L AS VEGAS’ WEEKLY CITY MAGAZINE
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FOUNDED FEBRUARY 2010
PUBLISHER Michael Skenandore
EDITORIAL Nicole Ely Genevie Durano SENIOR EDITORS Paul Szydelko, Xania Woodman SENIOR EDITOR, A&E Geoff Carter ASSOCIATE EDITOR Camille Cannon SENIOR WRITER Lissa Townsend Rodgers STAFF WRITER Emmily Bristol CALENDAR COORDINATOR Ian Caramanzana EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
MANAGING EDITOR
SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Melinda Sheckells (style)
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Michael Green (politics), Al Mancini (dining), David G. Schwartz (gaming/hospitality)
ART Ryan Olbrysh Cierra Pedro Anthony Mair, Krystal Ramirez
CREATIVE DIRECTOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS
VEGASSEVEN.COM Herbert Akinyele Zoneil Maharaj SENIOR WRITER, RUNREBS.COM Mike Grimala WEB PRODUCER Jessie O’Brien ASSISTANT WEB PRODUCER Amber Sampson TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
ENGAGEMENT EDITOR
PRODUCTION/DISTRIBUTION Marc Barrington Jimmy Bearse DISTRIBUTION COORDINATOR Jasen Ono
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION/DISTRIBUTION ADVERTISING MANAGER
SALES Christy Corda Nicole Scherer ACCOUNT MANAGER Brittany Quintana ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Robyn Weiss
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR DIGITAL SALES MANAGER
INTERNS Troy Fosgate, Tia Keys, Sierra Lomprey, Mitchell Weiss
Ryan T. Doherty
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Michael Skenandore VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING AND EVENTS Keith White DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS Michael Uriarte CREATIVE DIRECTOR Sherwin Yumul CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Sim Salzman CONTROLLER Jane Weigel PRESIDENT
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PUBLISHED IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE OBSERVER MEDIA GROUP Vegas Seven, 702-798-7000, 302 E. Carson Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89101 Vegas Seven is distributed each Thursday throughout Southern Nevada c 2015 Vegas Seven, LLC. Reproduction in whole or in part without the permission of Vegas Seven, LLC is prohibited.
THE LATEST
Lee Canyon.
Winter Is Coming Four things powder-hounds need to know By Xania Woodman ➜ ANYBODY WANNA BUY A HOTEL? The three-story, 62-room Resort on Mount Charleston is back on the market for a cool $3,695,000. Potential buyers should have no trouble fnding it, thanks to the billion watts of light pollution ex-urban ambiance from the
WHEELS UP
December 10–16, 2015
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➜ Private jet travel was once only
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reserved for C-level executives and superstars. Now, it’s becoming more accessible thanks to a few companies that are selling flat-fee memberships or individual seats to business travelers and adventure seekers for a fraction of the cost normally associated with this one-percenter amenity. Here are three companies to check out: Surf Air Pay a $1,000 initiation fee and receive unlimited flights for a membership fee starting at $1,750 per month. Plans include monthly, annual and group rates
parking lot of the new $10 million visitors center next door. Loopnet. com/Listing/18865593. Las Vegas Ski & Snowboard Resort is no more. The ski destination 45 minutes outside of the city has gone back to its original name, Lee Canyon (LeeCanyonLV.
for families and corporations. Surf Air flies between Las Vegas and Hawthorne/L.A. Metro on Friday and Sunday. Other routes include Los Angeles, the S.F. Bay Area, Santa Barbara, Sacramento, Carlsbad, Monterey, Truckee, Napa and Palm Springs. Advantages include flying out of private air terminals with complimentary parking and free Wi-Fi. A flight can be booked instantly online. JetPurple Selling seats by the ticket instead of a membership fee, JetPurple has expansion plans in 2016 with four regularly scheduled weekly flights on 9 leased public charter aircraft (Airbus ATR42 twin turbo-prop planes with 30-seats) between Phoenix/ Scottsdale and San Diego, Las Vegas and Rocky Point, Sonora, Mexico and from Los Angeles/ Burbank to three Asian destinations. Flying out of private terminals at major-city alternative airports and operating as a U.S. Department of Transportation regulated public
com). Marketing director Jim Seely says that the rebrand is in response to the resort now being open as a year-round destination. “Las Vegas Ski & Snowboard Resort just didn’t ft us anymore,” Seely says. “We’ve evolved into a winter and summer resort. Our summer operations include hiking, patio games, food and beverage, corporate groups, weddings, concerts and disc golf.” The second reason for the change, he says, was simply because locals preferred the name. For how El Nino will affect the 2015/2016 season, visit VegasSeven.com/ LeeCanyon2015. Eagle Point Resort—you know, the one a mere 3½ hours away from Las Vegas with nearly an entire mountain of natural, ungroomed powder—will open daily beginning December 19. On January 3, the resort will switch to its new regular season schedule of Friday-Monday. TuesdayThursday, the entire resort is available for group buyouts with the As You Wish experience. EaglePointResort.com. For the frst time in its history, the Lodge at Bryce Canyon will remain open throughout the winter season. This news coincides with the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. The park is one of only three United States parks to have been designated an International Dark Skies Park. So you can get a gander at the cosmos through March 24 for $120 per night. BryceCanyonForever.com.
