Fortune Will Smile Upon You | Vegas Seven | Jan. 26-Feb. 2, 2017

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Read Vegas Seven right-side up and then flip it over and start again with (7) SEVEN NIGHTS, featuring after-dark entertainment and the week’s nightlife happenings.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

JANUARY 26-FEBRUARY 1, 2017 CONVERSATIONS

TO DO

13 24/7

36 Ask a Native

What to do around the clock in Las Vegas.

The Arts Factory’s cursed restaurant space.

BY SHANNON MILLER

BY JAMES P. REZA

14 The Deal

A New Take on an Old Trade

Dollar Oyster Availability Index.

BY ANTHONY CURTIS

Polly Weinstein combines 3-D printing and hand-finishing to create unique jewelry.

BY LISSA TOWNSEND RODGERS

FEATURE

37 Beautiful Success

17 Rooster Hunt

Spots to spot the lucky avian.

KÀ crew members see years-in-the-making educational center open.

BY JASON R. LATHAM

BY AMBER SAMPSON

20 Dining at Lucky Dragon

38 Lucky No. 7

BY MARISA FINETTI

BY SEVEN STAFF

Your culinary route from Asia to Las Vegas.

26 Finding Fortune

Looking for signs of prosperity all across the Valley.

BY KRISTEN PETERSON

What’s your favorite Chinatown haunt?

FLIP SIDE

Seven Nights What to do after dark.

SOCIAL INFLUENCE

30 Kick-Ass:

A Retrospective Donnie Yen and Michelle Yeoh were throwing down long before Star Wars and Star Trek.

BY LISSA TOWNSEND RODGERS

Profitable Partnerships

Out-of-state marijuana operators collaborate with local businesses.

BY LISSA TOWNSEND RODGERS

31 Winning Isn’t Everything What’s past is prologue for Nevada Republicans.

BY MICHAEL GREEN

LUCKY DRAGON WALLPAPER BY KRYSTAL RAMIREZ

PLUS: The

Look

SPACES & PLACES

33 Away Message: Hong Kong

The Pearl of the Orient from the ground up.

OUR SITES TO SEE

BY MARK ADAMS

Eat This: JinJu Fondue Jin Caldwell’s socially served, delectable dessert.

BY AL MANCINI

Dish & Tell Festive menus bringing gastronomic good luck.

BY MARISA FINETTI

Tasting on Rainbow Five favorite restaurants in the new Chinatown.

BY MELINDA SHECKELLS

VegasSeven.com The March Heard Round the Nation From D.C. to Downtown Las Vegas, read about our staffers’ experiences at the Women’s March.

DTLV.com Nikki Lane Hits the “Jackpot” Downtown Country singer Nikki Lane’s music video for her latest single, “Jackpot,” was shot all around Downtown with the help of Roxie Amoroso, owner of vintage clothing store Exile on Main Street.

Read about the crew’s wild stories filming the rising star’s very-Vegas video.

RunRebs.com Weekly Recap Check out the crazy three-pointers that sent UNLV and the Air Force Academy into double overtime, plus a look at how Marvin Menzies is developing his big men.

BY KIN LUI

SpyOnVegas.com The Hookup Find upcoming events, see highlights from the hottest parties, meet the DJs and more.

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HAPPINESS & LONGEVITY

ABOUT THE COVER ARTIST

IN A BOWL Shanghee Shin

was born in Busan, South Korea in 1984. After she graduated from high school, Shin and her family emigrated to the United States. In 2011, she completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts in illustration at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California.

Her art often depicts animals in fine pen, acrylic ink, watercolor and digital formats. She currently works in the greater Seattle area as an illustrator.

A note from Shin’s agency, Illustration (USA) Inc.: Through our initiative to plant 1 million trees over the next five years, this commission will plant 40 trees through our planting partners at WeForest.

Visit illustrationweb.com/OneMillionTrees.aspx to learn more.

Ryan T. Doherty | Justin Weniger President Michael Skenandore Chief Financial Officer Sim Salzman Vice President, Marketing and Events Keith White Creative Director Sherwin Yumul Graphic Designer Javon Isaac Technical Director Herbert Akinyele Controller Jane Weigel

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Publisher

Michael Skenandore Editorial EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Melinda Sheckells MANAGING EDITOR

Genevie Durano SENIOR EDITOR, DINING, BEVERAGE & NIGHTLIFE

Xania Woodman ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

Mark Adams SENIOR WRITER

Lissa Townsend Rodgers EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Shannon Miller EDITORIAL INTERNS

Daphne-Jayne Corrales, Heather Peterson Contributing Editors Michael Green (Politics), David G. Schwartz (Gaming/Hospitality) Art CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Benjamin Ward SENIOR DESIGNER

Cierra Pedro STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Krystal Ramirez VegasSeven.com DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL CONTENT

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John Tobin

TO DO

Leopold and His Fiction at Neon Reverb 2016.

What to do around the clock in Las Vegas

By Shannon Miller

THURSDAY 26

FRIDAY 27

Take your pick of more than 700 classic motorcycles at the Mecum Las Vegas Motorcycle Auction.

Chopper enthusiasts can view and bid for bikes dating back to the 1950s. 8 a.m., $20–$200, South Point Hotel, mecum.com

You may know him for his surrealist paintings. You may know him for his ego. But did you know Salvador Dalí was a book illustrator? Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here, an exhibition of editions of The Divine Comedy and The Decameron illustrated by Dalí, opens today at UNLV’s Marjorie Barrick Museum.

Exhibit through May 13, 9 a.m.–5 p.m., unlv.edu

Delight in the metalcore of August Burns Red with Protest the Hero, In Hearts Wake and ’68 at Brooklyn Bowl. 6 p.m., $23, brooklynbowl.com/las-vegas Catch headliner Ricky Martin and 21 other performers at Calibash tonight at T-Mobile Arena.

8 p.m., $69–$305, t-mobilearena.com Based on the true story of Jack Taylor, one of the U.S. Navy’s first frogmen who fought in World War II, A Voice From Mauthausen screens at the Summerlin Library theater. This award-winning short film details the war hero’s trials and tribulations.

