The Mothers Who Marched | Vegas Seven Magazine | March 3-9 2016 by Vegas Seven

CONTENTS

MARCH 3–9, 2016 T H E LAT EST

“Women of Yesterday and Tomorrow” Women’s Research Institute of Nevada preserves local history and builds leaders of the future. By EMMILY BRISTOL

“The Campus Crusader” Cristina Hernandez is leading UNLV into a new era of community advocacy. By EMMILY BRISTOL

“Kings of the (Tank) World” eSports tourism makes a play for hardcore gamers to come to Las Vegas. Green Felt Journal by DAVID G. SCHWARTZ

Plus … Seven Days, Ask a Native, The Deal and Style.

NIGH T LIF E

Sky’s the Limit Penn National Gaming VP Howard Weiss talks about the serious business of creating the “fun factor” at the Tropicana’s new beach club. By IAN CARAMANZANA

Plus … Seven Nights and a Q&A with Dr. Fresch.

DINING

“The Nightcap” No matter how your night went, it can only get better with the classic pairing of pizza and beer. By GRACE BASCOS Plus … Italy and the U.S. have long dueled for Guy Savoy executive chef Julien Asseo’s attention, Dishing With Grace and Drinking.

A &E

“Las Vegas, by Spotify” Take a deep dive into our town’s streaming musical legacy. Plus … Seven’s 14, Judd Apatow’s Love is Charlie Starling’s Most Fabulous Thing and a review of Iron Maiden in concert.

FE AT URE

“Forgotten History”

How an organization of black mothers from the South provoked welfare reform by shutting down the Las Vegas Strip. By EMMILY BRISTOL

Movies Zootopia makes the discrimination discussion cuddly. By GEOFF CARTER

VegasSeven.com

By GEOFF CARTER

SEVEN Q U EST IONS

Cover photographs courtesy Las Vegas News Bureau.

Actor, screenwriter and producer Chazz Palminteri on A Bronx Tale musical, vodka and sharing an olive with Frank Sinatra.

March 3–9, 2016

PHOTO BY KRYSTAL RAMIREZ

Ruby Duncan participated in 1971 welfare-reform marches.

L AS VEGAS’ WEEKLY CITY MAGAZINE

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THE LATEST

News, deals and eSports tourism lands in town.

Seven Days A curated guide to this week in your city By B O B W H I T B Y

THU 3

It’s a basketball bonanza all weekend long. The West Coast Conference men’s and women’s championships are parked at the Orleans Arena through March 8. Teams from Gonzaga to Santa Clara will be battling for the title. OrleansArena.com.

“Magnesium Maggies” in PBS’ Makers: Women in Nevada History

Women of Yesterday and Tomorrow Women’s Research Institute of Nevada preserves local history and builds leaders of the future By Emmily Bristol

March 3–9, 2016

VegasSeven.com

➜ THE SILVER STATE has a rich history of women pio-

neers, from the frst executive of a national airline to the co-owner of the frst integrated casino in Nevada. If you haven’t heard of Florence Murphy (the airline executive) or Anna Bailey (co-owner of the Moulin Rouge Hotel, with her husband William “Bob” Bailey), it might be time to visit the history archives on the Women’s Research Institute of Nevada’s website (wrinunlv.org). Housed at UNLV, the 16-year-old institute offers a variety of programs, from methods for preserving women’s history in Nevada to bolstering pioneers of the future. “The reason WRIN exists is [so it can] conduct research on a particular segment of our society that has only become more important in terms of the economic viability of family, in terms of political participation, in terms of the health of women in our state,” says WRIN Executive Director Joanne Goodwin, who is also a history professor at UNLV. A big part of WRIN’s work, which is funded with public and private money, is to seek out opportunities to collect and share women’s history from around the state. In 2014, WRIN partnered with Vegas PBS to produce episodes for the series Makers: Women in Nevada History, spotlighting suffrage, the women known as “Magnesium Maggies” who worked in the Basic Magnesium Inc. factory during World War II and other historical topics. Those episodes are available on the WRIN website, but they are just the beginning, according to Goodwin. “We did a lot of the interviews. In the 90 minutes [of Makers programs], you only get a few seconds of these people talking. So in the second phase that WRIN is doing, [we are] taking those hourlong interviews … and dividing them into eight to 12 two-minute segments on similar themes, such as early infuences, challenges in the [workplace] and advice to young leaders.” The institute is also working with the Clark County School District to develop a curriculum of women’s history that can be used in U.S. history, Nevada history and government classes.