air charter, JetPurple launched its service in 2012 in Michigan. The estimated cost for a ticket from Phoenix to Las Vegas is $500, compared to $700 for a commercial business class ticket. Jet Smarter An app that allows the consumer direct access to the private jet marketplace, Jet Smarter eliminates the middleman. It has a membership program that costs $9,000 annually and a $3,000 initiation fee. Jet Smarter divides its service into three areas: JetCharter, whole aircraft charter where users customize their trip based on destination and aircraft; JetDeals, one-way and shuttle flights on a private jet offered at discounted rates for non-members and free for members; and JetShare, shared aircraft charter offered at a fraction of the price. JetSmarter also recently launched a ride-sharing service that allows users to purchase single seats on charter flights from select U.S. cities at cost-effective rates. -Melinda Sheckells
J A M E S P. R E Z A
In the early 1990s, I lived in a pitchblack and sparsely populated patch of northwest desert near Lone Mountain. Occasionally, I'd see a green light beam washing over the mountain from sources unknown. Any explanation? Spy planes from Nellis? Advanced military devices veering outside the Nevada Test Site? UFOs?! While all are possible, none are correct. The 1990s were a boom time for Las Vegas. The years 1989-1993 saw five themed megaresorts spring up and catapult the Strip from Old Vegas to New Vegas. Then, as now, casino competition was fierce. Then, as now and always, resorts sought ways to bring attention to themselves. That look-at-me approach began with neon signage, moved on to erupting volcanoes, and, by the 1990s, had progressed to lasers. In 1993, the (new) MGM Grand opened and staged a free, family-friendly indoor animatronic show featuring laser technology. Soon, lasers were found in attractions at the Forum Shops, Sam's Town and the Luxor, where a 10-story Strip-front replica of the Sphinx shot lasers from its eyes while xenon projections layered on screens of water. Even Bob Stupak, a larger-than-life Vegas character if ever there was one, dreamed of lasers beaming in all directions from the top of his future Stratosphere Tower (1996). While that never materialized, something similar did: Both the Rio and the Las Vegas Hilton used powerful lasers to project nearly horizontal beams across the Las Vegas Valley. The Hilton’s origin point was its huge, mid-century modern pylon sign, and was touted as the world's most powerful public laser display by its creator, Laser Fantasy International. While the Hilton laser did offer a sort of pulsing “show,” it was during its rest mode when it projected low-lying static beams in four directions around the Valley. One of those directions was (drum roll!) Lone Mountain. The otherworldly beams in the desert were not to last. Multiple pilot complaints led the FAA to issue a 1995 halt order for all outdoor casino laser displays. And as lasers have become ridiculously affordable (see: annoying kids with laser pointers at theaters), the FAA continues to struggle with their impact on flight safety. Just this week, complaints about home-use holiday display lasers are giving the FAA headaches. But for a brief moment in the go-go ’90s, the skyline was punctuated by curious beams of green light—not the vapor trails of little green men, but simply a reaching for the same green for which Las Vegas is always hungry.
Questions? AskaNative@VegasSeven.com.
In politics, courage is a virtue that can easily be misplaced
BUFFET DEALS UNDER $10
December 10–16, 2015
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➜ IN 1959, while preparing
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to run for president, John F. Kennedy told historian Arthur Schlesinger he “felt that it would be a good idea to admit frankly that he had been wrong in not taking a more forthright position” on the Communist witch hunting by Senator Joe McCarthy. Schlesinger told him he was “paying the price of having written a book called Profles in Courage.” Kennedy replied, “Yes, but I didn’t have any chapter in it about myself.” How might Kennedy respond to the courage—or lack of it—of these Nevada politicians? Senator Dean Heller. In one day, Heller had a doubleheader. First, the National Journal reported “GOP Is Relying on Obama to Veto Reconciliation Bill.” The bill would repeal the president’s Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act but allow time for transition. The Journal noted, “Several GOP senators represent states that have opted to expand Medicaid under the ACA, and stripping their constituents of health-care coverage could be dangerous politically—but the president’s veto threat assures that won’t happen. ‘Well, it’s going to be vetoed,’ said Senator Dean Heller, a Nevada Republican, when asked about the Medicaid provision. Nevada has expanded Medicaid.” Later that day, 24 hours or so after the massacre in San Bernardino, the Senate voted anew on the Manchin-Toomey bill, defeated in 2013, that would have expanded background checks. The vote was 50-48 against, with three
Republicans joining Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, to back the measure: Arizona’s John McCain, Maine’s Susan Collins and Mark Kirk of Illinois. Heller, that noted champion of bipartisanship, voted against the bill. It takes real courage to vote against something that you know will be vetoed anyway, and then to keep a system that still allows domestic terrorists with criminal histories—i.e., Robert L. Dear of Colorado Springs—easy access to weaponry. John Oceguera. The former Assembly speaker ran for the House in 2012 and lost to Joe Heck, who doesn’t want you to know he’s still in Congress as he seeks Harry Reid’s Senate seat. After working as a lobbyist, Oceguera is in a crowded Democratic primary with declared candidates Lucy Flores, Ruben Kihuen and Susie Lee in the race for House District 4, which consists of several rural counties and most of Clark County north of Las Vegas. Responding to, as he put it, “more than 350 mass shootings just this year,” Oceguera wrote a letter resigning his membership in the National Rife Association. “I am [a] law-abiding gun owner, and have been a life member,” he said. “I grew up in a family of hunters.” [But] I cannot continue to be a member while the NRA