4–5:30 p.m., 1771 Inner Circle Dr., lvccld.org Attend the artists’ reception for Chinese New Year—Year of the Rooster, a cultural exploration by local and nonlocal artists. Exhibit through March 4, 5:30–7:30 p.m., Historic Fifth Street School Mayor’s Gallery, 401 S. Fourth St., 702-229-1012

Watch young people perform music, dance and spoken word at A Night of Expressions: Youth Talent Showcase in recognition of Black History Month. 7 p.m., West Las Vegas Library Theatre, 951 W. Lake Mead Blvd., 702-507-3989 It’s National Chocolate Cake Day! Celebrate at Hussong’s Cantina at Boca Park with a free piece of its signature chocolate cake with Yelp check-in or purchase of an entrée. 11 a.m.–11 p.m., 740 S. Rampart Blvd., hussongsbocapark.com SATURDAY 28

Willie Nelson has Las Vegas on his mind in his

limited engagement at The Venetian Theatre. Hear classics such as “Seven Spanish Angels” and “On the Road Again” at his opening night. Through Feb. 4, 8 p.m., $60–$200, venetian.com

Celebrate Chinese New Year at Downtown Container Park. Festivities include a lion dance, cultural performances, an art exhibit and the DragonFest Concert.

11 a.m.-6 p.m., downtowncontainerpark.com Known for his recent “Now & Later” track, hip-hop artist Sage the Gemini brings the noise to Vinyl at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. 9 p.m., $22–$45, hardrockhotel.com Learn about safe driving at Gene Woods Racing Experience during Street Smarts, an event benefiting St. Jude’s Ranch for Children. View displays by local public safety organizations and interact with law enforcement, all while taking part in raffles, giveaways, face painting and go-kart races for $15 a pop. 1–4 p.m., 121 E. Sunset Rd., racingexperiencelv.com See Cockroach Theatre’s production of Hir, a play about coping with death focused on a marine who returns home to take care of his ailing father. 8 p.m., $16–$20, 1025 S. First St. Suite 110, cockroachtheatre.com Follow three decades of Elvis Presley’s music career in One Night With the King at The Orleans. 8 p.m., $20-$40, orleanscasino.com Have you felt what it’s like to be moving at 155 mph in a NASCAR racecar? Find out at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway during Richard Petty Driving Experience’s three-lap ride-along. $109, 11 a.m., 7000 Las Vegas Blvd. North, drivepetty.com

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TO DO

24/7

THE DEAL BY ANTHONY CURTIS

All About the Oysters IF YOU LIKE OYSTERS, JANUARY 27

Ricky Martin

Looking for more stuff to do in Las Vegas? Visit vegasseven.com/calendar.

Anthony Curtis is the publisher of the Las Vegas Advisor and LasVegasAdvisor.com.

SUNDAY 29

TUESDAY 31

Learn how to paint a scene from the wizarding world of Harry Potter at The Bubblegum Gallery’s Hogwarts Is My Home all-ages painting class. They provide the art supplies, you provide your eager self in paint-friendly clothes. 10 a.m., $20, 1800 S. Industrial Rd. Suite 207D, facebook.com/thebubblegumgallery

Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin hits shelves today. Get

Happy Chinese New Year! Traditional dragon and lion dances by Yau Kung Moon take over MGM Grand’s main lobby and proceed through the casino to celebrate the Year of the Rooster. 4 p.m., mgmgrand.com

Celebrate Chinese New Year while supporting a good cause at The Linq Theater, where Sichuan Song and Dance Theater Company and supporting acts put on a benefit concert for J.D. Miller Middle School. 2–4 p.m., $38–$88, The Linq, cnyinthedesert.com Skilled in banjo, guitar, harmonica and more, multi-instrumentalist and singer Dom Flemons delights audiences with his takes on early African American cowboy songs at Winchester Cultural Center. 2 p.m., $10–$12, 3130 McLeod Dr., clarkcountynv.gov MONDAY 30

Leopold and His Fiction bring its folk-

infused garage rock to The Bunkhouse Saloon, with support from Mercy Music, Acid Sisters and DJ Jacob Savage. 9 p.m., $10, bunkhousedowntown.com

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The Smith Center’s Troesh Studio Theater tonight. Through Feb. 4, 7 p.m., $25-$37, thesmithcenter.com

might be your day. This Friday, Santa Fe Station will celebrate the first anniversary of the Oyster Bar with 25-cent raw oysters, shuckin’ and servin’ from 5 p.m. to midnight. Twenty-five cents an oyster is a deal all right, but this price will be history at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday morning. What if you want oysters next Tuesday?

If you’re an oyster connoisseur, then quality trumps availability and price. But for the bivalve bystanders among us (and that includes me), knowing where and when the cheap ones are being dealt is the priority. To that end, I’ve created Las Vegas’ first DOAI (Dollar Oyster Availability Index).

At the bottom of the index is Brigg’s Oyster Company at Suncoast, which runs a dollar day once a month. I guess that’s cool, but they didn’t even know when February’s day would be when I checked.

One-day-a-week dollar-oyster nights run in Bottiglia Cucina & Enoteca at Green Valley Ranch on Tuesdays, and at both Hearthstone Kitchen & Cellar at Red Rock Casino and McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood & Steaks on Wednesdays. If you visit any of these from 5–7 p.m., you’ll also hit their happy hours with good small plates, making it easier to bring your non-oyster-eatin’ friends. Note that Hearthstone is periodically booked for private events, so call ahead to confirm the deal (as you should for most of these anyway).

Jumping up to four days a week, South Point’s Big Sur Oyster Bar serves ’em on the half shell for half price Monday-Thursday from noon to 4 p.m. They’re regularly $24 a dozen, so that’s a dollar apiece on the deal. This is another good option if your buddies aren’t into it, as several other seafood specials run during this time.

Andiron Steak & Sea in Downtown Summerlin runs its oyster happy hour in the bar on Tuesdays, 4 p.m.–close, where freshly shucked kumiai oysters are served with a vinegary mignonette, a Bloody Mary-like dip or with cocktail sauce and horseradish. And special cocktails and wine are half-price from 4 to 7 p.m., so a dozen oysters and a couple of drinks will set you back about $20. If rating for pure value, I’d list Andiron first. But there are two higher-ranking options in the DOAI. In the seven-days-a-week category is Le Pho Vietnamese Kitchen in the Juhl condo tower, where big blue points come with lemon, cocktail sauce and horseradish in a cool bar setting, daily from 4 to 7 p.m. Drinks are 2-for-1, so here you can get a dozen on the half shell and two brews for under $20.

Finally, at the top of the DOAI is Crab Corner on Rainbow Boulevard, the Don’t Be Crabby happy hour runs from 2–6 p.m. daily. I didn’t say they’re the best, but they’re available an amazing 28 hours every week, and that takes the top spot on the DOAI. 7

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the parents’ account of a young man whose life was tragically cut short and inspired a movement. $26, amazon.com In celebration of the The Mob Museum’s fifth anniversary, its content director leads a panel discussion featuring former City of Las Vegas mayor Oscar B. Goodman, historian Robert Stoldal and others knowledgeable of the museum’s—and the mob’s—past.

