Las Vegas Weekly

February 28, 2009 · 11:29 PM

Inside the gala, part 2: Do I have $250,000 for …

By John Katsilometes

Chef Wolfgang Puck and his wife, Gelila, on the red carpet on the way into the 13th Annual Power of Love Gala at the Bellagio in Las Vegas on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2009.

Photo: Tiffany Brown

More from the gala, specifically table No. 93, which would be a good name for a restaurant:

-- More auction, a trip to the Ruvos' home in Tahoe, where you will hang with Robin Williams, Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf and Michael Milken. She goes for $250,000. I'm good for it ...

--Yet more auctioning: Chef Tonino Melloino's offer of a trio to his home in Italy for a dinner for 20 just went for $30,000. A trip on the Petron Express, a boozy three-day jaunt on a private train car in total luxury, "one of the best in the world," says Dejoria, goes for $100,000. A Keep Memory Alive-customized Rolls Royce just went for $475,000. It's getting dizzying in here. A Giants game in New York with the Mannings topped by dinner made by Emeril Lagasse goes for $150,000. DeVito and Perlman are up, singing the praises of the clinic and offering his-and-her designer watches that go for $35,000. A trip to the Hotel de Paris in Monaco, $15,000. "A Magical Getaway" with David Copperfield at Copperfield Bay in the Bahamas? $60,000, and on and on it goes ...

-- Kristin Davis is here! I was just told. Sex & the City's Kristen Davis. Awesome.

-- I swear, Norm Clarke is signing autographs now. What a night.

-- Tonight's entree, by English, is slow-and-low braised Kobe short rib with truffled celery root puree, Hudson Valley foie gras broth, crispy confit pearl onions, mustard greens and pistachio crumble. You know what it all means? It's a tough week to go veggie. Tough.

-- At the cocktail reception, LVCVA President Rossi Rallenkotter said that convention business was at capacity for the last six months of 2009. The LVCVA's "Take a Break" national ad campaign has helped regenerate interest in quick trips to Vegas. "Our challenge is to inform people of what is happening in Las Vegas, still," Rallenkotter said. "We have this event tonight, the NASCAR race and the opening of M Resort tomorrow. The new Joint at the Hard Rock is coming up. It never stops, and we need to keep informing people of that."

-- Former Las Vegas Art Museum Director Libby Lumpkin was cocktailing with Camille Ruvo earlier. Lumpkin said she spent the past week volunteering as LVAM prepped to close (today was its last day). "It's a really sad event. We're having an economic Katrina, and we were on the first levee," said Lumpkin, who stepped down abruptly from her post for economic reasons several months ago. "I don't know, I thought we could have it all here, with contemporary art, and we still have that in the resorts, but the resorts depend a lot on public contributions, for intellectual services and support. They will feel this loss, too." When I asked how long it would be before the LVAM could return as a full-service museum, Lumpkin thought for a moment and said, "A long time. Probably 10 years."

-- The "Dessert Trilogy" is served on a tray made of chocolate, and the media table is stumped at how to attack this dish. I just asked Norm Clarke if he had a chisel with him (read about that exchange in Vegas Confidential).

-- New Planet Hollywood President Tom McCartney, for years an exec with MGM Mirage (most recently at Luxor), said of his new post: "It's nice not to be in construction. (Planet Hollywood CEO) Robert Earl has done a great job of adding a celebrity feel and appealing to a wide range of people. It's been re-invented. I like that we are a self-contained company. Not to put anyone else down, but we have a very seamless way of doing business at Planet Hollywood that is refreshing."

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