“If it works with teachers, [it is] really kind of landmark, because I think there are still [only] three women covered in the curriculum,” she says. “And there isn’t much, if anything, after 1920.” Looking to the future, WRIN also runs the one-week women’s education and mentorship program called National Education for Women Leadership (NEWL), which takes place this year from June 5-11. Participants, who must be women enrolled in college, take a variety of workshops and classes designed to teach them leadership skills. “We have a lot of support from the community,” Goodwin says. “In terms of women’s leadership and civic engagement, there are a lot of programs now that students can become involved in, but we are still the only program that focuses on gender issues and how they may come up as [women] advance through their careers and their lives.” The program has more than 250 alumni who work in a variety of felds all over the state, as well as Washington, D.C. One such alum is Carmella Gadsen, who went through the program last year. Gadsen graduated from UNLV in December and now works as a program coordinator with the Jean Nidetch Women’s Center. In January, she helped launch the new campus violence prevention program Green Dot, which teaches students safe ways to intervene and prevent violence. A fve-year study released in 2014 showed that when used in high schools, the Green Dot program reduces student sexual violence by 50 percent and all forms of student violence by 40 percent. Gadsen is just one of many young women who come out of the NEWL program armed not only with leadership skills, but also a network of mentors. “I built some great relationships with my peers, who I don’t think I would have had an opportunity to meet elsewhere,” Gadsen says. “I just think that’s invaluable. I can’t put a price on that.” Read more about Gadsen and her great-grandmother, who helped bring welfare rights to Las Vegas’ poor, on page 20.

FRI 4

Beer, wine and food? In. The International Beer, Wine and Food Festival is here, in conjunction with the USA Seven’s Rugby Tournament, and Sam Boyd Stadium is the place, through Sunday. They needed a stadium to hold all that good stuff and still have room for the live music and rugby. UNLVTickets.com.

SAT 5

Around here everyone’s talking rugby all of a sudden, but NASCAR is also in town at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Check out the party at the Neon Garage and all the action, including the Xfinity Series Boyd Gaming 300. LVMS.com.

SUN 6

Area Holocaust survivors will be honored today at the annual TZEdakah Jazz Brunch sponsored by the Jewish Family Service Agency. The event helps raise awareness about survivors’ needs and thanks the volunteers who serve them. 11 a.m. at the Temple Beth Sholom. JFSalv.org.

MON 7

Slow Monday? Las VegasWhitney Library has you covered. Sean Russell’s INFRARED is a stunning, eerie collection of photos taken of lake homes, docks and shorelines in Big Lake, Minnesota. Through April 24 at the West Charleston Library. LVCCLD.org.

TUE 8

The annual Multicultural Luncheon and Expo, noon at the Orleans, explores end-of-life care from different perspectives. Dr. BJ Miller of the Zen Hospice Project talks about how to create a dignified exit. Proceeds benefit the Nathan Adelson Hospice. NAH.org.

WED 9

In this shifting economic world, it’s more important than ever to invest in infrastructure. But how do we as a nation do that when public dollars are becoming scarce? Rob Puentes of Brookings Mountain West addresses that very question in a free lecture, 6 p.m. at UNLV’s Greenspun Hall. UNLV.edu.

J A M E S P. R E Z A

Kim Sisters trio played the Stardust lounge for 15 years—a photo of them in bouffants and sequins evokes the Ronettes with guitars. Shots of the Flamingo and Tropicana lounges capture changes not just in the acts but in their stages. We’ve lost not only the “band behind the bar” layout, but the tiki barstools and spangled ceilings as well. The exhibit could use a little more multimedia— there’s a single chorus girl harem costume in a glass case and one small screen showing tantalizing, albeit muted, clips such as Judy Garland mugging with Jerry Lewis. But when one considers the hundreds of illustrious entertainers who played Las Vegas during this time, even 10 times as much wouldn’t be enough. –Lissa Townsend Rodgers

[ FOUND MATERIAL ]

Blansky’s Beauties EXHIBIT PHOTO BY MARK DAMON/L AS VEGAS NEWS BUREAU

➜ What happens when you take a legendary TV producer,

gifted character actress and a bunch of beautiful babes, then put them in Vegas and spin them off of a hit sitcom into a place that’s part Melrose Place, part Showgirls? Well, if it’s Blansky’s Beauties, you get … a resounding flop. ¶ The creator of Blansky, Garry Marshall, was about to jump the shark on his hit Happy Days and figured another successful spinoff in the vein of Laverne & Shirley was in order. Thus, he created a show about a half-dozen showgirls and their den mother, played by old TV hand Nancy Walker, familiar to viewers from the Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda and a slew of Palmolive commercials. She’s a sort of hybrid of Mr. Roper and Fluff LeCoque, both landlady and boss. The showgirls are your standard stereotypes—the hayseed, the harlot, the bimbo, the brat—along with a mook-ish maître d’ and a horny pre-teen, the latter played by none other than Scott Baio. ¶ Of course, Happy Days was set in the ’50s, so spinning characters off into the ’80s milieu of Blansky’s Beauties got a little complicated. A guest shot by Penny Marshall, a.k.a. Laverne, was presented as a flashback, but Pat Morita as Arnold the Cook moved from the Eisenhower era to the Carter administration without aging a week. Still, it was the flat punch lines more than the vague plotlines that did in Blansky’s Beauties after 13 episodes. Sometimes even showgirls aren’t enough. –Lissa Townsend Rodgers