7 p.m., Clark County Library Main Theater, 1401 E. Flamingo Rd., lvccld.org WEDNESDAY 1

The Neon Museum hosts Selling With Signs: Las Vegas and the Placemaking Power of Commercial Streetscapes,

a presentation by Scholar in Residence Martin Treu, at its Ne10 building. 7 p.m., 300 Las Vegas Blvd. North, registration required, neonmuseum.org

Are you a Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte or Miranda? Comedic actress Kerry Ipema is all four in One Woman Sex and the City: A Parody of Love, Friendships and Shoes, which begins its four-night run at

800.274.5825 | thed.com | 301 Fremont Street | Las Vegas, NV 89101

Do You Have

Roosters Here?

Cock hunting for Chinese New Year

By Jason R. Latham Photography Cierra Pedro

Don’t assume that just because this is the Year of the Rooster, you’re going to see game birds at every turn. That’s a mistaken belief, one that just leads to you spending two days calling places and driving around, stopping at casinos and restaurants and asking if there are any roosters in there.

Do yourself another favor and don’t Google “rooster” and “Las Vegas,” because all the results are for the Red Rooster, and that’s really a whole different thing.

January 28 marks the start of the Chinese New Year, so here is a list of seven notable rooster-viewing spots around town.

In-Your-Face Roosters The Palazzo boasts the largest rooster of them all: a 15-foot, 3,500-pound fowl in the Waterfall Atrium that was constructed of steel and resin and adorned with 68,000 crystals.

Down the street, Bellagio just unveiled its Chinese New Year–themed Conservatory display, complete with a 10-foot animated rooster that crows every 30 minutes. This exhibit also didn’t come cheap: The bird was decorated with 10,000 feathers and embellished with Swarovski crystals.

A Rooster You Can Ride Once you’ve finished enjoying the rooster as art, you can head over to The Linq Promenade and ride a mechanical rooster at Chayo Mexican Kitchen and Tequila Bar. It’s just like a mechanical bull, but a rooster. Nuff said.

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Rooster Restaurant Decor The bigwigs at Farmer Boys probably weren’t even thinking about Chinese New Year when they put up pictures of roosters all over their restaurants, but it worked out pretty well for 2017. The Decatur Boulevard and Russell Road location even has a little rooster statue by the entrance.

Ditto for lunchtime favorite Flock & Fowl on Sahara Avenue east of Interstate 15. The place has already gotten our “mmm hmmm” stamp of approval, and the rooster decorations just take it up another notch. Bravo.

Real. Live. Roosters.

At last, a Year of the Rooster experience that’s as real as it gets. The Las Vegas Farm, at Grand Teton Drive and Tenaya Way in the northwest, has actual roosters, along with other livestock you can see up close. It’s open every weekend, so gather the family and have a real country outing!

Thy Name Is Roosters You won’t find crystal statues at Roosters Men’s Grooming Center in Henderson, but that’s not why you go there. May their name bring them good fortune in 2017.

by MARISA FINETTI photography KRYSTAL RAMIREZ

Into the

Mouth of the

Dragon

Seven auspicious, delicious ways to experience authentic Chinese cuisine at Lucky Dragon

W

hen you enter Lucky Dragon Hotel & Casino, you are immediately immersed in Asian culture. From the signage displayed prominently in Chinese (followed by the English translation) and the crimson and golden hues of the decor, to the bricks imported from a Beijing government housing alley and the grab-and-go cans of mangosteen juice available at Dragon’s Alley—the Far East is as close as Las Vegas and Sahara boulevards.

The same goes for those who delight in authentic Asian cuisine. All the chefs at restaurants Pearl Ocean and Phoenix hail from either Hong Kong or China. Rare ingredients such as wild morel mushrooms come from Tibet, and extraordinary teas are shipped straight from family-owned Chinese farms.

Here, five unique concepts provide total immersion in regional Chinese cooking. Property executive chef Phuoc Luu collaborated with consulting chef Willy Ng of the San Francisco Bay Area’s Koi Palace—which is widely regarded as one of the best places for dim sum in the U.S.—to deliver dining experiences of undisputable authenticity. Phoenix is geared toward the adventurous guest, offering Kurobuta pork, deer tendon and abalone, among the many rare and exquisitely prepared dishes. Pearl Ocean is the place for dim sum featuring a tank filled with exotic, live crustaceans within view of diners. Cha Garden tea bar and lounge boasts 50 of the best teas from China, one of them available in the U.S. only at this location. For people on the go, there’s Dragon’s Alley. Modeled after China’s street markets, the stations present an abundance of food choices, including wok-fried noodles, meat dishes, custom-made noodle soups, barbecue pork and duck, boba teas and artful sweet confections. Finally, Bao Now is a 24-hour grab-and-go counter featuring quick snacks, as well as hearty meals such as congee and stew.

If you’re up for the challenge, here is your culinary route to Asia from Las Vegas.

Bird Nest in Coconut at Phoenix

The bird nest at the heart of the famous bird nest soup contains no twigs or feathers. The edible nest is crafted by a particular tropical avian, the swiftlet, which uses its own spittle to create a sticky frame that hardens into a functional structure. Swiftlets build their nests on the sheer limestone walls of dark caves. When harvested, the nests are dry and hard, but become jellylike when immersed in liquid. Once reserved for emperors and their courts, the bird nest has become a luxury item in China.

Prized for its alleged health benefits—aiding in lung, kidney, stomach and spleen function and providing cell growth—it is also one of the most expensive foods in the world. This natural delicacy, also called “the caviar of the East,” can be prepared savory as a soup, or sweet, as it is at Phoenix, where it is braised and combined with cubed sugar, coconut milk and young coconut. $168

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Sautéed Assorted Mushrooms and Jalapeño with Tenderloin Beef Cube at Phoenix

A house special, succulent cubes of tenderloin are wok-tossed with assorted mushrooms and jalapeño peppers, then drizzled with wasabi aioli. $58

Beef Stew at Bao Now

This hearty braised beef stew is unique, with deep flavors that develop from the use of star anise, five spice and other classic Cantonese ingredients.

Large chunks of beef are simmered with bok choy, onions and carrots and served with either rice or noodles.

Choose from thin (pho) or thick (hor fun) egg noodles. $13.88

Vegetarian Chow Fun at Dragon’s Alley

Made from wide hor fun rice noodles, chow fun is a Cantonese staple that is popular in southern China, particularly in the Guangdong province. An important factor in the creation of this dish is quick stir-frying over extremely high flames.

