The first Celebrity Chef to open a restaurant in Las Vegas was Wolfgang Puck, he opened Spago in the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace in 1992. At first the restaurant’s Open Kitchen design was confusing to guests, they’d see the pile of plates and would queue up  like a buffet. Soon the Vegas location was outperforming the LA location. Steve Wynn was a frequent guest and took note of Spago’s success, and determined that Bellagio should have similar dining options. Bellagio opened with world class restaurants by Sirio Macioni, Michael Mina, Julian Serrano, Todd English, and Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

Soon all the top casinos had their own roster of  World-Class Chefs, operating a growing list of Michelin Starred restaurants, including Joel Robuchon’s three star at MGM Grand. Supplying, even your run of the mill restaurant in Las Vegas is no small feat, nothing is local, sorry Alice Waters. Wolfgang Puck describes his first foray into Vegas food sourcing:

I went to visit a fish guy, who took me into a thirty-thousand- square-foot freezer. I said, No, no, That’s not who we are. We want fresh tuna and salmon.

Vegas is Not Alice Water’s kind of Town

Puck’s initial solution was to have his chefs drive a van to the  Santa Monica Farmers Market. As the density of high-end restaurants grew, a culture of “Fed-Ex Cuisine” developed. No ingredient is too inconsequential  to get the Jet-Set treatment, Joel Robuchon has his butter overnighted from France. Julian Serrano says it is easier to get good ingredients in Las Vegas than in San Francisco, because the airport never gets fogged-in, as it does in San Francisco.

Chef Paul Bartolotta at Wynn has seafood flown  in from the Mediterranean in coolers equipped with microchips that monitor the temperature of the crustaceans throughout their flight. He’s been known to receive emails from fisherman in the middle of the Adriatic Sea, with pictures holding large exotic fish, and which can be delivered, cooked, and plated for a high-roller within 48-hours.

The Truffle Kid

Brett Ottolenghi, proprietor of Artisanal Foods, is the go to guy for the exotic and expensive ingredients prized by the top Chefs in Las Vegas. Known to Vegas Chefs as “The Truffle Kid”, Brett, while a mere twenty five years old, has been in the truffle import  business since 1998. In addition to importing truffles, Ottolenghi prides himself on being able to source the most exotic ingredient, even on short notice. It could be purple mustard for Michael Mina, piment d’Espelette, a rare chili pepper, for Chef Ludo Lefebvre at  Lavo, or supplying the Bellagio Buffet with four hundred pounds of fatted duck breast for Chinese New Year on a mere twenty-four hours notice. Ottolenghi sells large amounts of caviar, and has been know to cart around sturgeon in a fish tank as a prop in his sales calls. Ottolenghi assures his customers of authevticity, if you order Beluga Caviar he won’t substitute Paddlefish caviar instead.

There is only one producer of Spanish Iberico Ham approved by  the U.S.D.A. for sale in the United States, Fermin, and Ottolenghi is the exclusive source for Fermin products in Las Vegas. Iberico Hams are labeled according to the pigs diet, with jamón ibérico de bellota being the most highly prized. Bellota means acorn, hence acorns  makes up the bulk of the diet of Bellota Pigs. Retail stores sell Bellota Ham for around $130 per pound. Guy Laliberte, the founder of Cirque du Soleil, is a Bellota Ham fan, every Christmas  buys three Bellota Legs from Robuchon’s L’Atelier. Note, it is the custom for Bellota Hams to be delivered complete with the hoof intact.

Bellota Ham has a unique nutty flavor, with a high fat content, upwards of thirty-five percent, which is highly prized gourmands. While the fat content is high, the fat profile is different from other hams, with a much higher percentage of mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids, more similar to that of olive oil than to that of a regular meat product. For more insight on Bellota Ham read The Gastronomer: For bellota ham, nuts aren’t the half of it

Vegas Food Purveyors Each Have Their Own “Look”

Ottolenghi, along with other high end food purveyors, each have developed their own dress style or “look” to aid in sales. Clint Arthur, known as “The Butter Man”, he sells eighty-five percent  butterfat butter to  Payard, Jean Georges  and Guy Savoy, among others, dresses in  a “butter-yellow” shirt with matching yellow crocs. Lee Jones the man responsible for most of the vegetable  exotica in Vegas, wears dark-blue overalls, white shirt and red bow tie, as if to say “I’m Farm Fresh you can trust me to deliver the best and most unique produce, period.” Ottolenghi dresses in conspicuously unfashionable brown suits and brown leather shoes.

It’s a very specific look, almost professorial being well, if humbly, dressed prevents him from being stopped by security while sneaking around the back corridors of casinos. Besides light suits in Las Vegas say VIP Hosts which doesn’t inspire the trust of chefs.

Caveat emptor

Ottolenghi, through his unfashionable dress conveys the persona of professorial integrity rather than of slick salesman, which is important when you’re selling Truffles and other expensive ingredients. The high dollar value of the Truffles invites a certain amount of fraudulent activity among purveyors. Truffles are expensive, White Truffles can cost upwards of $5,000 per pound, Black Truffles $800+ per pound. There are also Chinese Truffles that look like Black Truffles but have much less flavor, and hence are not desirable. As detailed in this New York Times article “The Invasion of the Chinese Truffle” unscrupulous dealers have been known to mix the less expensive Chinese Truffle with Black Truffles. The color of Chinese Truffles is indistinguishable from Black Truffles, and the Chinese Truffle takes on the aroma of the Black Truffles in transit. To detect this fraud, chefs must segregate the truffles and place them in their own bell jar, and then reexamine them at least fifteen minutes later, when the Black truffle aroma has dissipated from the Chinese ones.