➜ EARTHA KITT SHIMMERS in slinky lamé, arms raised triumphantly and a wide smile on her face. Jimmy Durante fips the tail of his loud sport coat and prepares to exit stage left. Marlene Dietrich peers over Louis Armstrong’s shoulder, him laughing, her coy. A stoic Keely Smith crosses her arms and gives the side-eye to a kinetic, blurred Louis Prima. All are images of Las Vegas’ golden age that can be seen in the new exhibit, The Midcentury Las Vegas Stage: Acts That Built the Entertainment Capital of the World, on display at the Las Vegas City Hall Chamber Gallery through April 21. It’s a joint effort between the Nevada State History Museum and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. It’s not just a celebration of headliners. The

March 3–9, 2016

Revisiting the Midcentury Las Vegas Stage

As someone who has already annoyed the legions of Elvis Presley fans currently swiveling their hips with joy, I understand the wrath I invite by saying that I find the decision to erase Riviera Boulevard from the map to be confusing and unnecessary. Before you sprain your thumbs phonetyping your hater mail, read on. There is no doubt that modern Las Vegas (and the Strip ... which we all know is not in Las Vegas) is built on decades of relentless reinvention. Most of that has been fueled by private interests remaking private property. (See ya, Sands; Hello, Venetian! Sayonara, Stardust; Hello, Giant Swath of Dirt!) The fact that many miss the imploded icons of 20th-century Vegas (myself included) simply isn’t enough to keep them from being remade into something that can attract tourists in the 21st century. Nor should it be. That just isn’t the Vegas way. But when government entities get involved, the game changes. It’s one thing to take a practical name like Industrial Road and rename stretches of it for Rat Pack celebrities Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. It’s another to disappear one Vegas institution (the Riviera) in exchange for another (Elvis). Yes, Las Vegas operates on a value system mostly unhindered by the past, but in this case, the Clark County Commission has juggled the relative civic value of remembering one important Las Vegas historical figure over another, deeming Elvis the winner. (See Seven’s “Who Was the Better Vegas Ambassador: Elvis or Frank?,” July 9, 2015.) Perhaps the darkened hulk of the Riviera (awaiting LVCVA redevelopment) is seen as a “blight” by some, while the negative associations of Elvis (and there are a few) are lost to time. Whatever the reason, it isn’t appropriate, especially given the seemingly interminable list of out-of-place street names plaguing Las Vegas (Creek River Drive? Soaring Gulls Drive?) that could be renamed something more local-appropriate. Las Vegas is a city always thinking about tomorrow, and that philosophy is what has kept those who pay our bills flocking to the desert for more than 100 years. But those who live here still need a sense of place. It would be a shame (not to mention exhausting) to find ourselves living in a city where every thoughtprovoking morsel of our past has been erased and all we have left is the Next Big Thing. Honor Elvis? Of course. But not at the expense of our collective memory of the Riviera. What’s next, SLS Avenue?

VegasSeven.com

What do you think about renaming Riviera Boulevard to Elvis Presley Way?

THE LATEST

CHARACTER STUDY

The Campus Crusader Cristina Hernandez is leading UNLV into a new era of community advocacy By Emmily Bristol

QUEER. LATINA. COWGIRL.

These are just three ways you could describe Cristina Hernandez’s identity, which is as complex and interconnected as the students for whom she advocates at UNLV’s Jean Nidetch Women’s Center. In her own way, the Las Vegas native and Chaparral High School alum represents many of the seemingly juxtaposed identities that community leaders navigate in the social media age. Here are a few more: Survivor. Rebel. Sister. As director, the 35-year-old Hernandez has made the women’s center a potent champion of student rights and a leading community organization, with a reach stretching beyond campus. The center’s programs include Take Back the Night events every fall and annual spring productions of The Vagina Monologues. It is because Hernandez is a frstgeneration college graduate and Rebel alum that she is so passionate about helping students. “It gives me a different perspective on the kind of services that are available here and how to be a part of the community,” she says. Under her watch, the women’s center has expanded its anti-violence programs. Herself a survivor of sexual assault, she has fought for changes to campus policies and expanding services to victims, such as establishing the 24/7 peer hotline UNLV Care Line, which helps victims of rape, relationship violence and stalking. She was elected late last year to the board of the Nevada Network Against Domestic Violence, and she just ended her term on the Attorney General’s Domestic Violence Council. “It wasn’t until I came [to the women’s center] that I saw that there could be some changes that would help sex assault survivors,” she says. In January, Hernandez and her team launched Green Dot, a campus violence prevention program that teaches students safe ways to intervene and prevent violence. While Green Dot has already rolled out on smaller campuses, UNLV is one of the largest schools with a high portion of commuter students that has implemented the program. Before she became pregnant with twins, Hernandez pushed for expansion of available breastfeeding and pumping services, creating six lactation rooms around campus. “I’m lucky because where I work, I have an offce, so I could just close the

