Las Vegas Weekly

January 19, 2009 · 2 PM

Strip Scribbles: Iron Chef Bobby Flay’s in hot water with angry servers

By Robin Leach

Vegas DeLuxe's Robin Leach and Iron Chef Bobby Flay.

Photo: TVT

Culinary world scuttlebutt in New York has it that celebrity chef Bobby Flay has been hit with a wage and labor violation lawsuit, and three of his New York servers also now want their Las Vegas counterparts at his Mesa Grill in Caesars Palace to join their fight! The three waiters claim in the Manhattan Federal Court lawsuit that Bobby forced workers to buy and launder their own uniforms and refused to give them a share of mandatory tips charged to private party tabs. The defendants are Bobby’s midtown Bar Americain, the Mesa Grill restaurants in New York and Las Vegas and the Bobby Flay Steakhouse at the Borgata Hotel in Atlantic City. Attorney Justin Schwartz hopes to add other waiter names who’ve worked at Bobby’s restaurants since 2003 into the class-action lawsuit.

It’s interesting to note that similar lawsuits have been filed against celebrity owners Robert De Niro, Justin Timberlake and even Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio, who has a restaurant here at the MGM Grand. “It’s simply a case of zealous lawyers going after deep-pocketed celebrities for a settlement,” one of the chef friends from New York told me.

*Tonight is the third of 13 episodes of Masters of Illusion on MyNetworkTV, and our favorite masked magician Jeff McBride stars with other Las Vegas-based illusionists Arian Black, Ed Alonzo, Kyle Eschen, Ai & Yuki, Mark Kalin & Jinger. Next Monday, alumni and friends of Jeff McBride’s Magic and Mystery School Chris Randall, Fielding West, Jonathan Levit, Kevin James and Krystyn Lambert will all be on the show. Jeff is off on a world tour that includes Peru, England and Spain.

Presidential notes

My acrobatic friends at AntiGravity, along with a long list of the world’s most prominent celebrities including Stevie Wonder and Beyonce, will be performing at tomorrow’s Presidential Inauguration Ball. It celebrates the historic moment of President Barack Obama’s inauguration as the 44th president of the United States. ABC will televise the program Neighborhood Inauguration Ball from 8 to 10 p.m. PT. AntiGravity, who has an outpost here and was tapped to be the resident company of a new Strip condo-tel, is currently scheduled to perform at 9:15 p.m. and again for the finale at 9:55 p.m. A team of 18 performers from the AntiGravity groups in Los Angeles, Orlando and New York will perform, including founders Dreya Weber and Mam Smith, along with 18-year veteran Debbi Fuhrman and 11-time world champion tumbler and 10-year veteran Rayshine Harris. In honor of the 44th presidential inauguration, artist Peter Max has created an installation of 44 portraits of Obama, which he unveiled on CBS’ Early Show. Four of the paintings were unveiled locally at The Art of Peter Max Gallery at the Forum Shops in Caesars Palace.

Star surveillance

Tennis legends Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf enjoyed a night of sushi, sashimi and sake with Chef Akira Back at his Yellowtail Restaurant & Bar in the Bellagio. They told the chef their favorite was the toro sashimi. Andre and Steffi also hit the Caramel Bar & Lounge for cocktails before calling it a night. … New York Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes sipped on Belvedere vodka and cranberry juice while relaxing with friends at a dance floor table at LAX in the Luxor before toasting into the early morning hours with shots of Patron tequila. … At Dick’s Last Resort in the Excalibur, mixed martial arts fighter Mike Whitehead and friends noshed on appetizers of drunken shrimp cocktail, mumbo jumbo chicky wings, macho nachos and a ride ’em cowboy ribeye with fry’d shrimpies. After the massive meal, Dick’s resident funnyman Taco persuaded Mike to take a jab at the eatery’s punching bag video game. Customers went wild as the professional fighter boxed a couple rounds, topping off with a near-perfect score of 970. … San Diego Chargers linebacker Shaun Phillips dined with friends at Stack in The Mirage, feasting on a Brooklyn steak, spicy wings and crab cakes. … After playing seven seasons with the New York Yankees, baseball great Jason Giambi celebrated his newly signed $4.5 million contract with the Oakland Athletics with friends and fans at Cathouse’s Vanity after-hours party. Vinnie Paul, formerly of Pantera, also partied the night away in true rock-star style inside the Cathouse with fellow band members of Hellyeah. … The annual Sundance Film Festival began over the weekend in Park City, Utah, and our Hard Rock Hotel hosted a classic Las Vegas-style party at the Hollywood Life House. It was the after-party for the film The Vicious Kind, and stars Brittany Snow and Adam Scott attended. Sometime during the party, a group with Ben Lyons, one of the hosts of the weekly “Smashtime” party at our Body English here, took a stage dive off a couch. Former Palms cocktail waitress and George Clooney’s ex-girlfriend Sarah Larson danced with several male admirers but left the party with singer Ryan Cabrera.

*Expect a lot of onetime big-name TV stars and today’s reality TV stars to sign up for the new Tony & Tina’s Wedding show being brought to Las Vegas by producers Raphael Berko and Jeff Gitlin. They’ll put up the TV stars here in Strip hotels for rotating weekly performances of six shows, and if the TV celebrities and musicians can’t slot into one of the characters in the wedding show, they will create a special character! If they want to be the groom, the bride, the father of the groom or the wedding singer, they can do that, too! Now I wonder if that news ends the continuing nonsensical and long-winded blog room chatter about what Strip show -- not a topless cabaret -- will wind up being accepted by one young blonde beauty?

Tonight’s tip

To celebrate the first anniversary of Prive in Planet Hollywood, rap royal Snoop Dogg will hold court. The Grammy Award-nominated artist, actor, record producer and hip-hop icon will spin and sing for the bash. … Meantime at Jet in The Mirage, the topless dancers from the Olympic Gardens will celebrate their 20th anniversary. More than 100 strippers and pole dancers are set to attend and give away $50,000 worth of lap dances and $100,000 worth of bar tabs courtesy of OG’s management!

Tomorrow’s tease

It’s the big inaugural day for President Barack Obama, and reigning Miss America Kirsten Haglund of Michigan makes a rushed, 24-hour round trip to the nation’s capital from Las Vegas for the ceremony. She’ll return with a front-line report exclusively for us. We are at Planet Hollywood up close with the 52 Miss America contestants as they prepare for their first preliminary competition tomorrow night. Plus, even before the Vegas-themed Season 3 of Keeping Up With the Kardashians premieres next month, E! gives the green light for Season 4, and the family signs a new mega deal in Vegas to keep the Strip right in the forefront! The Kardashians gives us an exclusive!

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