Saffron is another product with rampant fraud, saffron goes for eighty-five dollars per ounce. Ottolenghi claims that a large percentage of of Saffron sold is really a hash of crocus parts dyed with red food coloring. To entice new clients he offers chefs to have their saffron tested for authenticity, free of charge.

Like so many aspects of Vegas, a great deal of effort and tumult goes on behind the scenes to give visitors a great memorable experience. Even a “simple” ingredient shaved over a pasta dish can involve much more effort than the diner could ever imagine.

Related Essays:

• The Michelin Stars of Las Vegas
• Ping Pang Pong at Gold Coast, Las Vegas
• The Steakhouse at Camelot, Excalibur Las Vegas

This essay is based on the New Yorker article “The Truffle Kid: Supplying fine food in a town where money is no object”

As a side note, comps are given generously by the Marketing Department at Excalibur and the only areas you can use the food and beverage comps are: at the pool; room service; the buffet; the Sherwood Forest Cafe and The Steakhouse at Camelot. Hence if you have a large dollar amount food comps, you are going to be eating at The Steakhouse at Camelot. For more information on earning comps at casinos read this Essay on Theoretical Loss and Casino Comps

The Steakhouse at Camelot avoids the dominant Vegas Steakhouse decor options of either being overbearingly masculine or too chic and trendy to allow for a comfortable relaxed dining experience. The ambiance is comfortable casual with slight upscale embellishments, like the baby grand piano near the entrance way, which is occasionally put to use.

Piano "Steakhouse at Camelot"

The kitchen in the back of the restaurant is partially open to the restaurant, but not in a distracting or attention grabbing way.

Kitchen "Steakhouse at Camelot"

Country Baked Meatloaf is a Signature Menu Item

In keeping with the down market nature of the Excalibur, the menu has  some items that you are unlikely to find on the more high end Steakhouses in Vegas. The Signature menu items include: Country Baked Meatloaf; Deep Dish Chicken Pot Pie and a Flame Grilled 10 ounce  Angus Burger.

The menu is a la carte, with the exception of a three course Dinner Special for $29.99, which includes soup or salad choice of one of three entrees, one of which is their Signature Country Baked Meatloaf, and dessert.

Appetizers: No Winners Here

The appetizers are priced $10-$15 and include the usual suspects like Shrimp Cocktail and Crab Cakes. The Crab Cakes are of the shredded crab variety, no lump crab meat included. The Dungeness Crab Cocktail, is also made from shredded crab meat and is accompanied by two sauces on the side, a Brandy Aioli sauce in which I could not detect any garlic, or Brandy, and didn’t add anything positve to the crab meat. The other sauce, seemed to be Thousand Island Dressing, another miss.

Hot Soups and Cold Bread

Two soups are on the menu, a traditional French Onion and a Lobster Bisque, for $8 and $9 respectively, while neither one is a must order, both are solid performers. I wish the Lobster Bisque included lumps of lobster meat, rather than  ground lobster dumplings. The Caesar salad is the standard salad at Camelot, which comes awash in dressing, definitely not a diet salad. The bread served with the salad is cold, unfortunately.

Entrees include: Pork Chops; Rotisserie Chicken; Lobster Tails; Alaskan King Crab Legs; Jumbo Stuffed Shrimp; Ahi Tuna; Halibut; Salmon; Mushroom tortellini;  and of course the real reason to eat at The Steakhouse at Camelot, the steaks, Filet Mignon 8oz.; N.Y. Steak 14oz; Ribeye 16 oz and the Signature Bone-In N.Y. Steak 20 oz.

This is a Steakhouse, Order a Steak!

All steaks are cooked over a Mesquite Wood burning broiler at 1200 degrees, and more importantly the steaks are good and properly cooked.  I ordered the Bone-in N.Y. Steak, the Filet and the Ribeye, on separate visits, cooked medium, and I swear the chef  must have a direct pipeline to my brain, because the steaks were cooked perfectly all three times, with a nice sear on the outside. Toppings and sauces for the steaks are an extra $3, I tried the wine reduction sauce, and was pleased with the decision. More elaborate extras are more expensive, such as grilled shrimp for $10.

The other two entrees I have tried, The Country Baked Meatloaf and the Stuffed Shrimp, were a bit of a disappointment. The Country Baked Meatloaf is a Signature dish described on the menu as follows:

Fresh ground beef enhanced with herbs and spices, wrapped with smoked bacon. Served over a bed of garlic mashed potatoes, brown gravy &  fresh vegetables.

I have a fondness for meatloaf with gourmet flourishes, but as I said, this was a disappointment, the smoked bacon was soggy and the only redeeming part of the choice were the garlic mashed potatoes. The Stuffed Shrimp were stuffed with shredded crab meat, not lump, and considering the price, $30, three medium sized Shrimp seemed like a paltry serving.

The Entrees are basically a la carte, with some garnish vegetables are included on the side. The sides include: Roasted Eggplant & Tomato; Jumbo Grilled Asparagus; Sauteed or Creamed Spinach; Sauteed Onions & Mushrooms; Baked Potato; Mashed Potatoes; Stuffed potato; Blue Cheese Potato Gratin; Baked Sweet Potato; Sesame Sugar Snaps Peas. All sides are $7.

The Blue Cheese Potato Gratin sounded like an interesting twist on a Steakhouse classic, the potatoes were thinly sliced, as if they were cut on a microtome, and made for a nice texture, however I hardly detected  any blue cheese. The Sweet Potato  comes with butter infused with brown sugar and cinnamon and is simply delicious. The plain mashed potatoes had just the right amount of butter for flavor without disguising the potato flavor. The sauteed spinach had sour taste, lemon perhaps, that was not pleasing to my taste buds. The spinach was also heavy on stems.