door when I breastfed or pumped, but most students just had the bathrooms,” Hernandez says. Now she’s focusing on increasing the number of diaperchanging stations on campus—including putting them in men’s rooms. The center received a grant this year from the Nevada Attorney General’s anti-violence program, which will be used to extend services to include the LGBT community as part of the existing CARE program. Hernandez says it is important that all students feel comfortable accessing anti-violence

programs the center offers, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. “A lot of times, people who don’t identify as a woman might not think we have services for them, but we do,” she says. Hernandez has fought for the LGBT community off duty as well. With emeritus status now, she was the frst cisgender, female member of the Sin Sity Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, which organizes the annual Red Dress charity events for its AIDS drugassistance program. Her wife, Sybrina

Bernabei, was a sister at the same time and helped out as well. Hernandez's work has not gone unnoticed. She won staff member-ofthe-year awards from both the school president’s offce and student affairs in 2012, as well as a Rebel Award for commitment to diversity in 2013. For Hernandez, the personal is not only political, but it informs her work as well. "My feminism shapes the way I look at the world, in my professional career as well as how I raise my children."

PHOTO BY KRYSTAL RAMIREZ

March 3–9, 2016

VegasSeven.com

➜

FORGOTTEN HIS

NIGHTLIFE

Penn National Gaming VP Howard Weiss talks about the serious business of creating the “fun factor” at the Tropicana’s new beach club By Ian Caramanzana

VegasSeven.com

one thing: dayclubs. As temperatures rise, so does the number of high-profile DJs, performances and parties. One forthcoming project, Sky Beach Club, hopes to usher in a paradigm shift from a DJ-centric approach to an old-fashioned good time. We sat down with the vice president of daylife and nightlife at Penn National Gaming, Howard Weiss, to get the scoop about the Tropicana’s shiny new beach club, which opens April 8.

Sky’s the Limit

➜ WARMER WEATHER IN LAS VEGAS MEANS

March 3–9, 2016

PHOTO BY KRYSTAL RAMIREZ

Your city after dark and photos from the week’s hottest parties and checking-in with Dr. Fresch

NIGHTLIFE

Sky Beach Club’s daybeds.

Why have you named the new venue Sky Beach Club?

We just wanted to keep it as simple as possible. In Vegas, the weather is so great, so we thought we’d use the word “sky” since it’s rarely cloudy here. It has a sense of openness, just like the venue. There are plenty of things we can do to play off the name, and since there’s not an actual beach in the city, we hope to bring one to it by doing some beach-themed activations that’ll set us apart from the competition.

March 3–9, 2016

VegasSeven.com

How will Sky Beach Club do that?

It’ll be a new experience that’s very different from the typical dayclub. Sky will have a fun, party atmosphere with interactive games on the pool deck such as beer pong and table games rather than big-name DJs. When it comes to programming, we’ll have DJs who primarily spin Top 40, but our performers are going to be a combination of pop, R&B, celebrities and reality television stars who will interact and engage with everybody who decides to walk through those doors. And the challenge is combining the two: getting people to enjoy themselves without them going too deep into their own pockets. We’re planning to make it affordable for locals and tourists alike. We’ll announce

“Although we’re keeping some things secret for now, you can expect pyro, confetti, Champagne showers ... maybe even a Slip ’n’ Slide or a dunk tank.” [names] in the coming months, but opening day is April 8. That’s gonna be a big one. What do you have planned for opening day?

We’re keeping that under wraps for now, but we’re doing a soft opening around Memorial Day weekend as the offcial kickoff to summer. We’ll have a local resident DJ—nothing too crazy. The Tropicana’s party pool has changed hands three times in an attempt to reinvigorate the space. How do you plan to attract the right guest to Sky Beach?

Since Penn [National Gaming Inc.] purchased the Tropicana six months ago, we’ve been doing everything internally. I was [working] with Caesars [Entertainment] on the East Coast, relocated to Vegas and assembled a whole team to activate the space and bring lots of traffc. Together, we hope to make a big difference in how the space works. We partnered with Ele-

ment Hospitality—which has worked on Chateau, [Budweiser] Beer Park and Fizz at Caesars Palace. We believe they have the best exposure and reach to hit the right type of demographic to ensure it’s the best it could be. Since Penn also manages DayDream Pool Club at M Resort, how will the two work together?

