VegasChatter

Tags: Closings / Timpano Tavern / Venetian / Restaurants / → All Tags

Humpty Dumpty Sat On That Wall, Timpano Tavern Had A Great Fall

No one's waiting to get past this velvet rope.

We recently told you of our Vegas Mistake that almost caused us to get to a show late due to the kitchen dragging ass at Timpano Tavern. We were utterly disappointed with the service and not overly impressed with the food. But we hinted that maybe, just maybe if we were drugged and dragged we might visit again if the service got some major upgrades.

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Tags: Closings / Wasted Space / Hard Rock / Nightclubs / LA Comedy Club / → All Tags

Not Even Girl on Girl Snogathons Could Save Wasted Space From the Kiss of Death

Was it the girl on girl snogathons wot killed it? Wasted Space is closing down, a mere two years after it launched. What’s going in its place? A sports book. A bloody sports book!

We’re pretty sad about this one because whatever we might bitch say about the Hard Rock, we did like Wasted Space. Only last month we were watching the Bamboozle Roadshow there. And then there’s the comedy that's only just launched! What will happen to that?

According to the Sun, WS will close at some point before Spring 2011 and acts are booked there until October. We hit up some spies, who told us only that the closure is “a few months away”, so it looks like the actual date is anyone’s guess.

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Tags: Closings / Hard Rock / Poker / Poker Rooms / → All Tags

After the Detox Series, the Hard Rock's Poker Lounge Will Dry Up

Billy Bob will be looking for a game elsewhere come September.

Two years ago, the Hard Rock spent millions to create a poker room so cool that it had to be called a “Poker Lounge”. One source says it cost 10 million, while another claims 30. In either case, the 18 room table debuted in August 2008 looking to redefine poker rooms with perks like a full bar, iPod chargers at the tables, and a rock n’ roll party atmosphere.

But apparently all the sexy millions didn’t translate to as much player traffic as hoped since the casino recently announced the room will close and move to a smaller area.

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Tags: Closings / Shows / Voices / Las Vegas Hilton / Lani Misalucha / Shimmer Showroom / → All Tags

The Bad Girls Aren't the Only Ones To Be Leaving Sin City

Hope she did a good swan song

As we were drying our eyes on Sunday night with the realization that Sin City Bad Girls was no more, we couldn’t help noticing that another show at the Hilton had quietly closed. Voices which had singer Lani Misalucha taking off various divas has also died a little death. Sad face!

What does this mean for the Shimmer Showroom, which is looking a little tarnished in the wake of that? Well, at the moment, they’ve still got mulleted magician Steve Dacri on the roster Sunday and Monday nights, and Trent Carlini doing his Elvis thing Wednesday to Sunday. Then there’s Andrew Dice Clay on and off too (dates here) and Mark ‘Mr Cooper’ Curry is doing a few mini residencies until October.

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Tags: Freaky Friday / Closings / Mindreaders / Magicians / Luke Jermay / O'Sheas / Sad Vegas / → All Tags

Mental! Luke Jermay Is No More In Vegas

Ladies and gents, prepare your best sad faces for we have some deeply depressing news to impart: Luke Jermay has left the Strip.

Not only that, but he’s left Vegas and returned to Blighty. So much for the British invasion (although to be fair we’ve still got Matt Goss and Tom Lowe and, um, if we must, Robin Leach.

What we’re really sad about though is seeing another good magic(ish) show hit the dust. We really liked Mental and much as we love O’Sheas, we think it’s a poorer place without it.

Come on people, let’s support freaky Vegas. Everyone go out and see a magic show this weekend because it's starting to feel like every time you clap for a Cirque show, a mindreader/magician/contortionist dies. Just make sure it’s not Believe.

Tags: Closings / Daniel Boulud / Wynn / Restaurants / → All Tags

Sacré Bleu! Daniel Boulud Closes at Wynn

Whether you’re heading to see Garth or Le Reve at the Wynn or just looking to fist pump the night away at XS (classy fist pumping only, of course), there is now one less dinner spot to choose from.