refuses to back closing these loopholes. Therefore, I resign my membership in the NRA effective immediately. Please remove my name from your membership list.” On the one hand, Oceguera has extensive ties to rural Nevada—he grew up in Fallon, where Democrats are exceedingly rare—and it would be reasonable to calculate that his best chance is with more conservative white male Democrats. This actually could hurt him politically. On the other hand, what took him so long? The NRA hasn’t exactly been shy, and San Bernardino wasn’t a frst, second or even 22nd mass shooting. And the overwhelming majority of Democrats—and the majority of Americans—have had it with the NRA. Adam Paul Laxalt. The attorney general announced he had ended an inquiry into Planned Parenthood’s Nevada chapter. His offce had been trying to fnd out whether the offces sold body parts. Attorneys for Planned Parenthood reported that the Nevada branches don’t participate in donation programs for body tissue. This may have been an act of political courage. Republicans have shown no signs of believing the facts about Planned Parenthood. Imagine future campaigns in which opponents will attack him for that. If he gets to Congress, they may never put him on a Benghazi panel. Kennedy said something else: “We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
➜ The Buffet at the Wynn was closed throughout most of November. It got a big makeover and reopened with a new look, new menu and new higher prices. It’s one fine buffet to be sure, good enough to be lauded in the Life section of USA Today last week. But this bad boy will cost ya—breakfast is $23.99, lunch $26.99 and dinner $42.99 ($49.99 for gourmet dinner). Such is the case for several of the top buffets in town. Gourmet dinner is $39.99 at Bellagio, $41.99 at Aria and a whopping $55.99 at the most expensive non-brunch spread in town, Caesars Palace’s Bacchanal Buffet. These big-time smorgies are the ones that get all the national ink, but what about the ones that we eat—the bargain buffets that made Las Vegas famous? You know they’re out there, but I’ll bet you didn’t realize to what degree. Comedy routines and movies still love to invoke Las Vegas’ “$2.99 all-your-can-eat buffets.” Those are long gone, but in 2015 there’s nothing wrong with $9.99 or $7.99, or even less. We stay up-to-the-minute on buffet pricing at LasVegasAdvisor.com, and I checked our database to find out how many buffet meals in Las Vegas are priced below $10. So what would you guess? Ten? Twenty? As of our last monthly canvassing, 29 buffet meals were priced at $9.99 or below, spanning breakfast, lunch, dinner and brunch. But that’s only if you’re a square and buying retail. Many casinos offer discounts for showing a players card. Add in options with players card discounts and there are an amazing 65 buffet choices under $10! Of these, 20 are breakfasts, 25 are lunches and 10 each are dinners and brunches. That’s a lot of choice. The lowest price for lunch is $6.99 at Palace Station using a card. The lowest price for dinner is $8.99 at Arizona Charlie’s Boulder, Fiesta Henderson and Palace Station, all requiring a players card. The lowest price for brunch is also $8.99, available at Arizona Charlie’s Boulder and Fiesta Henderson with card. And the least expensive buffet in all of Vegas is breakfast at Arizona Charlie’s Boulder, which is just $5.49 with card (Silver Sevens’ breakfast is right behind at $5.99). Arizona Charlie’s doesn’t exactly boast the most spectacular spread in town, but it ain’t bad for that price. The others in the list of 65 are at Palms, Gold Coast, Orleans, Fremont, Main Street Station, Sam’s Town, Suncoast, Aliante, Silverton, South Point, Rampart, Cannery, Eastside Cannery, Fremont, Main Street Station, Railroad Pass, Fiesta Rancho, Santa Fe Station, Boulder Station and Texas Station, mostly for breakfast and lunch, along with Red Rock and Green Valley Ranch for breakfast only. Note also that locals get 25 percent off at the Rio and the Westgate. It won’t get you under $10, but it moves you a good ways in the right direction. Anthony Curtis is the publisher of the Las Vegas Advisor and LasVegasAdvisor.com.
ILLUSTRATION BY CIERRA PEDRO
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Nevada’s Cowardly Lions
NIGHTLIFE
DJ Yo Yolie is ready to conquer Las Vegas By Camille Cannon
VegasSeven.com
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As She Is
➜ AT 12 YEARS OLD, Yo Yolie (born Faby Peña) learned to DJ by watching her older
brother spin. As a teen, the Bay Area native saved up to buy her own equipment, practiced religiously and worked her way from dive bars to nightclubs in San Francisco at 21. Then in January, Yo Yolie packed her gear to move to Las Vegas. ¶ How’s it paying off? Well, you can catch her December 16 at Ghostbar, December 20 at Bond in the Cosmopolitan and December 17 and 31 at the Ice Rink at the Cosmopolitan. The in-demand beat matcher still manages to mix every Saturday night on the Bay’s WILD 94.9-FM. Naturally, Yo Yolie insists there’s hope for aspiring DJs.
December 10–16, 2015
PHOTO BY VALERIE GURROL A
Your city after dark and the DJ to the fashion houses
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NIGHTLIFE 26
When I was in high school, I used to watch DJ AM do his residency at the Palms. I was like, “Yo, that shit’s fucking dope!” That was just something that I’ve always wanted to accomplish. Once I started really DJing, after I was 21, I started doing the club circuit in San Francisco. Something just pushed me to be like, “I’m still young, and I still really wanna accomplish this. Why not go ahead and hustle my way in [Las Vegas] for a year?” I was doing H&M gigs in the daytime and at night, I would take the bus and go to Insert Coin(s). That was my little hustle that I had going on. If I had nights off, I would go to the club and say what’s up to everybody and network. I’m just super grateful for everything that’s happened since I got here. How crazy is it that I’ve always dreamed of having my name on the Palms marquee because DJ AM had it and then—bam!—all of a sudden my name is on it? I freaked the fuck out. What kind of music did you grow up listening to?