We’ll cross-market DJ residencies and performances, as well as cross-promote both dayclubs via our websites and social channels. We may also host bikini contests and giveaways with prizes redeemable at the other corresponding venue. How will you compete with other clubs and pools in the area, such as Wet Republic?

We think they will help us! Hakkasan [Group] and Wet Republic have all the big-name DJs, and when people venture out to those places, they have another option, another place they can visit.

It’s another place tourists and locals can check out on the way to the bigger clubs, and we hope to drive some of that traffc into Sky since it provides a different experience. How does opening Sky Beach Club differ from other endeavors in your career thus far?

It’s a unique asset. The marketing and programming approach will be similar to some of my past endeavors, but the venue is a little different. This type of pool party has not existed in Vegas since the EDM surge. I’m very excited to bring this back to the market. There’s a demand for this type of party. Sky Beach seems to be heading in the direction of a dayclub. Will there be night events as well?

The club will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We also hope to do a nighttime activation at some point. What production elements can we expect?

You can expect state-of-the-art visuals and sound, but our main focus will be on delivering an interactive guest experience with an increased fun factor. Although we’re keeping some things secret for now, you can expect pyro, confetti, Champagne showers … maybe even a Slip ’n’ Slide or a dunk tank.

NIGHTLIFE

What exactly is the New Order? Are you three officially a boy band?

In a lot of ways we are a boy band. [Laughs.] The idea for the New Order came together because the three of us are great friends. We started playing shows together and hanging out together. We started to work on a track together and decided that we wanted to take it to the next level and create a super group. The idea is, we are all coming together and trying to establish the next generation of dance music—tasteful dance music. We’re trying to fnd a common denominator between all of our styles that represent what we want to see ahead. What styles are those?

We all differ a little bit in terms of what we play. I play a little bit more trap and bass, and Kevin does a little bit more tropical, and Shaun is somewhere in between. The track that we did is where our styles intersect, and also where we want to drive the music. Why do you call your collective the New Order?

March 3–9, 2016

VegasSeven.com

The Doctor Is In 34

L.A.-based producer Dr. Fresch is making a house call— his house, his way By Kat Boehrer

TONY FRESCH PRIMARILY makes G-house and trap beats under his moniker, Dr. Fresch. Recently, he teamed up with musical comrades SNBRN (Kevin Chapman) and Shaun Frank to form a collective. Working together as the New Order, the three fuse their sounds and have just embarked on a tour, one stop of which brought them to Marquee last month for the Halfway to EDC party on February 13. Tony is no newbie to the desert scene, though. He’s worked his way around Las Vegas, playing Hard Rock Live in December and EDC Las Vegas only months prior. For the Fresch perspective, give “The New Order” a listen on SoundCloud.

➜

We called it the New Order in part because of New Order, the actual band. We’re not actually, offcially a new group called “New Order.” As you may know, New Order [the ’80s band] is one of the most pivotal artists in the beginning in dance music. They did a new wave of electronic music. We’re trying to do that once again. We’re calling this project New Order as an ode. And you three have just the one self-titled track out now, right?

We just started with that one collab. That is one staple of the tour. The collaborative track and tour—is that just a one-time thing, or do you plan to continue working and making music together?

We’re not necessarily starting an ongoing thing, but our plans are to continue to make music together,

continue to bring artists into the scene. You’ve worked all over the industry, from the blog world to a record label to a management company. Was it always a goal of yours to be a producer or DJ?

It was always the dream. I was testing to see the feasibility of that. I needed to build experience and also build a platform for myself to succeed in the industry regardless of my artist career. In 2014, it became clear to me it was time to pursue my artist career. Eventually, on great terms, I left my job at EDM.com about a year and half ago. I’ve always been trying to get involved in the industry at every level. For that reason I interned at a management company and I was a writer. It was always about making sure I could work in music regardless of whether or not the artist career worked out. Once I was producing under Dr. Fresch, I was big in the L.A. college-DJ scene. I won the award for Best College DJ in L.A. in 2011 and 2012. I was becoming well known in that regard, too. I always wanted to be an artist, but I wanted to make sure that I could work if my career never took off.

You mentioned in a keynote speech at Sonos Studio that networking is important in the music industry. How do you balance going out and being social with making sure you’re getting your work done?

That’s the internal confict, isn’t it? You need to go out constantly, but it’s all about picking your battles and learning how to produce in the most effective way. The better my work got, it allowed me the luxury of continuing to be a physical presence in the social scene as well as focused on music. You will often see me out at weekly events. I’m pretty much either in the club, or at home producing. If you choose to live both lifestyles, you don’t really have time for much else.

DINING

Naked City (left) and Grimaldi’s.