You can watch the chefs make this dish in the glass-enclosed Jewel Kitchen. Chow fun’s smoky flavor comes from the intense heat of the wok. The vegetarian chow fun combines noodles and bean sprouts in this simple and light, yet filling, dish. $2

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Dungeness Crab Meat Sautéed With Egg Whites at Pearl Ocean

Five Guys Xiao Long Bao at Pearl Ocean

As seen on billboards around town, Lucky Dragon’s signature dish arrives as a steam basket consisting of five colored xiaolongbao. The popular sampler features a collection of Shanghai pork soup dumplings in a variety of flavors. The traditional dough dumpling is filled with juicy pork; the red dumpling contains a fresh beet filling, its skin infused with beet juice; the squid-ink dumpling has a black truffle center; the green spinach dumpling surrounds a kale center; and the golden turmeric dumpling is stuffed with crab roe. $12.88

Cool-water-loving Dungeness crab is in season during the winter months, and they are plentiful at Pearl Ocean. Here, a whole crab is prepared two ways. Fried with five spice and salt and pepper, the key is to crack the shell to get at the succulent meat and then nibble the golden crust. In the second preparation, the crab is sautéed in a fluffy cloud of egg whites, then topped with a fresh yolk. Market price

Five Spice Soy Sauce Duck Wings at Cha Garden

Cha Garden specializes in tea but also offers a selection of small cold bites, presenting the ideal opportunity to explore pairings with the tea sommelier. Seven braised duck wings, marinated in five spice and soy sauce, pair well with a tea that is equally as complex. Coupled with the full-bodied Phoenix Mountain Oolong (Mi Lan Xiang), the hearty flavors of the duck stand up. The leaves of this tea are oxidized to at least 30 percent and then roasted repeatedly to bring about a honeylike aroma and flavor. The resulting tea is sweet, with a subtle floral character of orange blossom honey. Duck wings, $9; Mi Lan Xiang, $20

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FINDING LUCK

LOOKING FOR SIGNS OF PROSPERITY ALL ACROSS LAS VEGAS THIS CHINESE NEW YEAR

By Kristen Peterson Illustrations Cierra Pedro

With the Year of the Rooster nearly upon us, Las Vegas casinos are working in sync, rolling out their best red to accommodate the influx of celebrants.

Chinese New Year, which begins January 28, is so much more than one night of revelry and a day of resolutions. The holiday is about getting rid of evil spirits from the past and wishing for goodness, luck, prosperity and happiness for others. Stores in Chinatown Plaza are saturated with ornately designed red lanterns, red envelopes, ornaments and other paper goods for the Lunar New Year. Rooster sculptures in a variety of mediums are featured prominently.

Additionally, observers are preparing to banish evil spirits by cleaning their houses to sweep out the bad luck and make room for the good.

It’s a collective positivity that envelops those who participate, complete with rituals and tropes designed for good luck.

Some might argue that if we ever needed solid luck in America, it is now. To join in on this holiday that literally wishes everyone (including ourselves) the best, we’ll need a lot of red, a color believed to bring luck and ward off evil spirits. We need to eat dumplings, give and receive oranges, revere the lucky number 8 and do everything else that comes with the 15-day celebration. Chinese New Year is all about the positive. In Las Vegas, there are several ways to observe, beginning (but not ending) with a trip to the Bellagio Conservatory.

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Gold coins

Tangerines and oranges Tangerines symbolize luck and oranges symbolize wealth, partly due to the prevalent wordplay of Chinese New Year: The word “tangerine” in Mandarin sounds like “luck,” and “orange” sounds like the word “wealth.” While Phoenix is covered in orange trees, they’re not native to the Mojave Desert—the frost is too harmful.

But local master gardeners have attested to and (in their own yards) championed the possibility of successfully growing dwarf citrus in planters. Nurseries sell them, and container gardening is key to their survival. They require loving care and may need to come in from the porch when temperatures drop.

According to legend, a demon was once preying on children and touching their heads as they slept. Eight fairies were sent by a deity, each of them disguised as a gold coin that shone so brightly it blocked the demon’s view and scared it away. This led to the tradition of red envelopes, which at first were filled with gold coins strung together with ribbon. In Las Vegas, where pawnshops are abundant, finding a gold coin to hold isn’t a challenge. While animated gaming machines are spilling with virtual red coins during play, the Neon Boneyard might have the largest in its collection of Fitzgerald coins from the former hotel-casino’s sign.

Right behind it, the iconic Coin Castle king that stood atop the shuttered casino’s marquee on Fremont Street is still holding the metal-and-neon gold coins that were spilling out of its hands.

Roosters

The rooster represents punctuality and fidelity in the Chinese zodiac. This year it is dedicated to the fire rooster, known for trustworthiness and responsibility. Faux golden roosters glisten from counters at stores in Chinatown, where trinkets and charms are abundant. The Writer’s Block bookshop, which doubles as an artificial bird sanctuary, sells wind-up metal roosters and rooster decor. Throw a stone in any vintage store and it’s likely it will hit, if not fly over, something with a rooster on it. But no need to commodify—Bonnie Springs Ranch is home to live roosters that roam freely near the motel and restaurant. And for better or worse, those living Downtown, where backyard roosters are a thing, can hear the punctual crows every morning.

Red lanterns

It’s said that thousands of years ago, a beast emerged from the wild, attacking villagers and going after livestock in what would become an annual effort driven by a limited food source at winter’s end. When villagers learned that the mythological monster was terrified of the color red and loud noise, they placed fireworks and red lanterns in doorways and hung couplets on red paper. As legend has it, the village lived in peace, always and eternally.

No need to go gangbusters, but should you want to immerse yourself in red, the Great Wall Bookstore inside Chinatown Plaza at 4255 Spring Mountain Road is replete with lanterns and decorations. In fact, the entire mall has abundant offerings for the New Year. On the Strip, standing under the ornate red lamps at Wynn might offer pause for reflection, but keep in mind: The house always wins.

Fireworks

Ancient China invented fireworks to ward off evil spirits, and the country remains the largest manufacturer of them.

While New Year’s Day on the Gregorian calendar comes with an exploding sky above Las Vegas, Chinese New Year doesn’t. Luckily, Las Vegans live in close proximity to Moapa Valley, where fireworks are attainable. The Moapa Paiute Travel Plaza is 30 miles away, a quick drive near the Valley of Fire State Park, named for its red sandstone formations. Those searching for happiness and serenity might just find it there.

