This weekly update covers noteworthy restaurant openings and closings, dining news, culinary events and entertainment news.
Events
Grape Vine Café Wine Bar & Cellar — April 28
Grape Vine Café Wine Bar & Cellar will host a four-course dinner featuring Penfolds Winery. The pairings are Poached Salmon with mixed greens, shaved fennel, and tomato orange citrus vinaigrette paired with Penfolds Bin 311 Chardonnay; Baked Manicotti and Sausage Bolognese matched with Penfolds Bin 28 Shiraz; Marinated Grilled Lamb Chops and Mushroom Risotto paired with Penfolds Bin 389 Shiraz-Cabernet Sauvignon and Penfolds Bin 704 Cabernet Sauvignon; and Profiterole Cream Puffs with vanilla and chocolate cream.
The restaurant will also take pre-orders for 2020 RWT Bin 798 Shiraz, Barossa Valley and 2019 Penfolds Grange Bin 95 Shiraz at well below market pricing.
The dinner will begin at 6 p.m. and is priced at $125 per person plus tax and tip. To reserve, call 702-228-9463.
Basilico Ristorante Italiano — April 30
Basilico Ristorante Italiano will host a wine dinner featuring the wines of DAOU. The meal will include a welcome glass of DAOU Rosé; Scallop Crudo with aromatic citrus dashi, watermelon, and pickle mushrooms and Venison Carpaccio with beets and raspberries paired with Chardonnay, Reserve, Willow Creek District, 2021; Risotto with porcini, sunchoke, truffle, and duck reduction and Paccheri with squash blossom, zucchini and caciocavallo matched with Cabernet Sauvignon, Reserve, 2021; Secreto Pork with artichokes, mushrooms, and marble potato paired with Soul of a Lion, Adelaida District, 2020; and Dulce de Leche Cake matched with DAOU Dessert Wine, 2019.
The dinner will begin at 6 p.m., costing $155 per person. To reserve, call 702-534-7716.
Dining News
Bazaar Meat by José Andrés at SAHARA Las Vegas has introduced its Bar Centro tasting menu. The 10-course curated tasting is priced at $99 per person (plus tax and tip) and is available in the bar and lounge Sunday through Thursday from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.
The tasting includes Super Giant Pork Skin Chicharron (with Greek yogurt and za’atar spices), Ferran Adrià Olives (modern and traditional), Croquetas de Pollo (chicken béchamel fritters), “The Classic” Beef Tartare (Mindful Meats beef sirloin, Savora mustard, HP sauce, anchovy, and Parker House Rolls), Lucia’s Salad (Endive Caesar salad with parmesan, anchovy, and air croutons), Gazpacho (with tomato, cucumber, and green bell pepper), Chateaubriand Tenderloin, Buttered Potato Purée (with butter, butter, more butter, and some potatoes), Josper-Roasted Asparagus with black garlic Romesco sauce, and Desserts of cream puffs, assorted, tarts, and little cakes.
Entertainment News
Absinthe originally debuted with a three-month engagement at Pier 17 under the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City in 2006 and reopened in a temporary tent outside Caesars Palace in 2011. After enjoying enormous success, the tent was replaced with a permanent structure. Last year, the Green Fairy Garden surrounding the Absinthe tent debuted, offering No Pants burgers and cocktails. Now, one of Las Vegas’s most popular shows has reached the momentous milestone of its 13th anniversary.
The anniversary was celebrated on April 10, with the night’s show embracing a spooky vibe and “Halloween in April” party theme. Attendees were invited to arrive in costume, and in addition to the show’s acts of stupefying acrobatics, adults-only circus, burlesque and adults-only raunchy humor, a horror storyline was played out between the acts. The bawdy producer, host and owner of the tent, The Gazillionaire, tried to keep proceedings on track. At the same time, his idiot assistant, Wanda Widdles, gradually transformed into a horror show of her own after drinking a mysterious elixir from a vengeful mad scientist. By the time the finale came around, The Gazillionaire also had morphed into a grotesque alter-ego.
Before the show, VIP guests could experience the Pier 17 Yacht Club, the new speakeasy bar hidden inside the Green Fairy Garden surrounding the Absinthe tent.
The evening concluded with an afterparty in the Green Fairy Garden (renamed the Scream Fairy Garden for the evening) that featured an anniversary jack-o-lantern cake from Las Vegas Custom Cakes, DJ Night Weapons cranking out monster hits, creepy characters roaming the garden, and a steady stream of No Pants burgers, pumpkin cupcakes, and cocktails. A new specialty cocktail menu was also unveiled.
The show has two showings Sunday through Thursday at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., and three showings Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m., 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. To purchase tickets, visit www.spiegelworld.com/absinthe.