No Need to Save Room for Dessert

No need to save room for dessert, unfortunately. The chocolate lava cake tasted like a cake you buy in the frozen section of a supermarket. The vanilla ice cream served with the cake, which adds a few dollars to the price, had absolutely no discernible vanilla flavor. A scoop of Haagen-Dazs Vanilla would have dramatically improved the whole experience. If you order the Three-Course $29.99 Dinner Special, you’ll be served a piece of chocolate mousse cake, roughly the size of the cakes served at the Bellagio Buffet, which are purposely small so that you can sample many desserts. The chocolate mousse cake is better than the Lava cake, but hardly anything to look forward to.

It Takes a Village to Service Each Table at Camelot

The service model here is: it takes a village to service one table. One person takes your order and delivers the check at the end of the meal. A second person  delivers the food. A third person removes used dishes. A fourth person will randomly stop by to ask if everything is okay. The net effect is surprisingly inefficient and adds a cold tone to the whole experience.

The Steakhouse at Camelot offers Excalibur patrons the opportunity for nice comfortable meal with a touch of upscale flare. Avoid the appetizers and desserts to keep the costs down, and keep in mind with everything a la cart, the price of the meal can add up quickly. The Three-Course Dinner Special for $29.99 is also an option, you can upgrade the entree to the 8 oz Filet Mignon for a $5 surcharge. For more information and Internet Buzz on The Steakhouse at Camelot check out MavensVegas.com

Franco Dragone is Cirque du Soleil’s Original Vegas Creative Director

Franco Dragone is a most unlikely person to have ended up as a major player in Vegas entertainment. Dragone was born  in Cairano, Italy in 1952 and moved to Belgium at age seven. He studied acting at the Belgian Royal Conservatory and was drawn to commedia dell’arte, his early work had a strong political bent. In the early 1980s Dragone was working in Canada, and his work attracted the attention of Guy Laliberte, the founder of Cirque du Soleil, in Montreal. Dragone was soon directing Cirque shows that were attracting attention far beyond Montreal. Part of Dragone’s innovation was combining featured acts like acrobats with themed peripheral performers. As Chris Jones states in his article Frank Dragone At The Limits Of Las Vegas

(Dragone) has a knack for making an audience feel that something important is taking place before their eyes

Steve Wynn Invites Franco Dragone to Las Vegas

Perhaps having this knack was part of the reason Steve Wynn invited Dragone to Las Vegas to create Mystere, which opened at Treasure Island in 1993, and is still playing to a full house twice daily five days a week. Wynn’s initial reaction to Dragone’s creation was less than enthusiastic, he  called it “boring like a German Opera”. Mystere is the purest expression a Cirque du Soleil show, the staging is minimalist compared to future Vegas productions, and there is no plot line or dialogue to distract from the spectacle.

Mystere is a Big Success in Las Vegas

The success of Mystere led to second, and far more expensive collaboration between Wynn and Dragone, when Wynn built a custom $80 million theatre to house Dragone’s next Cirque du Soleil show, “O”. The water-themed show utilizes an elaborate stage that can be transformed from a pool deep enough for high divers to a faux sand beach, and everything in between. “O”, like Mystere, is a show with no plot line or dialogue, but as Chris Jones says in his essay:

Dragone had figured out a way to burrow into the psyche of a broad spectrum of the general public. Audiences may not feel like they understand the whole thing, but they tend to understand with unusual ease that this is also a piece designed to work on their collective subconscious.

Whether referring to Carl Jung’s collective unconscious or some other unprovable theory, there is something about Cirque du Soleil shows that begs this type of discourse, and of course leads directly to The Great Latke-Hamantash Debate. The Great Debate is a spoof  of academic symposium where obtuse theories and sesquipedalian  speakers are the norm.  (The debate is held once a year at the University of Chicago, on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.) As enjoyable as Cirque shows are, they have a slightly pretentious after-taste.

The Great Debate featuring Ted Cohen, Philosophy Professor and member of the Committee on Art and Design at U of Chicago is particularly germane. (The audio of the Debate is available here)

it is—is predicated upon this prior conception. Most modern art is like this: you must know in advance what the artist thought he was doing if you are to make sense of his art.

I’m sure there are countless “Mystere” and “O” audience members that have thought as they walked out of the show, the only way I can make sense of this show is if Franco Dragone sat down next to me and explained to me what he thought he was doing! Even if you ignore the inherent problems of a show devoid of plot, the individual  acts lack any real  Ah ha moments. Many of the acts, if not most, offer spectacular feats of acrobatic and gymnastic skill and are thrilling to watch, like a great fireworks display. However, like a great fireworks display, where one spectacular rocket burst just leads to another, no enduring connection is made with the audience.

Mummenschanz versus Cirque du Soleil

Mummenschanz, is another show that relies on non-verbal communication to thrill the audience, and is filled with Ah ha moments. The audience is forced to stay intellectually engaged  to get the full impact of the show, Cirque du Soleil allows for a much more passive audience experience.

After Mystere and “O” Franco Dragone and Cirque du Soleil amicably parted ways. Dragone stayed in Vegas and sprinkled his magic dust on Celine Dion’s elaborately staged show at Caesars Palace. Working with Celine Dion’s catalog of mostly non-narrative songs presented a real challenge to Dragone.

Obviously,  I could not interpret the songs literally. If I did, the show would have been ” I love you, I love you, I love you. I had to find the metaphors behind them.

There can be little doubt that some of the huge success of Celine Dion’s show was attributable to Dragone’s creative choreography. As a matter of fact Franco Dragone and Cirque du Soleil have become the dominant entertainment form in Las Vegas, even Vegas magicians feel the need to add a little, or a lot, of the magic dust to their shows. Magician Criss Angel, of Mindfreak fame,  added substantial Cirque du Soleil elements to his show at Luxor. Twenty years ago a Beatles tribute show would have been four guys and perhaps an large screen projector is now Cirque du Soleil’s LOVE at the Mirage. A forthcoming Elvis production is en route at CityCenter. Neither of these shows have Franco Dragone’s direct involvement, although I’m sure his influence is still felt.

