Last night I went to the opening of T & T: Tacos and Tequila at the Luxor.

T &T doesn't exactly expand the culinary range of Luxor, as it replaces a La Salsa. But as with the rest of the redone Luxor, T &T makes the property more distinctive and appealing to adults, the drink being as much a feature as the food. I was not living in Vegas when La Salsa opened, but I doubt it had a red carpet and a celebrity host -- in this case, the appropriately named Tila Tequila. The usual collection of Luxor notables was also on hand, including Criss Angel and Carrot Top. Carrot Top takes press where he can get it. Angel mostly walked past the print media, but interestingly interacted quite a lot with one microphone-wielding young woman. He playfully mugged for her cameraman and took her microphone to address her audience directly. Otherwise, Angel  mostly bypassed the microphones and tape recorders. He  did, however, sign a few autographs for delighted fans. 

So, who was the camera crew in the media area who got the great Criss Angel exclusive? She was an employee of the public relations firm staging the event, so it was an illusion of an interview.

Actually, Norm Clarke had an interview with Angel yesterday. Interestingly, they do not discuss their conflicted history. But Angel makes some interesting claims about ticket sales for "Believe": "we're now the No. 1 or No. 1 bestselling show in Vegas." But on his blog, Vegas Happens Here, Steve Friess rightly questions the ability of Angel to make that claim in light of how little information about ticket sales is actually public. Also, Angel's truthiness seems a little questionable even regarding his fellow Cirque du Soleil shows. In checking with Cirque myself on Angel's claim, the company would go no further than: " 'Believe' is averaging higher or equal to our other top-selling productions in Las Vegas." But equal to other shows means that Angel does not necessarily have the top position even in the Cirque universe. In fact, in addition to claiming the No. 1 spot for "Believe," Angel told Norm he did have the top-selling Cirque show in their interview: "I believe we're beating 'Love' and 'O' and every Cirque show." You can see why Angel was in no mood to talk with press.

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised by T &T. It is such a vast improvement over La Salsa. T &T is offering a distinctive, well designed and carefully decorated original creation in place of a chain. Yet even beyond that basic improvement, a lot of creative energy has been put into T&T to make for an environment that will appeal on many levels.  There are elements from the nightclub world that  take advantage of the mezzanine view T & T has of the Luxor. There is a cozy section that has a sports bar feel (you could easily see T&T becoming one on Sunday afternoons).

(One question: anyone else there think that was Rick Rizzolo hanging out in from of T & T with a group of friends?)

This is all part of what has been a long-term project to reinvent the Luxor. Other examples of offerings include LAX nightclub, the CatHouse restaurant,  Liquidity bar and the arrival of Bodies: The Exhibition. But somehow the transformation of this one negligible chain restaurant into a tempting destination seems to sum up just how far the Luxor has come to jettisoning the kitschy image that had it associated with Circus Circus and Excalibur.

This property may still be a pyramid on the outside, but inside the Luxor is much closer to an offering to stack alongside Mirage or Palms in terms dining options, celebrities passing through and more.

Photographs by Sarah Gerke

The opening of Company: American Bistro, the 200-capacity restaurant in Luxor, looked like a miniature version of a nightclub event, with a red carpet and celebrities who included a de rigueur Hilton sister.

The Luxor’s executive VP, Thomas J. McCartney, looked on bemused. “This is new to Las Vegas from a dining perspective. Restaurants have not only become a dining experience but an entertainment experience. The celebrity gives more appeal to a particular restaurant and defines the space.”

Celebrity chefs are old news in Vegas, but even with them, restaurant openings on the Strip used to always be about the food on the menu. But the opening of Company: American Bistro seemed to be taking its cue from the Vegas nightclub world.

And so, no surprise to discover that behind the restaurant was a hot Vegas nightclub company, Pure Management Group, and celebrity investors: Nicky Hilton, Nick Lachey and Wilmer Valderrama. So, while the celebrity investors walked the red carpet in front of the restaurant, the actual chef, Adam Sobel, was left alone to be involved behind the scenes in supervising the kitchen and food, which received little attention from the assembled entertainment press like US magazine that rarely covers a casino’s restaurant openings.