My mom was into salsa and merengue, with a jazz infuence. My sister loves [Mexican rock band] Maná. My
“I [used to] want to be a music teacher. It's just so much fun to open everybody's eyes. It's like a music history class— whatever record you pick up or song that you hear." brother loved hip-hop and ’80s stuff. My infuences were super weird. Growing up, I caught on to everything. My whole life was like a melting pot of every genre. Now, whenever I DJ, it’s kind of confusing to keep up with me. I’ll just play the Beatles, and then I’ll play some Future. I’ll play some Oscar D'León and some Selena. And then some Drake. So you scratch … and mix and … beat match?
What? You do that?! Yes, I DJ. [Laughs.] It’s crazy, the explosion of DJing. When I grew up, it was never like this. I never heard any of my friends say, “I wanna be a DJ!” When I was in high school, it was like, “What are you gonna do?” and I was going out with this one guy and we were both going to the Academy of Art. And it was funny because we would be talking to our friends and say,
“We’re gonna study fashion and music.” Next thing you know, they’d say, “Oh, she wants to do fashion? That’s cool!” No. I want to do music, and he wants to do fashion. How would you describe your style?
Hmmm …, If I had to describe my style in food—cuz I am a foodie—I would have to say a bag of hot Cheetos on the side, chicken and waffes, some horchata, some rice, some Korean barbecue. I’m just everywhere. It’s funny, because I used to be like, “Fuck, man, I think I have musical ADD.” And then somebody told me, “Duh, that’s what DJs are.” And I’m like, “That’s true, huh?” [Laughs.] What would you do if you weren’t DJing?
I [used to] want to be a music teacher. It’s just so much fun to open everybody’s eyes. It’s like a music history
class—whatever record you pick up or song that you hear. It teaches you a part of that certain time. That was always interesting to me. Even sampling, the violins that Kanye uses—those came from a certain time and period. Now, if you knock [those records], they go so hard because he put an 808 [drum beat] behind them, but you have to understand that he was infuenced, maybe, by what his mom played. Or maybe by what Q-Tip or someone like that played. Going back to the root of a song is just dope as shit to me. I get nerdy like that. Where do you see yourself a few years from now?
I would love to headline a club on the Strip. I would just love to travel more across the country and around the world. If God permits, I’d love to expand even more with my brand and reach out to kids. … When I did Camp Spin Off, it was dope because I was teaching little kids to DJ. I was so happy that the girls there weren’t like, “Yeah, I’m going to be a Playboy model frst.” They were like, “No, that’s whack.” They loved scratching lessons. I was like, “Yo, there’s hope for the future.”
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December 10–16, 2015
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NIGHTLIFE
In Style Jesse Marco tailors his tunes for a stylish scene By Kat Boehrer
➜ JESSE MARCO BELONGS to a glamorous and ex-
clusive circle of fashion icons, models, and tastemakers. The New York-based DJ has curated mixes for brands including Alexander Wang, Stüssy and Tom Ford, and he’s appeared in campaigns for such brands as Uniqlo and Marc Jacobs. Marco sets the vibe for the sartorially inclined, but he also makes waves in the mainstream music industry with his upcoming releases with Mad Decent and Fool’s Gold, and even plans to put out a full-length album in the near future. But first, he’ll send out 2015 and ring in 2016 at Heart of Omnia. As a DJ, you’ve worked with Alexander Wang quite a few times. How do you get in with a legend like that?
I’ve done a bunch of fashion related stuff. The frst thing I ever did years ago was go to Milan [to DJ a fashion show and party] for Tom Ford. And then I did Calvin Klein—I can’t even remember all of them off the top of my head. [Wang] sort of just got a hold of me and was like, “I dig your style.” Most of the stuff I was playing at the time was a mix between rock and old-school house music and newer bloghouse, but with a hip-hop focus. He was like, “Yo, come do your thing at one of my after-parties.” He trusts my gut when it comes to [music]. What other brands have you curated music for?
Stüssy was really cool, I knew one of their creative directors who scheduled super sick incredible DJs. They were like, “Let’s do a curated mix and then take some photos and stuff.” I’m a big Stüssy guy. I always wear that stuff, so I was stoked on that. How do you know what type of music is appropriate for which brand?
It’s about style and the vibe. I think about where I am or if I’m wearing a piece [of clothing] that makes me feel a certain way. Alex [Wang] likes hip-hop, and so do I. So the majority of that stuff is primarily contemporary rap music and some classic stuff. How do you describe your personal style?
December 10–16, 2015
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My style is pretty simple. I like just wearing a white T-shirt, jeans and a classic pair of Nikes or something like that, some Air Force 1s, just to keep it simple, to try not to overcomplicate things. I have so many T-shirts from Alex. And I love Dior jeans. Years ago, I did something for Dior, and they gave me a bunch of stuff. I love the way their clothes ft. But I’ll also get a T-shirt from the corner store for like fve bucks.
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Are fashion and music naturally related or do you have to work to tie them together?
I come at it from more of a music background, that that’s my real house. From a musical perspective, fashion and music intersect in a lot of different ways. I believe it relates chronologically. If you hear a tune, whenever that tune was made, you know what people were wearing. Like if you listen to ’80s songs or oldschool rap songs, immediately you recognize in your mind what people were wearing at the time and what the style was. It’s sort a generational marker. Does one have an influence on the other?
Music infuences fashion and culture in general. It’s
like a two-part thing. First, you hear the music and then you see what they look like. Or maybe some people see it the other way around. How are fashion parties different from your average nightclub party?
