VIEW FROM VEGAS: Cool Drinks, Cold Cash
Author: "Lucky Chuck" Kapelke
November 2008
Columns
Looking for a cool spot for your next Vegas event? The Minus 5 Experience, the first permanent ice lounge of its kind in the United States, has opened at the Mandalay Bay—and at a steady temperature of five degrees below zero, it’s about as cool as cool gets.
Run by a New Zealand-based company that has similar lounges in Australia, New Zealand and Portugal, this 2,000-square-foot bar features an ice-chapel, complete with stained “ice” windows and pews, ice sculptures and an ice candelabra. Guests don sheepskin-lined parkas, gloves and booties before heading in to sip vodka cocktails from ice glasses made from New Zealand spring water. The ice lounge is located right next door to the Minus 5 Lodge, a cozy pub themed after the great arctic explorers; admission is $30 per person, including one cocktail.
Both the lounge and the lodge can be booked for private events, with catering available from Chef Rick Moonen of RM seafood restaurant, at Mandalay Place (minus5experience.com).
A Passion for Poker
Meeting planners bringing a group to Vegas are likely to have a few poker fans in the mix, and two new spaces opening this month will be right up the alley of those who know when to hold ’em. Binion’s Casino, located in downtown Las Vegas, has brought back one of the most famous icons in Las Vegas—no, not Elvis, but a giant pile of cash ($1 million to be exact) that used to be on display as prize money for the World Series of Poker. Countless visitors have posed next to this famous stack o’ cash, which is now located near Benny’s Bullpen Sports Bar and Cigar Lounge, a new sports bar. The lounge can hold private events for groups of 10–150 (binions.com).
Meanwhile, the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino has opened the Premier Poker Lounge, a 7,000-square-foot, $30-million space with a private bar, in-lounge sports betting, bottle service, music, couches and video poker machines. The space is clearly geared toward the bachelor party crowd—with an all-female VIP host staff educated in poker—but it also can be rented for larger groups for poker tournaments or similar events. Private rooms off the poker lounge have large-screen televisions and private iPod docks (hardrockhotel.com).
Madame Meg
Look past the big marquee billboards on The Strip, and you’ll find lots of little theaters all around Las Vegas that are packed with talented singers, dancers, impersonators, jugglers, magicians, hypnotists and more. Sometimes you’ll even find them all in one place, like at the Harmon Theater, inside Planet Hollywood, where a new show, “Find Your Sexy,” bills itself as a “self-help and variety show.” It features a former attorney, Madame Meg (Meg Bertini), who helps others “find their sexy” through “inner glow and confidence, creativity and passion.”
The performance includes showgirl routines, burlesque, songs and magic; in addition to Madame Meg, the all-female cast includes magicians Joan DuKore and Arian Black; cabaret singer Amanda Kaiser; hypnotist Kellie Karl, and burlesque showgirl Emily Lauren. Tickets are about $40, but for $10 more, you can meet the performers and even get dance lessons from Madame Meg herself (harmontheater.com).
For the VIP
Jersey Boys, the hit musical at The Palazzo Las Vegas, now offers the “Absolut Best Seats in the House” Package, which includes seats in the front orchestra section for the show, along with access to a private entrance through a VIP hallway (with memorabilia about the Four Seasons); a fullcolor souvenir program; and an Absolut vodka cocktail, for $235 (palazzolasvegas.com).
And as an alternative VIP treat for the scotch drinker and meat eater in your crowd, Strip Steak House, at Planet Hollywood, now offers a pairing of high-grade steaks with flights of top-shelf scotches for $30–$50 (planethollywood.com).