This is not PMG’s first restaurant on the Strip. They also own Social House at TI as well as two others. But Social House is most like the model for Company by taking the nightclub approach to promoting a restaurant.

Company is aided by sharing a casino with PMG’s new crown jewel nightclub LAX (where both Hilton sisters will be spending New Year’s Eve). In fact, a number of fans waiting at the red carpet barrier found out about the celebrity appearances from cards handed to them at LAX. Another successful mix is Tao at the Venetian, which has a restaurant and a hot nightclub.

The closer connection between nightclubs and restaurants is the obvious next step in Vegas dining. Or as Hilton said: “Dinner is always part of an evening out.” When asked why she got involved in Company, Hilton responded “What really attracted me were the people, Pure Group. They have LAX (at Luxor) and Pure (at Caesars); so their track record is first class.” 

Lachey too expressed a long-term wish to diversify into restaurants, while also crediting Pure as providing the deciding factor: “I’ve been approached about things, especially locally, a lot over the years. But the Pure Group has been hugely successful. It was being able to do it with Pure.”

Looking at the fans waiting to catch sight of a celebrity and the media frenzy at the red carpet, the Luxor’s McCartney said, “I think that this is going to grow.”

If so, there are still some kinks to work out. Some middle-aged fans figured out how to avoid the crowd at the red carpet altogether by simply booking reservations within the restaurant.

Unlike nightclubs, there was no VIP section at Company: American Bistro's tiny space opening night. So, Nicky Hilton sat near the front door. One tourist group arrived with cameras at the ready. The three women first approached the table with celebrity journalist Robin Leach and asked him to pose with every member, followed by asking Leach’s date for help taking a group shot. The trio then moved to the table with magician Criss Angel and began again. But they were asked to leave before reaching Nicky Hilton’s table.

“This was a mistake, with the open reservations and announcing the celebrities,” one restaurant manager said. “We are still learning to adjust to the marketing of celebrities instead of food.”

(Photos by Sarah Gerke)

The E. coli spinach scare was quickly dealt with by Strip resorts. Everything with spinach vanished. Now, in a fight on the Strip, for want of spinach, Popeye would get his butt kicked by Bluto. But necessity has also created an opportunity for Vegas chefs to figure out how to live in a world without spinach.

The AP did a survey of Strip properties noting, "Leek has replaced spinach in an artichoke dip at Studio Cafe at MGM. And at FIX restaurant at the Bellagio, sauteed pea shoots are garnishing the scallops Benedict for now."

This year Hummer used Ruth Brown's "This Little Girl's Gone Rockin'" in a television commercial. I don't know if she gets paid for that. The music business has usually not treated well the singer once called Little Miss Rhythm. That was only her nickname. The more impressive nickname is the one given to her label, Atlantic Records, which thanks to all of Ruth Brown's hits in the '50s was known as the House That Ruth Built. Atlantic would, of course, go on to make mint in the '70s with bands like Yes, Led Zeppelin, and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. By then Atlantic (except for fighting with her over royalties) and everyone else in the business had forgotten about Ruth Brown.

Musicians and Brown's fans never forgot her, though, and her music career took her out of the 9-to-5 world again in the '80s thanks to fans like Bonnie Raitt and director John Waters (who put her in "Hairspray"). When I saw Etta James perform at the Hilton a couple years ago, Brown was in the audience and James talked of her not as a peer but as an inspiration.

All of this to say: one of the joys of Las Vegas has been that, health permitting, the 79-year-old Brown performed for free at The Bootlegger Bistro (South on Las Vegas Boulevard near the outlet mall) every Thursday night. But now the Bootlegger has not only fired Brown, they did it in a particularly humiliating way. Norm Clarke of the Review-Journal spoke to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame singer about the situation, and Brown told him: "I worked on Thursday, and I got a letter on Friday saying they were firing me."

The Bootlegger is now saying it was all a misunderstanding and they hope to bring her back for some shows. Whatever. Brown indicates to Norm that she isn't buying it and she isn't going back. I sure hope some other spot in Vegas understands the honor it brings to offer Ruth Brown a stage.