The people are a little bit more in tune with [trends]. They’re on the cutting edge. Obviously, there are models and people who care about style. I can experiment sometimes with newer music.
It’s nice to play to a room that celebrates pushing boundaries, I know that sounds really corny. [Laughs.] It’s refreshing being in a room where there is a bunch of people dancing to music that they maybe haven’t heard before and they’re digging it because they dig the style. It sounds so glamorous.
It sounds glamorous. People don’t see the hard work that goes into it.
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George Maloof’ anymore. I enjoyed it still, but I just didn’t feel that vibe. We had that family chemistry, and George was a great leader, friend and mentor. And when he left, it just kind of, in my heart, fzzled away. And it was time for me to pack up and move.” But where do you go after you’ve presided over one of the coolest restaurants in one of the coolest resorts in one of the coolest cities in the world? Bernardo’s frst thought was to return to his East Coast roots, so he took a job in Manhattan with renowned chef David Burke. But he says he couldn’t adapt to the pace of the Big Apple. “It was a different beast,” he says. “I thought I was ready and wanted to move back, but after nine months, a year, I didn’t enjoy it anymore.” So the chef traded the crowded, sweaty subways of New York for the sun and fun of Mexico in 2012, at a Cabo San Lucas resort called El Dorado that made even the Palms look subdued. “They few me down there and rolled out the red carpet. I got picked up in a big Escalade. And I was just blown away. The gates open, and it was one of the best resorts in the world. It’s all high-end homes, anywhere from $5 million to $40 million homes.” He was immediately sold. The El Dorado sent him an offer, and within two weeks he was cooking for celebrities including George Strait, George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tim Allen, Sam Nazarian and others—often in the stars’ homes. During his spare time, Bernardo took up spear fshing and traveled throughout Mexico. But, he says, he couldn’t escape one thing: “I missed Sin City.” Bernardo’s original plan for his return to Las Vegas was to open his own restaurant, and while his frst attempt—which got as far as securing a spot near UNLV—didn’t work out, he’s still looking. In the meantime, he’s taking over the reins at celebrity chef Brian Malarkey’s new Aria restaurant Herringbone, which is set to open December 28. And whatever else Las Vegas may have in store for him, the plan is to stay here awhile. “Vegas is my home. You live here for so long, and when you leave, you want to come back.”
SEVEN THINGS TO EXPECT FROM HERRINGBONE • There will be no herring on the menu— either with or without bones. • Since Brian Malarkey is originally from a farm in Oregon, he’s asked Bernardo to offer a true down-home steak: an 18-ounce dry-aged ribeye. • At nearly 10,500 square feet, Herringbone will be more than double the size of Gold Lounge, which it replaces.
• The restaurant will feature outdoor space. • Bernardo’s famed Nove Spaghetti will appear on the Herringbone menu, renamed “seafood pasta.” • If you’re a fan of raw fish, expect three varieties of crudo. • Bernardo will once again embrace the farm-to-table ideal by purchasing food from growers in Pahrump, including Grow Smart and Prime Time Farms.
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being a transient city. But for many, once this city gets ahold of you, it’s a tough habit to kick. Chef Geno Bernardo is one of those who tried to get away for a while, to no avail. Thankfully, he’s fnally back where he belongs. Bernardo is a self-taught chef raised on the East Coast who was working at a sushi spot near San Diego in 2003 when he met the Palms’ then-owner George Maloof and N9NE Group executives Michael Kornick, Michael Morton and Scott DeGraff. The quartet was impressed with some of the Italian touches he was putting into his Japanese cuisine and began discussing bringing Bernardo to Morongo, a new Native American casino they were planning outside of Palm Springs. The resort’s Italian restaurant could serve as a proving ground for a rooftop restaurant they were planning for their upcoming Fantasy tower at the Palms. Bernardo wasn’t immediately sold, but an old friend convinced him to give it a try. “I blew it off at frst,” the chef says. “I was like, ‘Dude, I’m living in San Diego.’ But I happened to know [N9NE Steakhouse chef] Barry Dakake from Rhode Island. Close friends of ours reached out to me, so I few out to Vegas and did a tasting.” It was a hit, and after some time at Morongo, Bernardo fnally made the move to Las Vegas to open Nove Italiano in 2005. The Palms was at the top of its celebrity-driven game. While Dakake was holding court in the VIP-flled N9NE Steakhouse, which has long been a go-to spot for A-listers, Bernardo was providing the same caliber of guests a more private experience (and a far better view), upstairs at Nove. “It was a disconnect in Las Vegas to have a restaurant 51 foors up,” Bernardo says. “But the same people [who dined at N9NE] would come up when they didn’t want to be seen. It was like a party every night at the Palms back then.” But in Las Vegas, no hot spot remains cool forever, and as the Palms lost a bit of its star power, the chef saw other things changing in the resort as well. “When George lost the hotel,” he says, “I just didn’t feel like it was ‘the N9NE Group and
December 10–16, 2015
PHOTO BY JON ESTRADA
➜ LAS VEGAS has a reputation as
VegasSeven.com
Las Vegas retains its allure for wandering chef Geno Bernardo By Al Mancini
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A&E Want to get in on the instant photography craze? The Polaroid Snap (Polaroid.com; $100) produces walletsize (2x3) instant photos in addition to digital shots, comes in four colors, and is as cute as a basket of kittens. And the UE BOOM 2 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker (Amazon.com; $200), named the best of its kind by Gizmodo.com, comes in a variety of colors, has a 15-hour rechargeable battery, is waterproof (!!!) and delivers appropriately booming sound in a 360-degree spread. We’ve fallen in love for far less.
