Las Vegas Weekly

July 23, 2009 · 8:24 AM

Counter Intelligence: Eva Longoria Parker, Hotel 32 and Joel Robuchon

By Robin Leach

Crystals at CityCenter President Frank Visconti, Eva Longoria Parker and CityCenter President and CEO Bobby Baldwin.

Photo: Denise Truscello/WireImage

Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria Parker met with Bobby Baldwin, CityCenter’s president and CEO, and Frank Visconti, president of Crystals at CityCenter, at MGM’s CityCenter yesterday to discuss the highly anticipated debut of her restaurant and nightclub Beso Las Vegas.

In December, the stunning beauty brings her flagship Hollywood hot spot to the Strip inside CityCenter’s Crystals, the spectacular retail and entertainment district. She’s partnered with our Bellagio celebrity chef Todd English in the venture. Eva says Beso takes a Latin approach to classic steakhouse cuisine featuring an eclectic and contemporary dinner menu complete with Eva’s own recipes.

Since its Hollywood opening last year, Beso has become the regular stomping ground for such celebrities as Victoria and David Beckham, Kate Beckinsale, Zac Efron, Justin Timberlake, Jessica Biel, Hayden Panettiere and Salma Hayek.

*Celebrated chef Joel Robuchon has created two innovative ways for guests to enjoy his extravagant creations in his two side-by-side MGM restaurants even in these tougher economic times. First he has “L’Unique,” a pre-theater express menu that permits time-starved guests to choose three courses served in a bento-box presentation for $35 and includes a variety of French bistro selections. Guests even get to watch their meal being created by the culinary master at the marbled sit-up counter between kitchen and dining room!

Says Joel: “The new menu at L’Atelier makes fine dining more accessible, and a three-course meal presented in 15 minutes for under $40 allows guests the opportunity to spend less time and money for dinner. We still keep the high quality service and cuisine at a price affordable to everybody.”

At the more formal Joel Robuchon mansion-themed restaurant, guests get to create their own menu from a selection of four price points: $89 for the three-course choice up to $195 for the seven-course selection. The menu choices are extraordinary, and I’m told that I wasn’t singled out for the chef’s gift of caviar served in the most unique and beautiful way I’ve ever seen worldwide. It’s so special, I’m not even going to spoil it for you -- you have to see for yourself because every guest is presented with one! You choose between appetizers, soups, seafood, meats, cheeses and desserts, and every item is as exquisite as the regular super-duper menu. My personal joy was the duck with foie gras that crowned my meal after I’d sampled the thinly sliced salmon, a lettuce soup, which was incredibly delicious, and the prawn and octopus starter! The dinner check is so reasonable for the royal feast, you’ll marvel as if David Copperfield had magically shrunk it in size!

*It’s now less than two weeks to the Aug. 10 official opening of Hotel 32 at the top of the Monte Carlo, and here’s the official rendering. A rich-and-famous lifestyle awaits guests at the exclusive boutique hotel. One remote control pad will open and close drapes, dim the lights, turn on the electronics, including the HD plasma TV and one “hidden” in the glass of the bathroom mirrors! The iPod Touch with iPod docking station comes complete with a mobile concierge application, so if you’re watching Lance Burton’s show and suddenly want more of the 12 varieties of pillows for your bed, just press it into action!

*Bambu Bar has opened at Mandalay Bay, and it’s where you can build your own Bloody Mary from more than 40 ingredients! The outdoor bar complete with patio and fire pit is on the beach walk at the resort and specializes in exotic cocktails and three unique mojitos. The owner-operators also are taking over Ivan Kane’s 40 Deuces club at Mandalay Bay alongside Rick Moonen’s RM Seafood to reopen it in September with a new, edgier striptease club!

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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