The number 8

Another example of wordplay, the number 8 symbolizes prosperity and wealth, and is good luck regardless of the holiday. In a town based on numbers, finding 8 can be easier than a roll of the dice, and incidentally, the red neon dice on the Binion’s sign atop the parking lot equal 8. For those who truly and desperately need something to slip into their pocket or give to another, the Gambler’s General Store on Main Street sells lammers, plastic chip tokens with numbers used in poker—and the lammer with the number 8 is red.

Red envelopes

Red envelopes containing crisp cash are given to the young or from the married to the unmarried as tokens of good luck symbolizing blessings and love. If you have blessings and love to give (and don’t want to use the new red-envelope app to send and collect them virtually), shelves and boxes at the Great Wall Bookstore are practically toppling over with envelopes covered in mottoes of happiness and prosperity, emblazoned in gold. Custom has it that the significance of the red-paper envelope is more valuable than the cash inside.

Lion dances

While a Chinese lantern festival marks the beginning of spring, it’s the lion dance, designed to evict bad spirits with drumming and colorful costuming, that signals the beginning of Chinese New Year. With so many tourists in town for the holiday, the Strip hosts several of these dances. The Linq Promenade offers festivities January 27 (6–9 p.m.), January 28 and 29 (1:30–9 p.m.) and January 30 (6–9 p.m.); Fashion Show mall will celebrate January 27 (6 p.m.); The Forum Shops on January 30 (10 a.m.); The Venetian and The Palazzo on January 28 (3 p.m.); Container Park in Downtown will host festivities January 28 (11 a.m.–6 p.m.); and Palace Station will put on their show January 30 (7:15 p.m.). For a little of everything relating to the Year of the Rooster, Chinatown Plaza will celebrate February 12 (10 a.m.–5 p.m.) with food and festivities. 7 Janua r y 26 -Februa r y 1, 2017 vegasseven.com

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THE LOOK

SOCIAL INFLUENCE

Sophia Song Stylist, age 43 IG: @lovesophiasong

Photography Krystal Ramirez Who has been the biggest influence on your personal style? My mom, Terry Song. She has the most amazing closet filled with timeless pieces and knows how to put it all together.

What is one word or phrase to describe what it’s like for you when you get dressed in the morning? “Where’s the coffee?”

What has been the biggest moment for you fashion-wise?

Being invited to Paris Fashion Week.

Who’s on your glam squad?

My besties Andrea Bennett [editorin-chief of Vegas magazine], Justin Giron [visuals manager for Saks Fifth Avenue] and Bo Brinkman [hair and makeup stylist]. They always give me their honest opinions.

What is your shopping guilty pleasure? I love Chanel at Wynn.

You can park valet and be in and out in five minutes.

Where do you shop that would surprise people? Charleston Antique Mall, Patina Decor on Main Street, and if I’m near any thrift store, I always go in because you never know what you will find.

PHOTO CREDIT GOES HERE

What is the best thing about shopping in Las Vegas? We are lucky to live in a city where all the fashion houses are accessible, and even luckier that some of these stores stay open till 11 p.m. 7

Song is wearing Rag & Bone booties, Godspeed pants, Faith Connexion jacket, Alexis Bittar ring, Theory top, Jessica Galindo earrings and a Chanel purse.

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KICK-ASS: A RETROSPECTIVE Donnie Yen and Michelle Yeoh were throwing down long before Star Wars and Star Trek

By Lissa Townsend Rodgers

Michelle Yeoh in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (left) and Donnie Yen in Rogue One.

AS BELOVED FRANCHISES Star Wars and Star Trek put on their most recent reboots, both reached out to Hong Kong action stars to bring martial arts energy and veteran gravity to the screen. Donnie Yen stood out in Rogue One as Chirrut Îmwe, the blind Jedi warrior, and recently stole the spotlight from Vin Diesel in XXX: Return of Xander Cage. You may remember Michelle Yeoh

from her turn as the least helpless Bond girl ever in Tomorrow Never Dies; this spring she’ll be appearing in the CBS series Star Trek: Discovery as a Starfleet captain.

Donnie Yen’s skill as a martial artist has roots in family tradition: His mother, Bow Sim Mark, was a tai chi grandmaster and one of the first wushu teachers in the West. A favorite film of the martial arts genre, Iron Monkey (1993) gives Yen plenty of space to shine in its near-nonstop fight scenes. He plays a doctor/warrior who at first fights against, and then, with the eponymous Iron Monkey, a Robin Hood-like figure, as the two overthrow a corrupt governor.

SPL: Kill Zone (2005) has an aesthetic that’s part Miami Vice, part film noir: crashing cars in rain-soaked streets and crooked cops versus vicious triad bosses, with Yen as the only honest man (note the Serpico leather blazer).

His final fight scene against a twicehis-size Sammo Hung is a bloody,

Profitable Partnerships Out-of-state marijuana operators collaborate with local businesses

By Lissa Townsend Rodgers

Photography Krystal Ramirez

Last November, eight states passed recreational marijuana initiatives, giving a boost to the already booming cannabis industry. Yet out of all the new potential markets, Nevada seems to have attracted the most interest, as out-of-state businesses have partnered up with local ones.

Since marijuana remains illegal under federal law, you cannot simply load up a truck and drive it in from California or Colorado: Product that is consumed in Nevada must be made in Nevada, from seed to shrink-wrap. Dixie Elixirs, an edibles/drinkables company out of Colorado, has entered the Nevada market through a partnership with Silver State Wellness. Joe Hodas, chief marketing officer of Dixie, says, “Our hope is that as Nevada moves into a more recreational market, we can leverage our experience in

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bone-crunching tour de force. Yen deploys a different style in the Ip Man movies, in which he stars as Yip Man, grandmaster of wing chun martial arts (and teacher of a young Bruce Lee), the epitome of the calm, controlled warrior, refusing to fight until forced to.

Appropriately, Yen sets aside the blitzkrieg approach of other films for more precise attacks.

Michelle Yeoh’s career has covered everything from the kung fu Disney princess–esque weirdness of 1993’s Holy Weapon to her straight dramatic role as Burmese political leader Aung San Suu Kyi in 2011’s The Lady. One of her most notable early films is Wing Chun, in which she plays a tomboyish warrior called upon to defend her village and makes taking out a roomful of thugs look not only effortless but elegant. When someone declares of her opponent, “He won’t surrender. Hit him until he does,” Yeoh responds, “Not hit.

Teach.” That’s generally her M.O.: She’s not out to kill her opponents; she just wants them to learn a lesson.