Franco Dragone and Steve Wynn Join Forces Again with Le Reve

Franco Dragone’s final project, at least for now, is Le Reve: A Small Collection of Imperfect Dreams at Wynn. Le Reve is another water show, like “O”, with the added complication that it is performed theater in the round, where no audience member is more than forty feet from the stage. Unlike “O” the show has a darker tone. As Chris Jones states in his essay:

Long-time admirers of the director can’t help but wonder if Dragone has finally met his limits in Vegas. His new creative darkness, perhaps, is testing the artistic boundaries of a casino show aimed at satisfying a mass market of vacationers.

The most interesting quote in Chris Jones essay is by Franco Dragone himself, “I can’t do gibberish any more, now, everyone does gibberish” What is one to make of that?

Franco Dragone Has Forever Changed the Las Vegas Entertainment Landscape

There is no doubt that Franco Dragone and Cirque du Soleil have forever changed the entertainment landscape in Las Vegas, not only by the shows they have running on the Strip, but also by other shows that might have never been given a chance if not for Cirques huge success. I doubt Blue Man Group would be in Vegas without Cirque or perhaps Penn & Teller, two shows with a non-traditional Vegas appeal. I’m still waiting for Mummenschanz to join the Vegas entertainment lineup.

CityCenter

So, what’s being hyped, well their awfully proud of their LEED Gold certifications, which allows them to proclaim the Greeness of CityCenter. The seven ”World Class” Architectural Firms that were commissioned in the development of CityCenter, evidently MGM-Mirage management hasn’t heard of  the adage “Too many Chefs spoil the broth”. Plus there’s the artwork, artwork is pervasive among the vast public spaces. The problem with hype is that it raises expectations and hence can lead to disappointment, and that is how I feel about CityCenter, disappointed. Although, if you ignore the hype and brush aside the tinge of disappointment, there are lots of good things to say about Citycenter.

No Purple Cow or Frank Gehry Wow

For over twenty years the go to Architect for “Wow” has been Frank Gehry. His stunning works include the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao Spain, the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago. These buildings are “Purple Cows” as defined by Seth Godin in his talk at TED. The Vegas Strip demands, and deserves, ‘Architectural Wow’. Even the staid Wynn and Encore towers have a quiet elegance that seems on the verge of  popping  with constrained energy. The two most interesting buildings in the CityCenter complex are the two appropriately named Veer Towers, designed by Helmut Jahn. The 37 story yellow checkered towers stand askew 5 degrees off of true vertical, in opposition to each other. Helmut Jahn’s work will be familiar to those that have flown United Airlines through O’Hare Airport, as he designed the 1987 updated terminal.

“(the towers) lean toward each other like a pair of drunken tourists careening down a hotel corridor at the end a very long night” Christopher Hawthorne’s in the LA Times

Veer Towers

So how does one take-in CityCenter from the Strip? From the strip your eyes are pulled directly to the Veer Towers and then follow the futuristic elevated monorail tracks that appears to exit the side of the towers, and then you see what looks like a large Corporate Business Park. Clearly someone dropped the design-ball somewhere along monorail tracks. The other interesting design aspect of Citycenter is the 500,000 sq ft Crystals shopping mall, exterior designed by Studio Daniel Liebeskind and interior by David Rockwell. The interior looks like a modern art museum, re-deployed in the service of  high-end retail shops. Of course, part of the fun in visiting art museums is people watching the artsy and fashionably dressed patrons, not so much at Crystals. The gawkers at Crystals are more likely to be wearing t-shirts emblazoned with sexual double entendre and grasping a plastic souvenir objects filled with over-sweet margarita mix than the people featured in The Sartorialist

.

Crystals

While the Art Museum feel permeates much of CityCenter,  is interesting, perhaps even exhilarating on the first walk through, it is hard to ignore the coldness that goes along with the design. MGM-Mirage executives have been hard at work removing as much kitch from their casinos as possible, gone is the wonderful Central Park high limit area at New York New York, along with all the trees. As much as many people like knocking the elaborately themed casinos on the Strip, the truth is these casinos create an environment that is conducive for fun and adult fantasy, and feel much warmer and inviting than CityCenter. I certainly don’t fault Jim Murren MGM-Mirage CEO for placing an emphasis on the architecture of CityCenter, and make no mistake of it, all the PR materials point to Murren as the instigator of the whole CityCenter project, and his subsequent close involvement. The aspiration of architects and the  architecture they design is succinctly explained by Paul Goldberger in his recent book  ”Why Architecture Matters”

…some will be transcendent and will tell you, more eloquently than anyone can express in words, of that aspect of human aspirations that makes us want to connect to what has come before, to make of it something different and our own, and to speak to those who will follow us.    Paul Goldberger in Why Architecture Matters

Unfortunately for MGM -Mirage, and for Vegas Visitors, their reach far exceeded their grasp.

Moving inside, the first thing you notice is copious and conspicuous artwork. While I applaud the effort, my overall impression of the artwork is that it is rather bland. The surprising fact is, if you want to see an innovative and challenging corporate art collection you have to leave “Sin City” and travel to the Midwest, just outside Cleveland Ohio, and visit the Progressive Insurance Company. Peter Lewis, the former CEO of Progressive Insurance, and the driving force behind the tremendous growth of the company, credits the innovative and extensive art collection with helping create an environment where creativity thrives.

Let’s take a quick tour of some of the more notable Sculptures.

On the south walkway leading up to the entrance to Aria is a Claes Oldenburg sculpture “Typewriter Eraser”, which is just that, an oversized, old-fashioned typewriter eraser.

