When I arrive at the airport, I pass a billboard of lifestyle diva Martha Stewart hoisting a half-drunk glass of wine. She is wearing her trademark Mona Lisa smirk and looking slightly flush. I wonder if my own experience at the Bedford (3655 S Las Vegas Blvd, Tel: 702-946-4361. Caesars.com/paris-las-vegas), Stewart’s new Paris Las Vegas restaurant, will replicate her performative giddiness. The Bedford is delightfully tucked away in a nondescript corridor where the cacophonic clang of the slot machine is noticeably absent. Here, the endive stalks on the salad I order are splayed in meticulous petal fashion and dusted with little bits of gorgonzola for texture and flavor. The meat on the half chicken, meanwhile, is so tender I relax the iron grip on my knife and fork. There’s also a single parker roll, light and airy like a savory puff of cotton candy.
When it comes to exploring the city’s entertainment venues, restaurants and bars, it’s clear the future is here and it’s all part of The Sphere Experience at Sphere (255 Sands Ave, Tel: 725-258-6724. thespherevegas.com), a custom-built stadium boasting an exterior consisting of 580,000 square feet of shape-shifting LED displays. (One minute it’s a giant eyeball, the next a thousand bouncing basketballs, then a lava lamp, etc.) Also part of The Sphere Experience, which allows Vegas visitors inside the stadium when concerts aren’t happening, is a 45-minute queue for an avatar scan which prompts a downloadable 3D video of your avatar self. But the biggest draw is Darren Aronofsky’s “Postcards from Earth,” which happens inside the stadium and offers a glorified IMAX movie that dazzles as it takes visitors to every corner of the earth and to a fictional world as well. Tickets start at $79 per person, so save some dough by having cheap Mediterranean afterward at nearby Miznon.
As I wash my hands inside one of the men’s bathrooms at 63 Las Vegas, a new shopping complex located next to the Cosmopolitan, I hear birds chirping. Can this be right? It is indeed. That’s because I’m at two-story ARTE MUSEUM LAS VEGAS (3716 S Las Vegas Blvd, Tel: 702-725-7200. lasvegas.artemuseum.com), a fully immersive venue where visitors encounter a series of installations that intertwine art and nature for the digital age. “Forest,” for example, offers mystical creatures and a pumped in fragrance (for sale in the gift shop) designed to stimulate the senses, while colorful “Flower” offers an infinity of falling petals and a piano player.
People come to Vegas in search of both money and a money shot (as in amazing Strip views) and the terrace at new steak and seafood restaurant Ocean Prime (3716 S Las Vegas Blvd, Tel: 702-529-4770. ocean-prime.com) at 63 Las Vegas happens to have one. Unfortunately, a gusty windstorm keeps me inside, but the interior is its own work of art. The banquettes at Ocean Prime are spread across the chic dining room like the teacup ride at Disney, each one a beautiful crescent-shaped booth draped in rich caramel fabric.
Through the spread legs of a cowboy clad only in a holster and a “willy warmer,” I see the priceless look on the face of an aghast audience member, her hands cupped steeple fashion around her mouth to conceal total embarrassment. Above her, “The Mayor” in the circus show Atomic Saloon is artfully swinging a yo-yo around his private parts while wiggling his booty in her face. The audience is going nuts (pun definitely intended) for it. Welcome to theater troupe Spiegelworld’s skin-baring salute to the Wild West featuring pole-straddling studs, hilarious whores, and ping-pong pooping nuns.
Atomic Saloon is one of several raunchy shows around town bearing the Spiegelworld name (Absinthe being the most famous), and I’m here because I’m champing at the bit for the troupe’s highly hyped summer 2024 opening of DiscoShow (3535 S Las Vegas Blvd. spiegelworld.com) and adjacent restaurant Diner Ross. Both promise a polyester-clad throwback to NYC in the ‘70s when nightlife was at its gayest and most fun. I can’t wait.
Other honorable late night mentions in Las Vegas include Queen (1215 S Las Vegas Blvd, Tel: 702-982-8259. queenlv.com), a concrete cabaret and nightclub tucked inside the Thunderbird Hotel featuring drag shows, go-go studs, and clubland vibes. Nowhere, a lounge marked by cream-colored columns, plush furnishings, fresh-cut flowers, and foamy cocktails. And Scotch 80 Prime (4321 W Flamingo Rd. Tel: 866-942-7780. palms.com) at off-Strip Palms Casino Resort. Ubiquitous retro vibes and name itself are a nod to the Vegas neighborhood Scotch 80 where Howard Hughes once lived and where homes today are still highly sought after.