Yeoh is graceful and fluid in her wire work, but does the most damage in fast, close-up attacks. In The Heroic Trio (1992), she stars with Maggie Cheung and Anita Mui in the Powerpuff Girls– Faster Pussycat of martial arts flicks, with the three fighting an undead emperor and his monster army. It’s a film about the power of sisterhood, the necessity of sacrifice and the importance of a good beatdown, with a romantic comedy detour and Evil Dead climax.

Yeoh’s skill as an actress and martial artist were probably best displayed in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Ang Lee’s epic tribute to the Hong Kong action films of his youth.

Both Yeoh and Yen are in their mid50s but have the energy of performers half their age, which might be why both have plenty of upcoming projects. As interesting as their past work may be, there’s even more in the future. 7

Colorado and share some of that knowledge and have a safe and effective industry.”

“Our ownership had always planned to have a fully functioning production facility.

So when the opportunity to partner with a group like Dixie presented itself, we were excited to learn from them,” says Jacob Silverstein, marketing manager of Silver State Wellness. Their facility has now been largely built out, with different rooms for making chocolates, distilling tinctures and bottling elixirs (although there is abundant room for further expansion). “We were able to tailor the plans to the specific product lines that they carry and use their expertise in sourcing different material, like the ingredients and packaging.”

Another brand that has hooked up with a Nevada business is Purple Haze Properties, a line of products carrying the official Jimi Hendrix endorsement that comes to us with a little help from Silver State Trading, which handles the actual cultivation. There’s Little Wing and Purple Haze strains, as well as pre-rolled joints that come in a Jimi-branded box with a collector’s card—exactly the sort of thing that appeals to tourists.

“It’s something that stands out compared to all of these different strains and people competing. If it’s a celebrity brand, more dispensaries are willing to try it,” explains Andrew Pitsicalis, CEO of Purple Haze. “Plus, with the social media [reach] of the celebrity, they can blast it out and have a huge platform of people to market to”—not to mention all the inevitable Instagram postings of visitors toking up Jimi on their Vegas vacation.

Pitsicalis—who is originally from Las Vegas—is excited about Sin City’s potential as a

HALLMARK CHANNEL BY RICARDO HUBBS/CROWN MEDIA

SOCIAL INFLUENCE

POLITICS

SOCIAL INFLUENCE

By Michael Green

Winning Isn’t Everything NEVADA REPUBLICANS LOOK TOWARD AN UNCERTAIN 2018

W

hat’s past is prologue,” said Mr. Shakespeare, and that makes leading Republicans the happiest unhappy people, or unhappiest happy people, in Nevada. They hope the past is prologue, but they also have reason to worry about their future, as their president and his Congress eliminate everyone else’s.

In Washington, D.C., Republicans have the opportunity to govern—and Democrats seem eager to help them show how hard that is. Not that Republicans need the help, thanks to Trump’s Cabinet nominees: a health secretary who opposes health, a secretary of state who may love Vladimir Putin even more than his president, a housing and urban development secretary who thinks his department is a movie that starred Paul Newman, and an education secretary who hates public education and those who work in it, but thinks school is a good place for kids to learn to shoot grizzlies.

Then there’s the treasury secretary who forgot about $100 million in assets and whose love for foreclosures makes Mr. Potter in It’s a Wonderful Life look like Jimmy Carter. Among those who drove home that point was Dean Heller, representing the top state for foreclosures (Yay, Nevada!) who is, lest we forget, a Republican who still won’t say whether he voted for his party’s presidential nominee.

Heller has been properly mealy-mouthed or closedmouthed about this transparently incompetent band of cabinet appointees. But his questioning of Steven Mnuchin, the hedge fund expert assigned to cause another recession, was somewhere between riveting and brilliant. Nor did it hurt that one of those attacking Mnuchin was Heather McCreary, a victim of one of his “loan modifications” from Sparks.

Heller’s questioning certainly heartened those Nevadans who pushed Democrats across the finish line in all major races, but also begged other questions. If he supports Mnuchin in committee or on the floor, he looks like a complete hypocrite. If he opposes the nominee, does he hurt his standing with the Senate GOP leadership, especially Mitch McConnell, whose wife will be a cabinet member?

More crucially, will he hurt his chances of reelection in Nevada by irking his base? Heller has done a fascinating dance since winning in 2012, thanks to the Democrats who were idiotic enough to vote for Barack Obama for president but not for Shelley Berkley for the Senate, partly because they believed some—pardon the phrase—trumped-up ethics charges against her, partly because some northern Democrats couldn’t bring themselves to vote for a Las Vegan. He has paid lip service to bipartisanship, even including on his website a link to examples of legislation he has introduced with Democrats.

At the moment, Democrats have no anointed senatorial candidate, which is no big deal, because there’s time. But they don’t really have any candidates being discussed, and that’s a big deal. And thereby hangs the tale.

In theory, Nevada Republicans should be scared to death about 2018. Democrats have a large voter registration advantage. Brian Sandoval, who’s undeniably popular with everybody but his party’s base, won’t be on the ballot. With Republicans in control of the White House and Congress, it’s logical to expect Democratic gains.

But Adam Laxalt started the dominoes falling without making anything official. Nevada’s attorney general—who is so far to the right that he’s in danger of tipping over— wants to be governor or senator or president or maybe something higher. Heller and Rep. Mark Amodei, who represents the still safely Republican northern district, were both interested in coming home and running for

governor. Instead, Heller announced for re-election and Amodei made it clear he would run for re-election or state attorney general (and when a House member says he’ll come home to run for that office, he really wants out of Washington). Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison declared he wouldn’t run for governor, either.

Sandoval reportedly prefers his top aide for economic development, Steve Hill, as his successor. There’s no love lost between Sandoval and Laxalt, putting Sandoval in a position similar to that of Barack Obama: If he wants to protect his legacy, he has to have the right successor, not a far right successor.

Laxalt beat an attractive candidate, then–Secretary of State Ross Miller, for attorney general in the 2014 sweep— the kind of sweep Democrats hope for in 2018. Since Democrats don’t always show up for midterms, and their front-runners for governor are from southern Nevada, they could have problems beyond Laxalt’s right-wing support, especially from the neighborhood of The Venetian.

Democrats will have to overcome a united front in northern Nevada.

Of course, Republicans could divide, and it shouldn’t be hard for Democrats to tie them to the disaster swirling at the White House. The Shakespearean quote above is from The Tempest. You never know what effects a big orange storm might have. 7 Michael Green is an associate professor of history at UNLV.

If [Sandoval] wants to protect his legacy, he has to have the right successor, not a far-right successor.

nexus for cannabis business and culture. “Now that you’ve got recreational and people can come from around the world and walk into shops and buy—their sales are going to be off the charts,” he says. “Nevada, even though it was the slow snail, winning the rec vote is going to vault it ahead of everybody.”

