Las Vegas Weekly

September 10, 2008 · 6:24 PM

Strip Scribbles: Hills heart throb, celeb sightings

By Robin Leach

Monks (in gowns) gather around a body at Bodies at the Luxor.

Photo: MGM Mirage

*Ten Buddhist monks from several temples throughout the valley arrived at the new Bodies exhibition in the Luxor resort casino hotel. They performed an ancient blessing on the spirits of the preserved cadavers before the new exhibit officially opened.

*Heart-throb hunk, Doug Reinhardt from the reality series The Hills hosted a dinner with a small group of friends at the Company American Bistro in the Luxor resort hotel. He ordered up yellowtail sashimi, flat iron steak and a dessert platter that overflowed with mini-donuts, pumpkin cheesecake and bon bons. Then Doug strutted his sexy stuff into the LAX nightclub, where he enjoyed Belvedere Vodka cocktails at a chic VIP table alongside the DJ booth. Frenzied females mobbed him and several lucky ladies not only got an autograph and a photo -- but also a hug and a kiss!

*The wildly popular Los Angeles restaurant Katana is to get a Vegas outpost in MGM’s CityCenter development. Katana was the first to introduce Robatayaki-style food preparation and cooking to California and it will now be launched in the 500,000-square-foot Crystals retail entertainment complex opening December next year at CityCenter.

*I finally got my hands on a couple of photos of world-renowned DJ Paul van Dyk when his spun his hard-hitting house beats on the wheels of steel at Studio 54 inside MGM Grand. It was a party that started at 1 a.m. and still rocked on well into the daylight hours! Club-goers went wild, cheering and dancing to his performance and even waving glow-sticks.

*The new BLT Burger restaurant (the initials stand for Bistro Laurent Tourandelle) opened at the Mirage with a grand celebrity turnout for its opening party. Guests included NBA Hall of Fame player Bill Walton, my old pal Doc Rivers, the coach of the NBA champion Boston Celtics and Chuck Daly, a longtime coach and coach of the 1989 and 1990 NBA champion Detroit Pistons. The diner-styled restaurant is Chef Lauren’s interpretation of the classic American burger joint with a variety of burgers including beef, American Kobe, lamb and turkey patties cooked to perfection, then stacked with toppings and served on soft, no-frill buns. Laurent, a leading French chef, still runs his BLT Fish, BLT Prime and the BLT Burger restaurants in Manhattan but says he wanted to serve up his version of fun milkshakes and chicken wings to go with all the burgers because it’s the food America loves to eat first!

Star Surveillance: AJ McLean of the Backstreet Boys turned up at the Palms Playboy Club in a black denim vest with a skull imaged on its back, plus a black beanie and black jeans. He held down a table on the Playboy dance floor with one male friend and one female friend – and stuck to Heineken beer as he doesn’t drink hard alcohol. Some of the bountiful bunnies got to chat to him on his hour-long visit ... Extra’s Mark McGrath dined at the Tao Asian Bistro in the Venetian with friends including Joseph “McG” Nichol, the producer of the TV show The OC and director of We Are Marshall and Charlie's Angels Full Throttle. The TV host and rock band singer ordered up wasabi-crusted filet, lobster wontons, vegetable spring rolls with sake and Kirin Light beers ... Former NBA player Gary Payton, best known for his 12 years with the Seattle Supersonics, although he did play point guard for the LA Lakers and Miami Heat, was comfortable in the bar-lounge of N9NE Steakhouse in the Palms rather than at a table in the main dining area. He and three friends spent two hours there snacking on Caesar salads, petite filets and steak fries with George Maloof’s own signature creamed corn recipe.

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