The Mob Boss, Sicilian Style at Pizza Rock, $32. Beer Pairings: Sierra Nevada Otra Vez, Victory Brewing Co. Hop Devil Nitro IPA, a Pizza Rock exclusive, $7.50. Meat lovers, eat your heart out. It doesn’t get any more carnivorous than toppings such as salami, pepperoni, Italian sausage, bacon and linguica, along with a few vegetables—mushrooms, bell peppers, red onions, olives, green onions, cherry tomatoes and garlic—thrown in for good measure. Heaped onto the canvas of a Sicilian rectangular crust, a hearty offering such as this deserves bolder, heftier beers that can lift the weight of all those favors. Open till midnight Sun-Thu, till 2 a.m. FriSat, in Green Valley Ranch and Downtown Grand, PizzaRockLasVegas.com. PIZZA:

The Stinger at Naked City Pizza Shop, $14.50-$38. Beer Pairing: Joseph James Brewing Co. American Lager, $4. Who needs sausage and pepperoni when you can order just about everything else on the Stinger? This bad boy does not give a single eff what you think of it. It’s topped with roast beef, chicken fingers, hot and sweet peppers, onions, blue cheese dressing, cheddar and mozzarella cheeses. Naked City chef/ owner Chris Palmeri goes local on his pick for the pie: Joseph James American Lager is smooth yet sturdy enough to stand up to these powerhouse ingredients. Open daily till 3 a.m. at 3240 S. Arville St.; open till 11 p.m. Sun-Wed, till PIZZA:

[ A SMALL BITE ]

SPRING’S NEWEST CHICKEN

March 3–9, 2016

VegasSeven.com

➜ John Courtney, culinary director of Simon Hospitality

Group, is bringing a new bird to town, and it’s a real poultrychanger. A self-described chicken lover, Courtney has been charged with cooking up Carson Kitchen’s addictive chicken skins for five months as the executive chef of the Downtown eatery, and before that he was in the kitchen at Yardbird Southern Table & Bar, known for its fried fowl. “When I was at Yardbird, Crystal Lake Farms in Decatur, Arkansas, approached me about using their bird, but I wasn’t able to because of the price,” Courtney says. Popular on the East Coast, Crystal Lake humanely raises superior quality chickens—they are also the farm that developed the “Peterson Male,” one of the world’s most well-known genetic lines of poultry. Crystal Lake’s lack of a distributor in Las Vegas made it cost-prohibitive. However, Courtney stayed in touch with

3 a.m. Thu-Sat at 4608 Paradise Rd., NakedCityLV.com. Pesto, Ricotta and Sundried Tomato at Grimaldi’s, $22. Beer Pairing: Peroni, $5. A take on the sauceless white pizza, Grimaldi’s pesto with ricotta and sun-dried tomato pie produces delicious goo of a different hue. Just like the fag of Italy, it is green, white and red all over. Born out of Grimaldi’s origins in Brooklyn, New York, this slice is complemented by another original, Peroni, Italy’s No. 1 beer. Both are light and favorful, letting their true colors shine through. Open Sun-Thu till midnight, and Fri-Sat till 2 a.m. in the Grand Canal Shoppes in the Venetian and the Palazzo, GrimaldisPizzeria.com. PIZZA:

them, even visiting their facilities. “It’s a truly tasty chicken,” Courtney says. “The meat is pink, not white, and the bird is alive 65-75 days.” Such a lifespan is almost double that of coop-raised or free-range chickens. Known as the “free-ranger,” the chicken is pasture-raised, which means it has a great life, spending 46-50 days in the great wide open. They also eat a strain of feed that is packed with nuts and berries. “[There are no] antibiotics on the farm and the meat has 40 percent less cholesterol,” Courtney says. A member of the nonprofit Global Animal Partnership, Crystal Lake carries a Step 4 rating, working with farmers and scientists “to facilitate continuous improvements and higher welfare in animal agriculture.” “Every chef that [has tried the bird] went nuts over it,” Courtney says. With so much demand coming from Las Vegas, Nicholas Foods has agreed to distribute the freeranger, making it more accessible and cost-effective. Expect to see it hatching on menus across town, beginning with Carson Kitchen, in early April. –Melinda Sheckells