Businesses from the cannabis sales end have entered the market as well. The Clinic originated in Colorado—where it now has five dispensaries—but has expanded into Illinois and, most recently, Las Vegas. Gustin Tubbs of the Clinic Nevada explains that “a presence in Nevada, where there are not only patients from all over the country, but all over the entire world [who are] seeing what we do and seeing our brand, we think it’s vital to our expanding nationwide.”

“We kind of see Nevada, especially Las Vegas, as the melting pot of the cannabis industry,” he says, “There’s knowledge and there are products coming from all over the entire country and representing what we feel is the best parts of the industry.”

The 40 million tourists who come to Las Vegas every year offer any cannabusiness an enormous potential audience for their brand. Hodas also looks forward to using Vegas as a platform to introduce not just Dixie, but the entire industry to the world.

But he doesn’t forget the best market base is the one that stays in town. “Vegas is known for its tourism industry. It’s very international, very diverse,” he says, “We know what works well for the tourist in town for a weekend versus a local who is here for the long term.” 7

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AWAY MESSAGE

SPACES & PLACES

Electric Avenue

Las Vegas filmmaker KIN LUI visited Special Administrative Region Hong Kong armed with his camera to capture the intense visuals of another one of the world’s most vibrant cities. Here’s a look at the island, the peninsula and the New Territories from the clouds down and from the ground up.

SPACES & PLACES

AWAY MESSAGE

Previous Page Top: Sheung Wan, an area on the northwest side of Hong Kong Island, where the British first settled.

Middle: Mongkok, the major shopping area of Hong Kong, is ranked the busiest district in the world according to Guinness World Records. This picture was taken during the less active hours.

Bottom: The view from an apartment in Lam Tin, located halfway up a mountain.

This Page Clockwise: A very common street store before 7-11 took over. You can buy a variety of things such as fresh fruits, canned soda and newspapers and magazines here.

Inside the “Ding-Ding,� an endearing term for the oldest and cheapest form of public transportation in Hong Kong, the Tramways.

In front of the Government Office in Central. This showcases the mixture of classic and modern structures that shape Hong Kong.

Entrance to the first fresh food market in Central.

Same entrance of the Central Market, from another angle.

A tram station near Kennedy Town.

A cup of tea from Lin Heung Tea House, one of the most authentic and traditional Chinese dim sum houses.

Opposite Page Top: Victoria Peak, a mountain in the western part of Hong Kong Island.

One of the most popular tourist attractions, it offers a view of the whole city.

Middle: Shaomai, a very popular pork dumpling served for dim sum.

Bottom: The scene at Lin Heung Tea House.

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PHOTO CREDIT GOES HERE

SPACES & PLACES

Janua r y 26 -Februa r y 1, 2017 vegasseven.com

35

CONVERSATIONS

ASK A NATIVE

By James P. Reza

WHY CAN'T THE RESTAURANT SPACE AT DOWNTOWN'S ARTS FACTORY SUCCEED? Given its prime Charleston Boulevard location, expansive patio and easy parking, one wonders what plagued the list of Arts Factory restaurants that have come and gone. The longest run was the first—Enrique Tinoco and his Tinoco's Kitchen, which was the kind of unassuming success adored by Instagram #foodporn users. Enrique was a passionate cook, elevating Downtown dining from the backside of an auto repair shop in the Charleston Plaza. Success pushed him to move the bistro to the Arts Factory in 2000, where its upscale lunch offerings blew up.

By 2009, Tinoco's had been coaxed from the Arts Factory to a spot within Fremont Street's now-shuttered Las Vegas Club. Sadly, it closed after three years.

Tinoco's jump to Fremont opened a void at the Arts Factory, one filled with falafel and feta four months later by University District stalwart Paymon's Mediterranean Café. Given the Med Café's reputation for wrangling fresh food fast, it seemed a slam-dunk for Downtown, where restaurants often live and die on business lunches, even today. But Paymon's inexplicably lasted just a year before giving over to Bar+Bistro in 2010. A series of chefs (including Franco Spinelli and Beni Velazquez) toiled under the toque at Bar+Bistro in its five years; the spot even created a craft cocktail program. But after original Arts Factory developer Wes Isbutt sold the property, change was afoot.

In 2015, in stepped another longtime University District success, Crown & Anchor, offering its respected brand of 24-hour pub grub, Euro sports and booze. Hopes were high, yet not even a year later ... Sigh.

But this is Vegas, and each time something shutters, we practice our relentless mantra: Change! I hear several proposals have been presented to the Arts Factory for a restaurant to take over the space. How to avoid another quick closure? Customer service is key. Showing up Downtown (where you can't swing a spatula without smacking a food snob or busy lawyer) without dedication to timely, spot-on service is a death sentence. Perhaps contributing to nagging issues is the kitchen, which appears significantly undersized to serve the rabbit-hutch of indoor rooms, let alone that massive patio.

And, oh, that patio! What should be the spot's strongest asset remains oversized and underdeveloped, lacking intimacy and any sense of place.

As the restaurant's "front door" and its primary drive-by billboard, it badly needs fixing. Sure, we've been down this path before. But I think it goes without saying that few would wish another failure here. Fingers crossed! 7 Questions? Comments? Send them to askanative@vegasseven.com.

A NEW TAKE ON AN OLD TECHNIQUE Polly Weinstein combines 3-D printing and hand-finishing to create unique jewelry

By Lissa Townsend Rodgers Photography Krystal Ramirez Polly Weinstein’s family has been in the jewelry business for 53 years, with her dad, Jack Weinstein, at the helm of legendary Las Vegas bauble shop Tower of Jewels.

And while her pops may be retiring this year, Weinstein will be carrying on the family legacy in new forms, one of which is 3-D printing.

“I work in a 3-D CAD [computer-aided design and drafting] program that is jewelry-specific. It’s a very advanced math program, creating geometrically perfect things that a jeweler couldn’t [create] by hand,” Weinstein says. While she had thought of deploying 3-D printing as part of her jewelry design in the past, she hesitated. Then a turn of bad luck helped change her mind.

“It came out of tragedy. I had a house fire and everything burned to the ground,” she says. “I decided to take the insurance money and use it to further my education. For me, it was the perfect investment: It enriched my life and my practice as a jeweler.”

Of course, Weinstein has not entirely abandoned the old ways of creating jewelry: two hands and a lot of patience. “My pieces were about the hand touch.

Now, I see that you can have the best of both worlds,” she says. “The human hand is still a part of the process: It still goes through an ancient casting method; you still have to sit down at the bench and finish it, polish it, set the stones in it. My collection [will be] a mix of CAD designs with hand touches.”