December 10–16, 2015
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Gifts for Art Lovers
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Los Angeles artist and animator Gary Baseman teams up with retail giant Coach to produce a limited-edition watch featuring his imaginary creature Buddy Boy (Coach in The Forum Shops at Caesars or Coach. com; $325), a slave to style and quality. While the timepiece is super cool by itself, the box it comes in is also snazzy: hand-painted in a Wild Beast print borrowed from another one of his creatures, Buster Le Fauve. A dizzying blend of art, music, style and skateboarding, Be Street Magazine (Be-Street.com; one-year subscription $59), is a captivating read: think of it as the Grand Royal for Millennials. Each cover is an original work from artists such as Hajime Sorayama, Cyrcle and Tristan Eaton. Distributed in 15 countries
since 2007, this is a must-grab publication. Subscription prices vary based on country. Lifestyle boutique Amusespot’s gifting options include everything from local products and vintage items to upscale designer items such as British designer Tom Dixon’s barware (Amusespot, 2550 Anthem Village Dr. Suite 120, Henderson, 702-857-8212) made with mouth-blown glass and hand-painted copper detailing. The dramatic proportions create unique silhouettes that turn each glass and decanter into modern art … flled with wine! The Plum Cocktail Shaker is $135, the Tank Decanter $125. San Francisco artist Jeremy Fish has designed everything from Nikes to picture disks to pinball machines. The Upper Playground Skull Bunny Shower Curtain (UpperPlayground. com; $70) is the embodiment of his “useful” style. And if you’ve fallen in love with the work of Italian street artist Pixel Pancho from his “robots in love” Life Is Beautiful mural on the El Cortez parking garage, then Pancho’s Soho Design House Rug (SohoDH.com; prices vary) should be at the top of your “want” list this holiday season. Soho Design House is in the business of melding contemporary art and high-end design through its luxurious, hand-knotted art rugs. Other artists on their roster include David Flores, Ron English and Phil Frost.
Gifts for Movie Fanatics
Get your friends and loved ones caught up on all that’s come before with Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Amazon.com; $90), a ninedisc Blu-ray set featuring the frst six flms in the inescapable pop culture juggernaut, plus three additional discs of deleted scenes, documentaries and George Lucas making excuses for the prequels. Every horror movie afcionado needs The Evil Dead Anthology (Amazon.com; $190), which houses Blu-ray discs of the four Evil Dead flms in a replica of the Book of the Dead. Disney fanatics would be thrilled with a gift membership to the Disney studio’s offcial fanclub, D23 (D23. com; $80); it comes with a subscription to a beautiful quarterly magazine and other cool bits of Disney swag. And for lovers of cinema’s Golden Age, the TCL Chinese Theatres collection (Shop.TCM.com; prices vary) features barware, pillows and even journals inspired by the
architecture of their namesake Hollywood landmark.
Gifts for Constant Readers
For the literary fction friend, who’s read everything: Freeman’s Arrival: The Best New Writing on Arrival, edited by John Freeman (Grove; $16). For the music buff, with discerning taste: Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink, by Elvis Costello (Blue Rider; $30). For the hardcore gamer who owns a coffee table: The Art of Fallout 4, from Bethesda Softworks (Dark Horse; $50). And for the child, who might actually be a grown-up: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: The Illustrated Edition, by J.K. Rowling, Illustrated by Jim Kay (Arthur A. Levine; $40). Get these books, and others, at the Writer’s Block (1020 Fremont St. Suite 100; TheWritersBlock.org.) They have a pretty extensive selection of literary-themed gifts, from fountain pens to fake birds you can “adopt” and imagine as the hero of their very own heroic aviary yarn.
[ MUSIC ]
INDIE NEW YEAR! NEON REVERB RETURNS IN 2016 ➜ NEON REVERB IS ALIVE. The four-
day homegrown local and indie music festival, which appeared to be gone for good after it went on offcial hiatus in January 2014, returns Thursday, March 10, and takes over a half-dozen Downtown venues, including two stages at the revived Bunkhouse. Neon Reverb is
alive. I’m gonna step back a moment and let that sink in. This news comes directly from Neon Reverb’s new organizational team: James Woodbridge, who co-founded the festival with Thirry Harlin in 2008; Jason Aragon, bassist for The Clydesdale and a key promoter in Reverb’s
frst iteration; Ronald Corso, owner of 11th Street Records and its hidden recording studio, National Southwestern; and Mike Henry, the Austin, Texas, transplant who booked the shows for the Bunkhouse’s frst startling revival (The Breeders, Night Terrors of 1927, Mike Doughty and more). “People have been telling me about Neon Reverb since before I moved here,” Henry says. “It’s time. Neon Reverb belongs here; it belongs to the scene. It rested for a little bit, and now it’s back, because it needs to be here.” Past Neon Reverb festivals have included a number of known indie bands, including The Walkmen, Ty
Cool Yule Shows
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Kristen Hertzenberg and Philip Fortenberry offer Holidays From the Heart.
