More star chefs further Las Vegas dining ascent

Nation's Restaurant News,  Jan 1, 2007  by Lisa Jennings

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LAS VEGAS -- As this city continues to host an influx of high-profile restaurant concepts by famed chef-operators, The Venetian resort-casino is poised to welcome several new dining attractions in a gastronomic overhaul that would up the fine-dining ante on the Strip.

Celebrated chefs Mario Batali, David Burke and Wolfgang Puck are among those who have announced plans for new high-end restaurants in a complex that will link The Venetian, a vast retail area and a $1.6 billion sister property, the Palazzo Resort Hotel Casino. The 3,000-suite, 50-floor Palazzo tower is scheduled to open later this year.

More restaurant plans are expected to be revealed later this year, though officials of The Venetian's parent company, Las Vegas Sands Corp., have yet to announce plans for food and beverage operations at the new resort. The new venues will join The Venetian's long-established dining options, including the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group's Postrio, Emeril Lagasse's Delmonico Steakhouse, the Patina Restaurant Group's Pinot Brasserie, and the Las Vegas outpost of the noted Santa Monica, Calif., Italian restaurant, Valentino.

Up and down the Las Vegas Strip, hotel-casinos for years have been recruiting big-name chefs in an ever-increasing competition for gourmets' dining dollars. Last year's openings included renowned French chef Guy Savoy's eponymous restaurant at Caesars Palace, Michael Mina's Stripsteak at Mandalay Bay and the second unit of the Chicago-based Japonais at The Mirage.

Sixty of the 596 restaurants listed in the newly released 2007 Las Vegas Zagat Survey are new, and with several major developments under construction in the Strip area, there still appears to be room for growth.

When it opened in 1999, the Italian-theme Venetian became known as a palatial dining destination that rivaled the Bellagio, which had opened a year earlier with such restaurants as Picasso, Circo, Olives and Aqua.

When The Venetian debuted, the property "had a lot of excellent restaurants, but as the bar has risen, they haven't kept pace," noted the Las Vegas Review Journal's restaurant critic, Heidi Knapp Rinella. However, she noted that the resort later opened a branch of Thomas Keller's popular bistro Bouchon, based in Yountville, Calif., which remains a top-rated favorite.

The new additions from Batali, Burke and Puck, however, will help the resort's restaurant attractions regain ground as fine-dining destinations, Rinella predicted.

Burke, known for such concepts as davidburke & donatella in New York and Primehouse in Chicago, is scheduled to open David Burke Modern American Cuisine this month in partnership with Orlando, Fla.-based Ebrands Restaurants, which already operates the high-end seafood concept AquaKnox and the casual Mexican restaurant Taqueria Canonita at the Venetian.

The 8,000-square-foot Burke restaurant will be located in the Grand Canal Shoppes, a 500,000-square-foot indoor mall that includes a recreated Venetian "Grand Canal." The retail area eventually will link The Venetian with the new Palazzo tower.

Burke's new restaurant will feature a bar and lounge with 40 seats, a main dining room seating 225, a chef's table area for 16 and private rooms for up to 50 diners.

Troy Thompson, formerly of the Ritz-Carlton chain, has been named executive chef, and Marisa Scarpulla, an Ebrands veteran and former assistant general manager of AquaKnox, is managing partner. The menu will showcase Burke's push-the-envelope cuisine, including such items as Crisp & Angry Lobster Cocktail, and pretzel-crusted crab cakes.

Mario Batali and his partner, Joseph Bastianich, are scheduled to open two venues at The Venetian in March: B&B Ristorante, an elegant Italian operation, and Enoteca San Marco, a more casual eatery.

Bastianich said the 160-seat B&B will be similar to the partners' Babbo concept in New York, which offers a contemporary take on Italian dining. The average check at B&B will be about $100 with wine.

The 180-seat Enoteca San Marco will feature a "prosciutto bar" with Batali's housemade salami, pizzas and paninis, and a per-person average ticket between $35 and $40.

Later this year in the Palazzo property, the partners plan to open a third concept called Carnevino Italian Steakhouse, but Bastianich said details were not yet available.

The three restaurants will mark the Las Vegas debut for Batali and Bastianich, who made their first foray into the West with the November opening of Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles with local partner Nancy Silverton. That restaurant is scheduled to open an adjunct trattoria in March.

The Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group, based in Las Vegas, also plans to open a steakhouse in the Palazzo in late 2007, said Tom Kaplan, the group's senior managing partner.

That restaurant will likely be a version of the sleek Cut steakhouse the group opened in Beverly Hills, Calif., last year, though a decision had not been made about what to call it.