Typewriter Eraser - Claes Oldenburg

My first thought was, why not pick a more forward looking and modern object to decorate the walkway leading up to the ‘Future of Vegas’. My second thought was the scale is too small (19 x 11 x 11 ft.). When I think of Oldenburg’s work, I think of the 45 ft.tall Clothespin Sculpture in Center City (two words) Philadelphia. If you tell anyone in Philadelphia, I’ll meet you at the Clothespin at noon, they’ll know exactly where to meet you. Years from now if you tell someone in Vegas to meet you at the ‘Typewriter Eraser’, I’ll bet you’ll get a blank stare, or worse.

In front of the Vdara Hotel is a sculpture by Nancy Rubins, “Big Edge”

"Big Edge" Nancy Rubins

which looks remarkably similar to her sculpture at Lincoln Center in New York City. The large and colorful sculpture, composed of discarded small boats of various kinds, adds some color and excitement to its rather monotonous surroundings. This is my favorite sculpture at CityCenter.

Yes, there is a Henry Moore sculpture,” Reclining Connected Forms”

"Reclining Connected Forms" Henry Moore

located in a park-like area between Aria and Crystals. The sculpture will look very familiar to those familiar with his work. My favorite Henry Moore sculpture is his  “Nuclear Energy” located at the exact site of the first self-sustaining controlled nuclear reaction, at the University of Chicago.

The Maya Lin sculpture “Silver River” located behind Aria’s registration desk has garnered more than its fair share of CityCenter press PR. Maya Lin is best known for her design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., which is most notable for the novel idea of including the names of all U.S. soldiers killed in the conflict on the actual sculpture. “Silver River” the 84 foot long 3,700 pound sculpture supposedly depicts the Colorado River. For a river that carved out the Grand Canyon, this sculpture makes the river appear rather unaccomplished. The PR materials make repeated reference to the fact that “reclaimed silver” was used in making the sculpture. I wasn’t aware that there was a problem of precious metals filling-up our land fills from people carelessly throwing their old jewelry in the trash!

Jenny Holzer has one of her LED Panels (266ft long) at Aria’s North Valet, which scrolls word phrases selected by the artist. My reaction to the sculpture was that, if technically possible, it should be Rickrolled.

There is a sculpture by Antony Gormley, evidently MGM-Mirage passed on a project he proposed for Seattle “Ejaculating Man” the proposed sculpture would have been 40ft high and would give an 11-second ejaculation of sea water every five minutes. Gormely stated “ I intended it as an ironic comment on the male figure in relation to the whole idea of a fountain, because everyone knows the fountain is a male fantasy of permanent ejaculation.” No word yet if MGM-Mirage is planning on making any changes to the “Fountains of Bellagio” display.

Dale Chihuly Gallery

Dale Chihuly

There is also a series of of Art Galleries on the South walkway leading to Aria. My favorite is the Dale Chihuly Gallery,

Dale Chihuly

Dale Chihuly

the artist responsible for the large glass sculpture on the ceiling of the Bellagio lobby. The gallery at CityCenter is much larger than the small shop he has at Bellagio. Next door to the Chihuly Gallery is the Richard Macdonald gallery, which features works inspired by various Cirque du Soleil characters.

Richard MacDonald

The person working at the Macdonald Gallery whispered to me that “Dale Chihuly’s work is quite commercial” which in the art world is most definitely not a Compliment.

My thought was that MacDonald’s work was equally commercial, which I don’t mean as a put-down. I enjoyed strolling through both galleries, as much or perhaps more than I did viewing the art displayed around the rest of CityCenter.

Richard MacDonald

Aria, Sotto Voce

The most noticeable thing about the casino at Aria is how unnoticeable the casino is. While many hotel/casinos in Vegas have the casinos designed to be forever “In Your Face” it feels like Aria has jumped to the other extreme. It makes you wonder, are MGM-Mirage executives embarrassed by the business they are in, and on some subconscious level trying to hide the casino, and cover it up with art work.  The most interesting game I saw at Aria was “Triple Play Spin Video Poker”, which at the $1 level, lowest observed denomination, is $135  a spin. The folks at vpFree2 have yet to update their database, not a good sign.

Triple Spin Video Poker

While Aria is nicely designed, it left me with a  “Cold” feeling.

The rooms at Aria are loaded-up with all the electronic gadgetry anyone could think of, and then some. Think along the lines: lighting;  room temperature; and music can be set to your whim. The gadgetry reminded me of my purchase of a programmable coffee maker, which allows you to set the time when the coffee will be brewed. A very useful feature, in the five years I’ve owned the coffee maker, I’ve used that feature once, I had to make sure it worked! Perhaps the electronic wizardry came at the expense of room size, at 520 sq ft these rooms are smaller than the counterparts at Wynn and Venetian.

Aria, and its sister properties are loaded with high-end restaurants, many of the usual suspects like Michael Mina, the Michael Caine of the Vegas restaurant world. Jean-Georges Steakhouse is the only restaurant in Aria run by a Michelin Guide three star rated chef. An updated Las Vegas Michelin guide is not due until 2011, so it is unclear how is Aria effort will fare.

I was surprised to see a buffet at Aria, I thought for sure they would take the Venetian path and eschew the buffet as too declasse. Full of anticipation I tried the dinner buffet, assuming they were striving to supplant the buffet at Bellagio as the top buffet. Sorry to say, the buffet fell well short of Bellagio and Wynn. As a matter of fact, I ate at the buffet at Mandalay the following night, and preferred that buffet over Aria’s. The seating feels rather cramped and the look is upscale cafeteria. The raw bar was the largest I’ve seen at a buffet, and the sushi selection was slightly larger than other strip buffets, although still of a pre-made variety. Peking Duck and a few Korean dishes were the only novel items I noticed.

