Luxe Life Blog
Counter Intelligence: Las Vegas restaurant openings and closings
Chef Bradley Ogden talks with friends during the Vegas Uncork'd Grand Tasting on Friday, May 11, 2012, at Caesars Palace.
Photo: Sam Morris
The legendary Carmine’s Italian restaurant in New York City is expanding in a big way with a massive 700-seat restaurant in the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace. The eatery will take the place of the former Planet Hollywood venue. Construction has begun, but it will be a year before the restaurant famed for its family-style portions, 9-inch stack of eggplant parmigiana and Titanic sundaes opens. Planet Hollywood moved up to the third level taking the place of Boa Steakhouse.
EARL OF SANDWICH AT PALMS
Planet Hollywood International owner Robert Earl opens his latest Earl of Sandwich on July 2 at the Palms. It will be open 24/7 and serve 13 hot sandwiches all going back in history 250 years to the Earl of Sandwich who as First Sea Lord of the British Navy came up with the idea of putting meat between two slices of bread in 1762. Robert, who also owns Buca di Beppo, uses a secret ingredient for the artisan baked bread trademarked as “The World’s Greatest Hot Sandwich.”
ATOMIC LIQUORS
After a run of nearly 60 years, the downtown bar Atomic Liquors closed in January 2011. It reopened this past weekend with new owners who aim to restore its glory days. It won its unusual name from patrons watching Nevada desert atomic blasts from the rooftop. It received the first package liquor license and off sales permit in Las Vegas in 1957. Atomic Liquors was a magnet for the rich, famous and infamous.
Bugsy Siegel, Roy Rogers, The Rat Pack, Barbra Streisand, The Smothers Brothers, Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro and Rod Serling are some of the names with ties to the joint. Members of the Rat Pack (Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawfordand Joey Bishop), as well as Tom and Dick Smothers spent many late nights there after headlining Strip shows.
Babs even stopped by to shoot pool and wrote about it in her book. Roy Rogers reportedly visited so often that he used it in a number of his old Westerns and TV shows. Atomic Liquors also was immortalized in “The Hangover” with Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and Justin Bartha, the original “Twilight Zone” and Clint Eastwood’s 1977 classic “The Gauntlet.”
BRADLEY OGDEN AT CAESARS
Bradley Ogden’s self-named restaurant at Caesars Palace will end its 10-year run after dinner service Sunday, Aug. 5, and the official announcement confirms our earlier Vegas Deluxe reports. Bradley was named 2010 Restaurateur of the Year by the Nevada Restaurant Association. Located opposite the Colosseum, it has been a celebrity diner’s delight for Celine Dion, Bette Midler, Cher, Janet Jackson and Jerry Seinfeld while performing there.
In 2004, it was named Best New Restaurant in the nation by the James Beard Foundation. No official word yet that, as I’ve also reported, chef Gordon Ramsay will open a London-style gastropub in its place at the end of the year or next year. But bank on it!
Gary Selesner, regional president of Caesars Palace, said: “It is impossible to underestimate the impact Bradley Ogden’s restaurant has had on the dining landscape at Caesars Palace. It has won countless awards and has served our guests and Caesars Palace well for all these years and launched many culinary careers.”
Even though the relationship is ending, Brad continues to be enthusiastic about Las Vegas and is reviewing opportunities to develop a culinary-influenced restaurant here. Make sure you visit before closing day to taste his signature twice-baked Maytag blue cheese souffle and his burger and fries named “Best of the Year” in 2009 by Alan Richman of GQ.
Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.
Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.
Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.
Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.
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