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Music festivals have become about so much more than just the acts onstage. We are no longer relegated to such unimaginative commercial options as hot dogs, nachos and overpriced beer. Further Future (April 29-May 1 at the Moapa River Reservation, FurtherFuture.com) has elevated festival fare. There are elegant pop-up dinners by chefs from Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Las Vegas and beyond; a 24-hour food village that includes international flavors and homegrown dining favorites; and no shortage of really good cocktails. When was the last time you had lobster pho at a festival? My guess is never. But that’s the kind of fare that’s on the menu in the Vendor Village: arepas and empanadas from Makers & Finders, artisan gelato from Desyree Alberganti’s new Gelatology and festival favorite the Poutine Your Mouth food-truck from Montreal. Also in the Vendor’s Village, current local wunderkind Justin Kingsley Hall takes his SLOBoy concept to the desert, where he’s pulling double duty. In the Village he’ll roast whole lamb, pigs and chickens over open fire, then shave them over flatbreads. Hall will also present two nights of four-course pop-up dinners of 40 seats each, which he’s called Maison du Coq. The menu reads like a locavore’s dream, featuring foraged mushrooms en papillote in black truffle broth, smoked foie gras with grilled ramps, Southern fried quail and poached hen with celery root rémoulade and harissa carrots. Las Vegas visitors are ready to dazzle us as well. Molecular gastronomy is alive and well in the hands of Australian chef Arthur Tsui, whose Three Dice Kitchen presents a nine-course menu that combines the gourmet ingredients with the latest in culinary technology and science. Chef Michael Bryant of L.A.’s the Larchmont goes family-style with a soulful, four-course global menu. Music and beverages collide with techno pioneer and DJ Richie Hawtin’s ENTER.Sake bar, which pops up on Friday alongside the dinner by chef Frank Gorriceta of Nobu. The boutique sake collection has been curated by Hawtin, a trained sake sommelier. Sake has become integral to the parties he throws around the world, and this concept showcases varieties that aren’t available outside of Japan. Taste them alongside a 10-course omakase menu that includes such Nobu standards as kampachi sashimi with Serrano chili, yuzu and soy, black cod miso and Japanese short rib with sweet soy anticucho. Further Future also has a stacked libations lineup with Downtown’s King Hippo bar revealing a little of itself before its Arts District debut, alongside other area favorites Velveteen Rabbit and Herbs & Rye. And—oh, yeah!—there also happens to be a bunch of really good DJs. Grace Bascos eats, sleeps, raves and repeats. Read more from Grace at VegasSeven.com/ DishingWithGrace, as well as on her diningand-music blog, FoodPlusTechno.com.

PHOTOS BY ANTHONY MAIR

FURTHER FUTURE TAKES THE TYPICAL FESTIVAL FARE EVEN FARTHER

New Guy Savoy executive chef Julien Asseo’s blood runs red, white and blue—and also blue, white and red By Al Mancini

➜ IN JANUARY, 29-year-old Julien Asseo was pro-

moted to one of the most prestigious kitchen jobs in Las Vegas—perhaps even in the country. After serving as sous chef and chef de cuisine at Restaurant Guy Savoy since 2011, Asseo was selected to succeed Mathieu Chartron as the two-Michelin-star restaurant’s executive chef. Born in Libourne, a small town in southwest France, but spending several of his teen years living in the United States, Asseo is an exem-

plary ft for the restaurant, which holds very true to its French roots while embracing the opportunities offered by the American marketplace. Asseo’s parents were winemakers in the old country. “From picking the grapes to crushing the grapes to helping in the bottling, I grew up in the wine industry,” he says. When he was 11, the family moved to Paso Robles, California, and established the L’Aventure Winery because, he says, “My parents

Joël Robuchon before taking a position with Guy Savoy. For a man whose passions run toward simple “bistrostyle food,” he’s now operating at the apex of the gourmet food chain. And he’s ecstatic about the opportunities that position presents. “I love the fact that we’re able to use amazing products. Because only a few restaurants in the world are able to use them like we do—truffes, caviar. I also love the strictness. When you’re cooking at this level, you really have to maintain consistency and perfection of technique. So it really allows me to stay on top of my game.” And that consistency may be more prevalent at Restaurant Guy Savoy than at any other local outpost of a Paris master. Savoy’s is the menu that has been most stable over the 10 years since it opened. The nine-course “signature” menu is basically etched in stone, doing its best to replicate the classics the restaurant’s namesake created in France while using American ingredients. “There are certain ingredients that you cannot fnd here,” Asseo says. “There are certain tastes that our guests have that they might not have in Paris. So it’s [about] trying to adapt to the best of our ability to what we can source and follow in the style and spirit of Guy Savoy.” And the new head of the kitchen is intent on leaving his own mark on the menu. “As far as putting in my two cents,” he says, “I’m slowly starting to—slowly, but surely. I put three new dishes on the Innovation [tasting] menu.” Those would be his foie gras with favors of tangerine and gingerbread, a new turbot preparation with green curry, and wagyu beef with squash and chive sponge cake. If that gets you hungry, be forewarned: That tasting will set you back a cool $375. But you’ll earn bragging rights for being among the frst to taste the new creations of one of America’s top chefs.