Elvis joins Cirque du Soleil

And guess what innovative new show was chosen for Aria, yet another Cirque du Soleil show, Elvis themed. They even posted one of those tacky posters advertising the show on the Harmon Hotel.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)

The public relations materials is promiscuous with reference to the  LEED certifications of CityCenter. CityCenter’s LEED certifications has the whiff of the wealthy environmentalist that flies around the country in his private jet, and yet assures you that the practice is environmentally sound because he buys carbon offsets to remain carbon neutral.

LEED is a Green Building rating system that addresses six major areas, from water efficiency(particularly important in Las Vegas) to design process. The idea of LEED is a laudable goal, probably better than the actual certification process. Like any committee driven process there are compromises and shortcomings. LEED guidelines are not climate specific, hence it is quite possible that optimal construction design in more temperate climes might be different than in the oven of Las Vegas. LEED also focuses on the end product not the whole process involved in construction and construction materials leading to sub-optimal results. I would have been more impressed with CityCenters involvement in LEED if they stated they were following the guidelines only where the result was optimal. The highest LEED certification is Platinum, not the Gold and Silvers garnered by CityCenter.

Where is the next Steve Wynn?

I guess $8.5 billion just doesn’t buy as much Wow as you would  expect. As I was walking around CityCenter I kept thinking, I bet Steve Wynn would have done something more interesting with such a large budget. CityCenter feels like it was designed by committee, where what was required was a single visionary. There is much talk about CityCenter saving Vegas and spurring its economic recovery, when the fact is the other way around, Vegas will save CityCenter, eventually. CityCenter, One Word,  Disappointing.

The first step in playing better video poker is choosing the right machine, and that doesn’t mean one the “feels right”, it means a machine with the best pay table.

The variation in expected return is due to small changes in the payoff for flushes and full houses. The full-pay version of Jacks or Better is abbreviated 9/6 which means full houses pay 9 or 45 with 5 coins be and flushes pay 6 or 30 with 5 coins in. The game has an expected long run return of approximately 99.5% when using the following strategy.

Strategy for Jacks or Better(JOB 9/6)

[9/6 describes the version of Jacks or Better where a full house pays 9 units or 45  for max bet and a flush pays 6 units or 30 for max bet.]

All strategy list/cards work the same way, you start at the top of the list, and work you way down, until you come to the hand you have been dealt. The list/card will list the cards to hold.

The following is a strategy chart generated by the software package Video Poker Strategy Master by Tomski.

(The number on the left is the expected return by holding the indicated cards, for pat hands expected returns equals actual returns. The numbers are based on a single coin, hence a royal flush is marked 800; multiply by 5 for the five coin pay-out of 4,000. Look at the expected pay-off for two pair, which pays 2 for a single coin bet, is 2.5957. The extra .5957  factors in all possible improvements in the hand, which for two pair is a full house.)

800.0000 Pat Royal
50.0000 Pat Straight Flush
25.0000 Pat Four of a Kind
18.4255 4 Royal
9.0000 Pat Full House
6.0000 Pat Flush
4.3080 Three of a Kind
4.0000 Pat Straight
3.4282 4 STFL, Open, 2345s-9TJQs
2.5957 Two Pair
2.2307 4 STFL, Inside
1.5405 High Pair JJ-AA
1.3201 3 Royal
1.2447 4 Flush
0.8723 TJQK
0.8237 Low Pair 22-TT
0.7979 9TJQ
0.7447 89TJ
0.7280 QJ9s
0.7216 JT9s
0.6809 4 ST, Open, 2345-789T
0.6300 3 STFL, Open, 345s-89Ts
0.6253 KQ9s, KJ9s, QJ8s
0.6096 QT9s, JT8s, J98s
0.6079 QJs
0.5938 AKQJ
0.5858 KQs, KJs
0.5774 AKs, AQs, AJs
0.5319 4 ST, Inside, 3 Hi Cards
0.5318 3 STFL, 2 Gaps, 1 Hi
0.5260 3 STFL, 1 Gap, 0 Hi, +234s
0.5153 KQJ
0.5059 QJ
0.5008 JTs
0.4901 KQ, KJ
0.4804 QTs
0.4783 AK, AQ, AJ
0.4749 KTs
0.4742 Jack
0.4704 Queen
0.4682 King
0.4622 Ace
0.4376 3 STFL, 2 Gaps, 0 Hi
0.3598 Redraw

The following is my first iteration of making sense out of the above strategy list.

1.      Hold the following pat hands Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House.

Notice that Flushes and Straights are NOT automatic holds.

2.      For pat Flushes and Straights, that also contain 4 card royals, keep the 4 card royal and discard the fifth card. For example Ac-Kc-Qc-Jc-5c Break-up the pat club flush, keep the four card royal and discard the 5 of clubs.

3.      Four Card Straight Flush open/no gaps

4.      Two Pair

Two Pair beats High Pair, if you are dealt a pair a Jacks and a pair of fours, hold both pair, don’t throw away the 4s to go for quad Jacks.