the billionth rerun of It’s a Wonderful Life or another A Christmas Story marathon? Las Vegas has plenty of holiday-themed entertainment for you. The Blanche DeBris Emergency Xmas Broadcast (Onyx Theatre, Dec. 10-13, 1719) is variety with a wink and well-filled brassiere. The comedian and burlesque performer finds herself stranded in a rural brothel during a blizzard and puts on a giddy, glittery show. For comedy that’s Christmas Eve-at-midnight dark, The Eight: Reindeer Monologues (Onyx Theatre, Dec. 11-12, 18-19) looks at Santa’s creepy side. Prancer’s a failed actor, Blitzen is a militant feminist, Comet is in recovery and there’s allegations of sexual abuse and labor violations at the North Pole. If you’re more for holiday cheer than holiday cynicism, Nevada Ballet Theatre’s production of The Nutcracker (The Smith
Segall, Akron/Family, Foxygen and Thee Oh Sees. (From the beginning, that March date was designed to draw bands and fans already on their way to Austin’s venerable South by Southwest: “Basically, Los Angeles empties out and heads east,” Corso says.) But those popular indies are not what make Neon Reverb noteworthy or exciting. It’s the local angle. “It’s our bands; it’s our music scene; it’s our venues,” Woodbridge says. “Life Is Beautiful and Punk Rock Bowling are great events, but you could pick them up and move them anywhere.” Corso agrees, citing Neon Reverb as necessary for music scene morale. “After years of this town being a tough place to be in a band, all of a sudden, stuff didn’t suck,” Corso says. “Everybody looked forward to Reverb; the energy was great. Every show was packed, and you really could see the possibilities of a thriving, vibrant Downtown.” Organizers say that an all-festival pass will probably run $50—a ridiculously good deal for four days of wall-to-wall music. (Tickets will also be available for individual shows.) And Aragon says that one of Reverb’s biggest problems in the past—sets not beginning on time—should be less of a factor now that Downtown has evolved: “It’s gotten so much more professional down here, so much more well-oiled,” he says. “I mean, the Bunkhouse is just a better place to see a show now than it used to be.” As for a band lineup, just hold tight. They’ve got a wish list of artists that I won’t reveal here, because the most important band might just be the one you’re in. “We want to get the word out,” Corso says. “We want people to know about it so the local bands can start tooling up.” – Geoff Carter Learn more about Neon Reverb at NeonReverb.com.
Center, Dec. 12-13, 18-20) has become a Vegas holiday tradition. Thrill to the giant dollhouse, the pirouetting pyrotechnics of the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Tchaikovsky score performed by a full orchestra. Of course, there’s plenty of holiday music to be heard. Human Nature offers their annual holiday program, Christmas, Motown and More! (The Venetian, Dec. 13-16 & 18-22) in which the quartet harmonizes on tunes such as “Please Come Home for Christmas” and “Silent Night,” along with a few non-seasonal numbers. Legendary Ronnie Spector will bring her glorious voice to town in Best Christmas Party Ever (Orleans Showroom, Dec. 19-20), an evening of stories and songs from “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” to “Be My Baby.” Finally, Kristen Hertzenberg and Philip Fortenberry’s Holidays From the Heart (The Smith Center, Dec. 19) program returns to Cabaret Jazz. The torch singer and the piano whiz will serve up holiday classics as well as a few original variations on the theme. – Lissa Townsend Rodgers
CRYSTAL ANTLERS BY LINDA EVANS
A&E
The (old) Bunkhouse hosted Crystal Antlers during Neon Reverb 2012.
A&E
White Whale, Whitewashed LISTEN YE CLOSE, and I’ll tell ye the tale of Ron Howard. He starred on The Andy Griffth Show and Happy Days; he produces and narrates Arrested Development; he seems like a genuinely nice guy. And he makes movies in the populist, yet serious-minded style of his friend and colleague Steven Spielberg, which means that some of his flms are lighthearted entertainments intended for mass appeal (The Da Vinci Code, Willow), while others are heavier, more personal projects that don’t make as much money, but impress critics with their story and craft (A Beautiful Mind, Frost/Nixon). And occasionally, he makes a flm like Apollo 13, which satisfes both audiences. Howard’s In the Heart of the Sea stakes its place on that middle ground. It’s based on a true story, the November 1820 wreck of the whaleship Essex, whose horrifc details provided fodder for Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. And it’s a rousing, big-budget adventure, with visual effects that put the Pirates of the Caribbean flms to shame. And its star, Chris Hemsworth, is a full-time action hero (he’s Thor!) but also an emerging actor hungry to expand his dramatic range, which he’s done in flms like Michael Mann’s Blackhat and Howard’s own Rush. But even with all these pieces in place, In the Heart misses its mark. I can’t imagine audiences pumped for Star Wars sitting quietly through In The Heart’s quiet, despairing second half, and I can’t imagine critics taking kindly to the flm’s freewheeling liberties with
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its source material. It’s just … weird. It’s a well crafted, engaging kind of weird, but weird all the same. The facts: The Essex set out from Nantucket in August 1819, on a two-year quest to fll its hold with whale oil. (In the Heart pushes the “no blood for oil” button awfully hard.) It was captained by George Pollard Jr. (played in the flm by Benjamin Walker), and its frst mate was Owen Chase (Hemsworth). The two men had served together before, and were both freshly promoted; neither man was yet 30. Shortly out of port, the Essex was caught in a squall and took heavy damage, but continued on to South American waters, where a giant whale rammed the ship and sank it. The survivors drifted at sea for months, resorting to cannibalism to survive before the entire crew was rescued in April 1821. Howard keeps to the true-life account, but embroiders upon it in ways that change its shape. In the flm, Pollard and Chase are serving together for the frst time. There’s no mention of the fre a crewmember started on Charles Island, which burned out of control and drove some of its indigenous wildlife to extinction. And the whale, which disappeared after it destroyed the Essex, actually follows the crew in the flm, periodically surfacing like a bad dream. I get it. Paying audiences need Chekhov’s Gun: If a whale appears in the frst act, it had better wreck up some shit in the third. But the story of the Essex isn’t Jaws 2, and it doesn’t need to be. There were—still are— plenty of ugly ways to die at sea, from drowning to be-
