon of horseradish
¼ teaspoon curry powder
¼ teaspoon Sriracha
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon celery seed
¼ teaspoon black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a martini shaker and shake vigorously. Strain into a chilled glass and garnish with pickled green bean, olive, or lime wedge.

Brunch is available Saturday and Sunday, 11 AM–3 PM. The Grand Canal Shoppes, 702-796-1110

Advanced Anti-aging at Canyon Ranch SpaClub

Thu, 10 May 2012 12:29:00 -0400

Using British skincare line Medik 8, the posh Canyon Ranch SpaClub is now offering what is perhaps its most restorative anti-aging program yet. Dubbed About Face Advanced Aesthetics, the new program includes four facials designed to cleanse, lift, and revitalize. (The program marks the British line’s first introduction to American spagoers.)

Combining Medik 8 green cosmeceuticals and the latest in state-of-the-art facial technology, the most basic of the four facials is the Pure treatment, a 50-minute cleansing and exfoliating facial. For flawless skin on a big night out, the longer 80-minute Uplifting facial uses microdermabrasion, steaming, extractions, and red and blue light therapy to lift, tone, and reduce fine lines.

The Detail facial is 50 minutes and ideal for men, while the Ultimate Microdermabrasion facial gives a quick 30-minute detoxification with a hyaluronic acid mask that adds glow and clears up scars or discolorations associated with acne.

About Face treatment prices range from $95 to $295. For an extra $75, clients can add boosters like a quick lifting treatment, hydratone gel mask, oxygen boost, or crystal-free microdermabrasion. Bonus: locals receive a 10 percent discount on any service.The Venetian/The Palazzo, 702-414-3600

Kenny Horowitz Gives Lollipops a Vegas Spin

Wed, 09 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400


	Horowitz plans to roll out new products to expand his candy business

Casino dice inspired Kenny Horowitz’s success, but unlike many people who arrive in town, he didn’t rely on luck to make it in Vegas. “You have to be unafraid to make that next move,” he says. Maybe it’s easier to roll the dice when they’re yours—and made of candy.

Horowitz is the man behind Sin City Suckers, the dice-shaped lollipops found at checkout counters citywide. (Tourists buy them by the handful at the airport before leaving town.) Now celebrating seven years in business, the one-time caterer who started off making the pops by hand in a rented kitchen will oversee a spring/summer shipment of 900,000 suckers, a number so high he seems uncomfortable even talking about it.

A native of Long Island, NY who started cooking at summer camps in his teens, Horowitz graduated from UNLV’s prestigious hospitality industry school before managing at Strip restaurants, including The Palm and Spago. After two years with Wolfgang Puck, he started his own catering business, and even built a food and beverage program at what is now the JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa. Later, he started a side business in a rented catering facility hand-making the now-ubiquitous candy pops in the shape of dice. Flavors include Lucky Lemon and Grape of Spades, although his most sought-after pop is red (the standard color of real casino dice) and called Cherry Cherry Cherry after a high slots payoff.

At first, Horowitz developed his own flavors and colors and made the pops in small batches. “But once they hit the market, I saw that they had a mind of their own,” he says. “People would bring one home to their friends just to stick it in the mug on their desk. It started growing into bachelorette parties, corporate events, mom-and-pop candy shops across the country, even bunko games in small towns where people have never even been to Vegas.”

To stay ahead of demand, Horowitz had to go all in. While at a candy expo in Chicago, he decided to take the big leap into mass production. “My dad taught me that you have to spend money to make money,” he says. Now he’s taking the next step in this confectionary evolution by developing complementary products to continue the expansion of his business.

Horowitz’s sweet success has garnered him a few brushes with fame. Sin City Suckers has been featured on Food Network’s candy-themed show Unwrapped, and in 2008, Horowitz found an unlikely ally: Lil Wayne. The video for the rapper’s huge hit “Lollipop,” filmed in Vegas, included the dice pops in several opening shots. “The image of Lil Wayne with my suckers, wearing all his bling in Vegas was pretty cool,” Horowitz says. “I started getting calls from all over—old-school vinyl record stores in the South and deep in the heart of New York City. They all wanted the suckers.”

Drink This: Robin Antin's Signature Cocktail

Mon, 07 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400


	Crystalline cocktail glass, Swarovski ($390 for a set of two). Miracle Mile Shops, 702-732-7302

As the producer of Matt Goss’s show at Caesars Palace and the owner of Pussycat Dolls Burlesque Saloon at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, Los Angeles-based producer/ choreographer Robin Antin spends her weekends in Vegas. To get her through the late nights, she most depends on her favorite cocktail: Cat’s Meow.

“I start at Matt’s show and then go over to the Saloon,” she says. “Matt’s show lets out by 11:30 PM, so by the time I get to the Saloon, the girls are just about to go on.”

Antin conceptualized and designed the entire Saloon, which opened last June, and also had a hand in creating the cocktail menu, making sure the names and drinks were sassy and girly—just like her Dolls. We’re sure the next generation of Pussycat Dolls will approve: Antin is in the midst of the recording group’s launch and will bring them to the Saloon in the next few months for a guest appearance. One local celebrity sure to be in the audience is Goss.

“We go to the Saloon together all the time,” she says. “He loves the girls, and they love when he shows up. He likes Guinness because he’s British, but he would try Cat’s Meow.” Antin’s cocktail of choice combines equal parts fresh lemon sour, raspberry and blueberry vodkas, and Hpnotiq, which gives the martini a flirty blue hue. A dash of rock candy syrup and a strawberry garnish finish it off.

“I like sweeter drinks,” says Antin, who leans toward colorful creations (fruity vodkas and sweet syrups) with cheeky names. “I keep picturing a girl up on the club’s rhinestone carousel horse with a glass of Cat’s Meow. It’s so cute.”

CAT’S MEOW
1 oz. Stolichnaya Blueberi vodka
1 oz. Stolichnaya Razberi vodka
1 oz. Hpnotiq liqueur
1 oz. fresh lemon sour
1⁄2 oz. rock candy syrup

Add the ingredients to a shaker with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a strawberry.

Bentley Reveals Luxe SUV: EXP 9 F

Fri, 04 May 2012 13:10:00 -0400

Bentley made a statement the night before the Geneva International Motor Show during VW’s Group Night, where each of the parent company’s brands showcased their latest and most spectacular vehicles. The British luxury maker wowed the crowd with its first SUV concept, EXP 9 F.

Massive 23-inch alloy wheels; the signature bold Bentley grille; a powerful 6-liter W12 engine that can make up to 600 horsepower; an 8-speed transmission; a fold-down champagne cooler; and luxury tailgating fit for the Kentucky Derby, seem to overly exceed expectations of consumers looking to purchase an ultra-elite SUV. Bentley’s sports utility vehicle is in competition with other luxe cars like the Range Rover and Porsche’s Cayenne Turbo. While the design and composition keep all the usual Bentley trappings, it is unknown if this foray into SUVs will be met with negative or positive feedback.