5.      Four Card Straight Flush Inside

Four Card Straight Flush beats High Pair

6.      High Pair JJ-AA

7.      Three to a Royal Flush

8.      Four Flush

Notice Three card Royal beats Four Flush

9.      K-Q-J-10

10.   Low Pair (Pair of 2’s through pair of 10s)

11.   Q-J-10-9 or  J-10-9-8

12.   Q-J-9 suited or J-10-9 suited

13.   Four Straight 2-3-4-5 through 7-8-9-10

14.   Q-J-8 suited

15.   3 card straight flush (with at least as many high cards as gaps)

5-6-7 suited works, no gaps so no high cards are needed
J-10-8 suited works, one gap but we have one high card
J-9-7 suited, doesn’t work because we have two gaps but only one high card
K-J-9 suited, works two gaps two high cards

16.   A-K-Q-J unsuited

17.   Two Suited High Cards

18.   Four Card Straight Inside Three High Cards

19.   Three Card Straight Flush 2 Gaps 1 High Card

20.   Three Card Straight Flush 1 Gap  0 High Card

21.   K-Q-J Unsuited

22.   Q-J Unsuited

23.   J-10 Suited

24.   K-Q or K-J both unsuited

25.   Q-10 Suited

26.   A-K; A-Q; A-J all unsuited

27.   K-10 Suited

28.   Single High Card (A; K; Q; J)

29.   Three Card Straight Flush; 2 Gaps; 0 High Cards

Notice in the first list  that a single Jack is higher on the list than a single Queen and that the Ace is lowest on the list of single card holds. This may seem counterintuitive to most people, but the reasoning is actually straightforward. The Jack allows for a greater number of straights and straight-flushs than the other royal cards. If you hold an Ace you can only make a Ace high straight. If you hold a Jack, you can make a Ace, King, Queen, or Jack high straight, hence the Jack is the more valuable hold. The same idea is at work with Jack Ten suited being worth more than Queen Ten suited.

At first glance it may seem like a daunting task to learn the strategy for JOB, but the truth is, with a little practice on one of the many available software programs, JOB strategy is easily mastered. Most people find their enjoyment of playing video poker increases substantially once they have mastered the strategy to the game.

I recommend Linda Boyd’s book:

For Information on Las Vegas Casinos Please Visit: MavensVegas.com

As the popularity of video poker has grown over the past several years, so has the number variations in the game. The original game is called Jacks or Better, often abbreviated in video poker books and articles as JOB. The game plays like 5-card draw, where the player is dealt 5 cards, with which he decides how many to discard for a re-draw. In video poker you are playing against a pre-determined pay-schedule not other players, hence there is no bluffing! Having a pre-determined pay-schedule is an advantage to the player, since it allows the player to determine the payback of the video poker machine before he even sits down at the machine.

Video Poker Basic Rules

All Video Poker games are a variation of a five card draw poker game, the goal of which is to select which of your initial five cards to discard so that you end up with the best possible poker hand. The rank of poker hands is as follows, in descending order:

Royal Flush: Ace; King Queen; Jack; 10 all of the same suit
Straight Flush: 5 consecutive cards all of the same suit e.g. 5-6-7-8-9 of clubs.
Four of a Kind(Quads): Such as four Jacks.
Full House: Three of one denomination and a pair of another denomination such as three Jacks and a pair of Queens.
Flush: Five cards of the same suit.
Straight: Five consecutive cards, not all of the same suit, which would make it a straight flush.
Three of a Kind(Trips): Three cards of the same denomination, such as three Jacks.
Two Pair: Two cards of the same denomination plus another pair of different denomination.
Single Pair:Two cards of the same denomination.

Each version of Video Poker will assign a unique value to each possible outcome. For Jacks of Better (JOB) the pay-schedule is shown in the following table.

The first number is for a single unit bet, while the second number represents the maximum coin bet of five units.

Notice, with the exception of the Royal Flush, the five unit bet is simply five times the single unit bet. That the Royal Flush payoff is not a simple multiple of  the number of units bet, is more obvious when you look at the Royal Flush payoff for one to five units bet: 1=250; 2=500; 3= 1,500; 4= 2,000; 5=4,000 this extra payoff, 4.000 versus 2,500 is what leads to the expert advice of always playing maximum credits, five units per hand, when playing video poker.

The exception to this rule, aren’t there always exceptions, is under the rare circumstances when the video poker machine offers no royal flush premium for five coins bet, e.g. 800 coins per unit bet.

Video Poker Game Variations

There are many variations in video poker pay-schedules, most involve the pay-offs of four of a kinds, often called “quads” The most common variation involves premium pay-offs for quad Aces and quad 2s; 3s; and 4s. Which leads to ever higher pay-offs for these premium a hands in the following games:

Bonus Poker
Double Bonus Poker
Double Double Bonus Poker
Triple Double Bonus Poker

That list is enough to make any novice video poker player’s head spin, but there is method to the madness.

Before we dive into the table let me first say, that I have chosen representative versions of each individual game, with a preference given to the best version of the game that is commonly available in Las Vegas.

First let’s look at what happens to the payoff to Quad Aces as we progress through the list. For the sake of completeness I’ll start with our old friend Jacks or Better (JOB), in that game all quads pay 25 per unit bet or 125 for a five unit, hence quad aces pay 125.

As a side note, since I already explained that it is almost always optimal to play five units per hand, henceforth I will always assume I am speaking about a five unit bet when I am speaking about video poker pay schedules.

Next in the list is Bonus Poker this games pays 400 credits for quad Aces. Guess what Double Bonus pays for quad Aces, that’s right 800 credits.

Now we come to Double Double Bonus Poker, what does that mean. This is where we introduce the idea of  “kickers”.

A kicker is a fifth card that increases the value of the quad.

Double Double Bonus is a very popular version of video poker, probably the most common. In Double Double Bonus Aces; 2s; 3s and 4s make up both the premium quads and the kickers. For example quad aces with a kicker fifth card of any 2, 3 or 4 is worth 2,000 credits, wow, now that’s a bonus quad. Without the kicker quad aces is worth 800, as in the base Double bonus game. In Triple Double Bonus the pay-off is ratcheted-up to 4,000 for Aces with a Kicker.

Every version of Double Double Bonus will have identical payoffs for all the quads, that is Aces with a kicker will pay 2,000 while Aces without a kicker will pay 800, and so on. The difference among versions of Double Double Bonus is found in the payoffs of Flushes and Full-Houses, just where most players are not looking. We’re back to our recurring theme that it is the small things that are often most important in casinos.