Daniel Boulud Brasserie quietly shut down over July 4th weekend. The French restaurant overlooked the man-made lagoon and was styled after a country château. The Wynn website has already de-listed the restaurant and Daniel’s own site has a goodbye message hinting at a possible future Vegas venue. So it appears someone’s marketing rep is a bit more on the ball than one at another nearby casino had been. Travel and Leisure must not factor accurate info into their rankings.

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Tags: Closings / Fleur de Lys / Hubert Keller / Top Chef / Mandalay Bay / → All Tags

Fleur de Lys Closing Por De Tapas

This comes as a bit of a shock to us but Fleur de Lys at Mandalay Bay will be closing in August. Top Chef Master Hubert Keller and his crew will remain as the restaurant re-opens before the end of the year as a casual, world tapas restaurant. Your guess is as good as ours right now what world will mean since we remember when tapas were Spanish.

The announcement is disappointing as Fleur de Lys was one of our favorite special occasion restaurants. Not only is the food excellent but the restaurant interior is unique and relaxing with floor to ceiling curtains and walls covered in stone and fancy floral sculptures.

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Tags: Closings / ESPN Zone / New York-New York / Sports Bars / Sportsbooks / → All Tags

ESPN Zone to Go Way of Twilight Zone

Farewell Mike, and farewell Jarred - two of our favorite restaurant staff in Vegas. And farewell free wifi. Sob.

Word out of Disney is that most ESPN Zone locations will be shutting down. The parent company has decided to keep only those locations tied to a Disney property, which by our count leaves the Downtown Disney spot in Anaheim as the sole golden earring goose.

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Tags: Closings / Kerry Simon / Restaurants / Luxor / Nightclubs / → All Tags

Kerry Simon is Out of the CatHouse

There’s one less bordello Vegas visitors can enjoy dinner at these days since CatHouse at Luxor has decided to close their restaurant. What - you didn’t even know there was a restaurant at Cathouse? We knew it was there but always forgot about it. Which is too bad since it seemed to have a lot going for it: named in Condé Nast Traveler's Hot Tables of 2008, called “one of the world’s most exciting new restaurants”, and had chef Kerry Simon at the helm.

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Tags: Hooters / News / Closings / Cheap Vegas / Deals / → All Tags

Hooters Reckons It Could Go, Um, Bust

Say it isn’t so, but could Hooters be going bust (hur hur) any time soon? The casino announced on Friday that it had dropped 8 percent revenue and lost $3.9m in the first quarter of 2010 and had a stark warning about the future in its report:

The company does not believe it will be able to generate sufficient cash flows from operations to fund its financial commitments over the next year and cannot provide any assurances that it will be able to raise additional capital

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Tags: Snapshot / Tropicana / Closings / Wayne Newton / Refurbishments / → All Tags

What Has the Trop Done With Its Wayne Newton Shrine?

Yes, it’s another Tropicana story. In fact, we’re doing a Mayor Goodman and posthumously declaring this week Trop Week on VegasChatter

One of our abiding Vegas regrets is that we never made it round to seeing Wayne Newton. Thing is, we thought he’d be around forever, and then suddenly, he was gone. We’ve had a sad on ever since.

But while we never made it to Wayner’s show, we did make it to his souvenir shop, and thought it was ace – full of pics of the Newton, old and new, signed posters of a mustachioed Wayne wrapped in a fake rose, “collectible spoons”, “I Heart Mr Las Vegas” t-shirts, and, our favorite, the keyring that now proudly swings from our car ignition.

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Tags: Freaky Friday / Closings / Magicians / Magic Shows / Sad Vegas / → All Tags

Is Magic On the Way Out in Vegas?

These people agree that Copperfield’s still got it

We at VegasChatter have absolutely no problem in declaring that we have a thing for magic shows. We love to be astounded, we love to get our little brains churning over how they did it, and we love cursing loudly when David Copperfield magicks a car out of thin air.

But we’re getting worried, because at the moment it seems like the magic shows, they are dying. Lance Burton is going. Siegfried and Roy are officially never coming back. Luke Jermay and Dirk Arthur are both looking for work but, from their silence, not finding much. Steve Wyrick was spotted limping away from Vegas this morning. Even his royal sexiness Copperfield is stuffed away in a grotty theater, when by all sense of what is right in the world, he should be commanding the Strip with his hotness awesome tricks.

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