FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS

• Libation •

Bootlegger

“Every night is Saturday night in Vegas if you want it to be,” O’Donnell says. “We show them a great time here at One Steakhouse. The experience is a beautiful, comfortable, sexy, fresh, cool, vibe restaurant with wonderful food and cocktails.” One of O’Donnell’s cocktail creations is the Bootlegger, a mix of Macallan 12 Year Double Cask, spiced apple syrup, Australian barrel-spice bitters, Australian aromatic bitters and brandied cherries. It is then smoked using both cedar and oak woods, and a blend of exotic teas. –KM

Benefi t

When sitting at the bar, order the baked Alaska for dessert and watch O’Donnell put on a show!

Johnny O’Donnell One Steakhouse bartender is a city favorite

Legendary Las Vegas bartenders do exist. Meet Johnny O’Donnell, bartender for One Steakhouse at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. “They also call me a bon vivant,” says the Dublin native. “That’s what is says on my business card. I’m a facilitator, a purveyor of ‘bon vivantness’ here—I facilitate the social, luxury of One Steakhouse.”

O’Donnell has a long history in the city of being social through bartending; he’s everyone’s favorite bartender and will quickly be yours when you sit at his bar. He started out at the storied N9NE Steakhouse at Palms during its heyday from 2002 to 2010. He then left to help open, with Vegas restaurateurs Michael and Jenna Morton, La Comida in Downtown Las Vegas and Crush at MGM Grand. Then he joined MB Steak (from brothers David and Michael Morton) when it opened at Hard Rock Hotel in 2017. He stayed with the property when it transitioned to Virgin Hotels Las Vegas and the restaurant changed to One Steakhouse.

“It’s about that Irish hospitality—making you feel comfortable,” he says. “You remember when people were nice to you. I like when people come in for fi rst time and then they keep coming back.” O’Donnell constantly has repeat guests; people have followed him from bar to bar throughout his career. In fact, the day we talked to O’Donnell, his bar was sold out that night, mainly from customers he knows that are in town and make it a point to stop in.

“Bartending is my passion,” he says. “It’s a lot of fun. I enjoy it. It’s making new friends, seeing old friends. … It’s all about acknowledgment. Give eye contact and a smile. Let’s go back to the old days, old school—that smile goes a long way. We don’t have to text a smile, do we? The old-fashioned ‘Hello, how are you?’ ... Bartending is just a job for some people but it’s a passion for me. When you got something as beautiful and good as what we have here, you want to share it ...” –Kiko Miyasato