Don’t be lured into playing an inferior game by the prospect of large jackpots.

Most gamblers would look at the table and say, Triple Double Bonus is obviously the best game of the bunch. Why would anyone bother ever playing Jacks or Better for a measly 125 units, when you can get 4,000 units for Aces with a kicker. First impressions can be deceiving. The punch-line is contained in the last line of the table labeled “Expected Value” The line tells you the expected return of the game, when playing the game with the correct strategy. The higher the number the better, hence Jacks or Better with the measly 125 units for all quads is the best game in the table with 99.54% return versus 98.15% return for Triple Double Bonus. The obvious next question is “How can that be true?” To answer that question, let’s compare the pay-schedules.

Quads versus Two Pair and Trips

The differences in the schedules are due to the payoffs in the quads and the pay-offs in two pair and three of a kinds. The payoffs for quads all favor the Triple Double Bonus schedule, with all quads being much higher than the measly 125 Jacks or Better pays for all quads. However the pay-offs for two pair and three of a kind favor Jacks or bettor. If you think about this classic tortoise and hare example, it is rather amazing. The plodding advantage of getting an extra 5 units for two pairs and three of a kinds outweighs the advantage of getting 4,000 units for Aces with kickers and 2,000 units for 2s, 3s, 4s with kickers versus 125 units with JOB, I haven’t even mentioned the significant premium that Triple Double pays for all the other quads, as can be seen in the Table Video Poker Pay Schedules

To help drive home the importance of paying close attention to small changes in pay-schedules, and for completeness, let’s quickly review key aspects of the Variations Table . Starting at the right side of the table with Triple Double Bonus and moving leftward, the next game is Double Double Bonus. The only difference between these two games is the reduction of the “kicker” pay-offs from 4,000 to 2,000 for Aces and from 2,000 to 800 for 2s, 3s, 4s and the increase in three of a kind pay-off from 10 to 15. Once again we see that the small 5 unit increase in pay-off more than makes of for some substantial quad pay-offs. I say more than makes up for the difference because Double Double has a higher expected return than Triple Double, 98.98 versus 98.15.

Double Double Bonus versus Double Bonus

The next game to the left of Double Double Bonus is just plain Double Bonus, say that three times fast! In Double Bonus the kickers are removed, hence all Quad Aces pay the same, 800, while 2s, 3s, 4s all pay 400. To make up for this shortfall, flushes are increased to 35 from 30 and straights are increased to 25 from 20. Notice again these small strategically placed 5 unit increases slightly more than make up for the big kicker payoffs. Double Bonus has a higher expected return than Double Double Bonus, 99.19 versus 98.98.

Double Bonus versus Bonus

The jump from Double Bonus to Bonus gets us to a game that is much closer to Jacks or Better than any of the previous games we have discussed so far. As you might expect, in going from Double Bonus to Bonus the all quads are cut in half, Aces from 800 to 400, 2s, 3s, and 4s from 400 to 200, non-bonus quads from 250 to 125.  The flush is cut from 35 to 25 and straights are cut from 25 to 20. The only gain, which again more than off-sets these cuts, is that two pair is now worth 10 instead of 5. Expected return of Bonus is 99.17 versus 99.11 for Double Bonus.

Bonus versus JOB

The final jump is from Bonus to Jacks or Better the reduction is in quad Aces from 400 to 125 and quad 2s, 3s, 4s from 200 to 125. Note that both games pay 10 for two pairs. JOB more than makes of for the reduction in bonus quads via 5 unit increases in flushes and full-houses to 30 and 45 respectively. The jump in expected value from Bonus to JOB is the largest in the table, from 99.17 to 99.54.

Pay Schedule Variation within Versions of JOB

There is more variation in Video Poker Pay Schedules than just among the different games, Pay Schedules can vary among different versions of the same game. As always, small changes can be very important. We’ll take a closer look at our old friend, Jacks or Better (JOB).

(Only the hands that vary are included)

Notice how small changes can have large effects. In going from JOB 9/6, which pays 45 for full houses and 30 for flushes, to JOB 8/5 which pays 40 for full houses and 25 for flushes we lose over 2% of our expected return, going from a 99.54% game to a 97.3 % game.

The same variations occur in all versions of video poker games. For instance in Double Double Bonus poker, the game where quad Aces with a kicker pays 2,000 the standard game we looked at in the first table paid 45 for full house and 30 for flushes, if we drop the pay schedule to 40 for full house and 25 for flushes the expected value of the game goes from 99% to 97%.

The reason that small changes in hands like two pair or three of a kind are enough to offset large changes in quad hands is due to the relative frequency of each type of hand. In any given session of video poker you are going to have many more hands resulting in two pair than you are quad Aces with a kicker. This is obvious to anyone that has any played poker. What is less obvious, is the exact extent of the difference in frequencies. This is why expert video poker players don’t rely on gut instinct in deciding how to play each hand they are dealt in video poker. Experts rely on strategy sheets and cards that tell them exactly how to play each hand. Remember, there is no bluffing in video poker!

There are 2,598,960 unique possible dealt five card hands in video poker. Fortunately, many of these hands are treated the same way from a strategy perspective. This allows us to have a relatively short list of instructions to advise on how to play any given dealt hand. The best way to learn the correct strategy for any video poker games requires both a basic understanding of the theory behind the strategy and some brute force practice and memorization.

In Part an upcoming post we’ll walk through a Jacks or Better strategy sheet.

For a good beginner’s book on Video Poker, I recommend Linda Boyd’s book,  the book also includes several strategy cards.

A good forum on Video Poker is the vpFree one on Yahoo Groups.

For Information on Las Vegas Casinos Please Visit: MavensVegas.com