PHOTO BY KRYSTAL RAMIREZ

DINING March 3–9, 2016

VegasSeven.com

Moving On Up

wanted to get away from the regulations, from the French winemaking laws. They wanted more freedom in winemaking.” It was in California that a young Asseo was frst introduced to what he refers to as “that wine-meets-restaurant kind of experience.” “It was kind of like discovering this new California cuisine,” he says. “It was really farmto-table; back before [that notion] became super-famous and trendy, people were doing that in that area. And that really [helped] me to understand great product and the terroir, where things come from and how they’re supposed to taste.” But at 16, when Asseo decided to turn his newfound love of food into a career, he returned to his homeland and enrolled in Lycée Hôtelier de Gascogne near Bordeaux to pursue a bachelor’s degree in culinary arts. “I missed [France] a lot,” he says. “And it was also a time when I was a teenager and wanted to be on my own and step away and be a little adventurous and rebellious. I also thought about how I was lucky to be French-born, knowing how much of a history France has had on the culinary world, For me, it was just obvious to go back and study in France.” Asseo did return to the United States during his school days for an internship at Bradley Ogden in Caesars Palace, which at the time boasted one of the fnest collections of chefs this town had ever seen, including Gerald Chin, Dave Varley, Adam Sobel and Ogden’s son Brian. But after graduation, he did what any young French chef would do: move to Paris. He quickly advanced from commis to chef de partie at La Fontaine de Mars before the United States beckoned once again and he relocated to Los Angeles to open the modern Latin restaurant Rivera. It was in 2009 that Asseo returned to Las Vegas. He put in time at RM Seafood (reuniting with some of his Bradley Ogden compatriots) and

MOVIES

Hopps and Wilde visit Zootopia’s sloth-run DMV.

ANIMAL STYLE Zootopia makes the discrimination discussion cuddly

➜ IT WAS A writer’s meeting I wish I

could have been present for. Sometime during the writing of Zootopia—the very fne new animated feature from Disney—everyone must have sat down together, took a deep breath and began naming off every form of discrimination they could think of—every kind of sexism, racism, size discrimination and so on. Then they made a flm that explains to kids—cleverly, without tipping its hand—why these things are bad. You could be forgiven for not knowing this going in. Disney is marketing Zootopia as a buddy flm, which it is: A rabbit cop, Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin), forges an alliance of necessity with a fox confdence artist, Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), when the fox proves to be the only witness to a missing person—er, missing otter case. The two natural enemies banter with each other, eventually forming an unlikely bond—blah, blah, blah. If you’ve ever seen 48 Hours, Midnight Run or pretty much anything Shane Black’s ever made, you know this story and you know these characters. It’s what they say when they’re tested that makes Zootopia great. The animal residents of the flm’s titular city might have evolved, but old animosities remain. Wilde invokes a stereotype the frst time he meets Hopps, calling her a “dumb bunny” who’s no match for his “sly fox.” Hopps gently rebukes a character for calling her “cute” (“Bunnies can call each other cute, but when anyone else does it …”). And in a key moment, a character remarks that the violent behavior of some animals is probably because of “biology.” As with the best of Disney and Pixar’s flms (John Lasseter, the head of the latter studio, serves as an executive producer on Zootopia, an advisory role he’s taken on Disney’s last several animated flms), the characters of this flm don’t know they’re in an animated flm intended for families, and they behave as they would in a flm without

toy and merchandising contracts already in place. Idris Elba voices Chief Bogo as a gruff, world-weary cop who just happens to be a cape buffalo. The wonderful Jenny Slate is deputy mayor Dawn Bellwether, a sheep who becomes a fast friend to Hopps based on her conviction that “little guys should stick together.” Octavia Spencer, J.K. Simmons and Shakira also voice characters in Zootopia, and none of them fakes the sincerity or pulls a silly voice. They could be in a live-action version of the flm and not change their performances in the slightest. But Zootopia, more than any animated flm in recent memory, demonstrates why animation still exists in a time when computer-generated imagery can reproduce anything. The princesses of Frozen didn’t need to be animated, nor the stop-motion stars of Anomalisa. In an early scene—when Hopps arrives in the city by train— Zootopia shows us why animation is important; it creates a world where animals could plausibly hold jobs, drive cars and work smartphones. And the movie makes them look good doing it, by not calling undue attention to the unseemliness of it all. (I can’t say that I have the same high hopes for Disney’s live action/CGI remake of The Jungle Book, due April 15, but maybe they’ll surprise me.) Zootopia only slips once, when Hopps and Wilde visit a “naturalist club” full of “nude” animals. The flmmakers deliver an assortment of groaner visual gags, many of which aren’t too far removed from the fart jokes that sustained pre-Lasseter Disney. Someday, perhaps, you’ll explain that nudist scene (and the blink-andmiss-it Breaking Bad reference) to your kids. But at least you won’t have to explain why racism, sexism and size discrimination are wrong. Zootopia jumps on that grenade for you. Zootopia (PG) ★★★★✩

PHOTO COURTESY OF DISNEY

By Geoff Carter

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