ing struck in the head by a piece of timber. Sometimes you have to eat your dead out there, when provisions and fresh water are gone. There’s drama enough on the high seas without resorting to slasher movie tactics, and Howard should know better than to employ them. The actors do their best. Hemsworth is likably roguish; Walker stuffy, but heroic; Cillian Murphy, whose sky-blue eyes are one of the flm’s best special effects, has little to do but seems to be enjoying it. And the two actors whose conversation frames the flm—Brendan Gleeson as Thomas Nickerson, one of the Essex’s surviving hands, and Ben Whishaw as Herman Melville—ham it up nicely, though their jobs are largely delivering exposition, and they have no chemistry with each other or with us. I can, however, recommend the frst half of the movie—up to the frst, fateful whale attack—with chest-beating gusto. The sequence of Essex putting out to sea is one of the most beautiful things Howard has ever committed to flm—a furry of stunt work, fast-cuts and creaking violence. Ropes snap, orders are shouted and masts issue groaning complaints, and it’s so utterly realistic you can almost smell the brine. The rest of the flm looks just as good, but it’s that early sequence of In The Heart of the Sea that involves you emotionally, even when its characters don’t. You feel like you’re going somewhere real. In the Heart of the Sea (PG-13) ★★★✩✩
PHOTO COURTESY OF WARNER BROS. PICTURES
In the Heart of the Sea plays fast and loose with its true-life inspiration By Geoff Carter
MARKETPLACE
MARKETPLACE
MARKETPLACE
MARKETPLACE
SEVEN QUESTIONS
ULTIMO
Dec. 17-20, the Venetian, 866.659.9643, Venetian.com.
locally, but it’s impossible. If there’s a farmer somewhere growing really great carrots and you can get his carrots, that’s the most important thing, rather than buying somebody’s carrots that are local that aren’t very good. You travel quite a bit. Where do you derive culinary inspiration?
The renowned Bouchon chef on surviving the holidays, the most important ingredient in the kitchen and preparing for Ultimo By Genevie Durano
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What is your favorite holiday and why?
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Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It’s a social occasion, with family and friends, [but] there’s no expectation for gifts and things like that. There’s not that added pressure. And it’s a holiday that [only] America really celebrates. I really appreciate that. It’s kind of our own holiday. Any tips for the home cook during this season of entertaining?
Cook things that you’ve cooked before. Manage your expectations and do things that you know you can do well and don’t try things you’ve never done before for the holidays, when the pressure is already enough. So if you
know how to make really good macaroni and cheese, then make good macaroni and cheese. The expectations we put on ourselves to make these extraordinary feasts are sometimes a little bit unrealistic. If you learn how to do a few basic things, you can translate that into doing a few others. What’s the most important thing to remember in the home kitchen?
Recipes aren’t that important. Learning skills is important. So learning how to use a knife is critical, cooking vegetables, sautéing a piece of fsh, roasting a piece of meat. [Just like the saying,] give a man a piece of fsh he’ll eat for one day; teach him how to fsh, he’ll eat
for the rest of his life. It’s about having a skill set that allows you to take any recipe and translate that into something that’s nourishing and good. What do you like to cook at home?
I hardly ever cook at home. When I do it’s typically in the summertime—something on the grill [like] a piece of fsh, a steak or a lamb or something like that. A salad. Very simple food. For me, the simple food is the hardest to prepare. It’s really about sourcing ingredients, building relationships with the farmers you’re working with or the fshermen, your grocery store, your butchers. Having a lot of confdence about where your
food comes from is the most important thing. Do you have a favorite ingredient?
Salt. When you think about what makes food taste good, when you’ve had bland food before, it’s salt that gives favor. We use salt in just about everything we cook. Learning how to use salt is a pretty incredible thing.
Where do you source ingredients for your restaurants?
Quality drives everything for us. Whether it’s a farm that’s fve miles away or across the continent, it’s really about the quality of the ingredients. The local thing is really misunderstood. It’s nice to think you can get everything
What are you planning for Ultimo, a culinary event this month at the Venetian?
This is the frst time I’ve done Ultimo. It’s in celebration of the Ment’Or competition, [which kicks off the event on December 17]. It’s our national competition that chooses the team that will go to Lyon, France, in 2017 to compete in the Bocuse D’Or [the world’s most prestigious culinary competition for young chefs]. We won silver this year, which is the frst time Americans got on the podium in 30 years. [For Ultimo’s Grand Banquet], we want to make sure that we’re giving the guests something that they want. We have this great beef that we do, where we remove a piece of the deckle from the prime rib and then use that cut separately. For me it’s the most favorful piece of the animal. It’s going to be a good event. It will be about food that’s simply prepared, so hopefully we’ll be able to succeed in that and give our guests a great time.
PHOTO BY DEBORAH JONES
Thomas Keller
Inspiration is a misused term. True inspiration will happen a couple of times in our lives, if we’re lucky. What we’re really talking about is being infuenced by things. You get a cookbook, you’re infuenced by a cookbook. Inspiration is something different. We have a great sense of knowledge in our restaurants, so we infuence one another. Sometimes we’re infuenced by what happens around the world. But we try to be infuenced by ourselves and try to evolve all of our cuisine, philosophy and culture within our restaurants. Trying to pick infuences outside, that just gets too confusing. Inner infuence is better than outer infuence in our restaurants.