The use of 3-D printing allows Weinstein to work with clients to create more

unique pieces. “Custom jewelry, nameplate necklaces—I can scan your thumbprint and put that in a ring,” she says. It also means that options can be examined and experimented with before the piece is made. “If someone says they don’t like it in yellow gold, they can see it in white gold. I can show them a rendering and, with a mouse click, change the metal type and the stone,” she says. “It’s not extra work at all to show someone 10 different varieties.

“This type of jewelry and the digital space is the next generation of the personal jeweler,” she says. And while her family’s business may be changing, Weinstein's innovations definitely up her game. “I imagine a shop with a large screen showing the CAD designs, and then a jeweler with a camera over his shoulder so you can see him work on the piece. [It will] blend this old-world art form with technology and how people are processing information today.” 7

CONVERSATIONS

By Amber Sampson

Beautiful

SUCCESS

KÀ crew members see years-in-the-making educational center open As makeup and wig technicians, respectively, for Cirque du Soleil’s KÀ, Kelsey Contois-Husch and Meghann Mason don’t just practice the art of beautifying the company’s artists and acrobats—they teach it.

“When you see an artist who’s never picked up a makeup brush before … and you teach them how to hold it, it just kind of lights a fire in you,” says Contois-Husch, who’s been with KÀ for eight years.

Two years ago, Mason and Contois-Husch launched a Kickstarter to raise funds for their Academy of Makeup and Wig Design. Classes and workshops were to encompass everything from airbrushing and wig ventilating to learning how to create the looks of Cirque’s liveliest characters, plus lessons on art and costume design and its history.

That might seem like a lot for the team of two, but Mason and Contois-Husch aren’t the type to cut corners. “If I’m gonna teach you, I want to do it right; I don’t want to half-ass it,” says Mason, who also has been with KÀ for eight years.

The crowdfunding campaign attracted 44 backers and more than $5,000 in donations. Sadly, it ended below the duo’s $25,000 goal, but the support of friends and colleagues opened doors.

Monetary contributions flooded in, along with beauty supplies and wig hair to use in their classes. Cirque even let them rent its training facility for their first year of workshops.

Photography Cierra Pedro

By December 2016, help from friends proved to be just what they needed. “We have walls,” Contois-Husch says, sitting next to Mason in their 350-square-foot boutique studio on Spring Mountain and Polaris roads. The space is a comfortable size for everything the pair offers, including workshops on tween Kelsey Contoismakeup application and styling your kid’s hair, as well as classes Husch (left) and on how to perfect the smoky eye and how to dress, ventilate and Meghann Mason make front-lace wigs. They also offer one-on-one classes and group workshops tailored to students’ makeup and wig interests.

Anyone can apply the techniques Contois-Husch and Mason teach, and they advocate for the hands-on approach. “Some people will spend thousands of dollars to take a wig-making class online, [where] they are just watching videos,” Mason says. “It just blows my mind, because … [when learning how to make wigs], you have to have somebody look at your hands and tell you what you’re doing wrong.”

Contois-Husch and Mason are dedicated to giving their Daytime to Smoky Eye The classic smoky eye is a look students an in-depth education every lady (and select gents) should have in their makeup on their specialties. “I really arsenal. This class arms you with the knowledge to perfect don’t ever turn questions down the eye shadow technique and your daytime look for a smooth because it’s only gonna make work-to-club transition. Feb. 9, $95 them better,” Mason says. “If I see somebody I can help or Fantasy Cirque Makeup In addition to the costumes, sets groom or build their confiand soundtracks, it’s the makeup that gives Cirque du Soleil’s dence, [I do it because] that is a performers their whimsical look. This class helps you re-creperson I could [eventually] have ate that magic. If it’s not Cirque you’re inspired by, you can on my team.” 7 pick another fantasy style with which to experiment. Feb. 16, To find more information $300 ($50 off with “VEGASSEVEN” code)

Three Academy of Makeup and Wig Design Classes to Consider

on the Academy of Makeup and Wig Design, visit academymwd.com.

Daddy-Daughter Hairstyling Bootcamp There comes a time when dads have to style their daughter’s hair. And between the yanking and random placement of bobby pins, it’s not always pretty. This workshop will teach fathers the wonders of detangling spray, how to craft a sleek pony and how to braid. Sons also welcome! Feb. 25, $65 –A.S.

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37

CONVERSATIONS

LUCKY NO. 7

The Golden Tiki

Kushiyaki Inyo

One might expect the line for tables at this Japanese tapas restaurant to be out the door, considering it’s a Chinatown haunt, but it’s actually pretty spacious inside and ideal for those late-night, drunken grubfests with friends. The Brussels sprouts doused in delicious tosazu sauce, bulgogi fries and chicken wings are all must-trys. –Amber Sampson, web editor

Big Wong

Located inside the plaza that

Caption goes houses Raku, this joint serves here excellent noodle soups, Hainan

chicken and mild curry dishes, many for $5–$8. But the play is the chicken wings with jalapeños—eight for $5.95.

Place an order and get a beer in Kilroy’s across the parking lot while you wait. –Anthony Curtis, The Deal columnist

Pho Kim Long

The name alone elicits giggles and knee slaps from dining companions. Also, hot, steaming pho at 3 a.m.? You can’t beat that. (Full disclosure: I’ve never gone there at 3 a.m., because that’s hours past my bedtime, but it’s comforting to know that I have that option.)

–Genevie Durano, managing editor

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We asked the Vegas Seven staff:

What is your favorite Chinatown haunt, Chinese or otherwise?

Photography Chris DeVargas

Sweets Raku This dessert spot is No. 1.

And then there’s Kung Fu Tea when I can’t afford Sweets Raku. –Krystal Ramirez, staff photographer

China Mama

The soup dumplings are so perfectly served and full of personality they could win a slam poetry contest. –Ryan Doherty, chief experience officer

District One

It’s not officially a coworking space, but for the price of chef Khai Vu’s delicious soups, noodle and rice dishes and seafood, those wide tables and booths are about the best place to take back-to-back meetings, hold a working lunch or pretty much just post up amid the industry-friendly staff and let that sweet, sweet Vietnamese coffee power you through your next project.

–Xania Woodman, senior editor, dining, beverage and nightlife

PHOTO CREDIT GOES HERE

It is like a mini-vacation to a South Seas Disneyland with booze and an O.G. ska soundtrack. I love disappearing inside on a weekday afternoon with a bag of burgers, grabbing a seat near the fountain and drifting off to another place.

–James P. Reza, Ask a Native columnist

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