Las Vegas Weekly

September 22, 2009 · 12:24 PM

Photo Galleries: Mel B, Holly and Kim provide the dish at Pink’s opening

By Robin Leach

Melanie "Scary Spice" Brown, Holly Madison and Kim Kardashian.

Photo: Scott Harrison/Retna/www.harrisonphotos.com

It had all the pizzazz, glitz and glamour of a Hollywood red carpet premiere, yet this was for the opening of a hot dog stand! Now before you say “only in Vegas” in unison, let me first point out that this is no ordinary hot dog -- and certainly not your mother’s backyard barbecued supermarket number!

This is Pink’s Hot Dogs, the hot dog to the stars and a Tinseltown legend since 1939. Even Martha Stewart has given Pink’s her royal blessing of good taste! Dozens of screen stars have their own hot dogs there, including Rosie O’Donnell, Bill Cosby (he orders 13 at a time to go!), Henry Winkler, Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Kimmel, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Hanks, Celine Dion, Snoop Dogg, Bruce Willis, Bobby Flay, Karl Lagerfeld and Ozzie Osbourne!

Diana Ross had them flown in nightly when she performed on the Strip! Sometimes the wait is four hours as the kitchen crew fulfills as many as 2,000 orders a day from breakfast to 3 a.m.! Orson Welles still holds the record for the celebrity eating the most hot dogs at one sitting -- 18 of them!

Now the first-ever outpost of Pink’s has opened here on the Strip at Planet Hollywood’s Miracle Mile, and Spice Girl Mel B, reality star Kim Kardashian and Peepshow star Holly Madison were on the red carpet and in the kitchen for the first-night event.

Holly naturally has a nude hot dog on the menu. It’s got nothing on it -- but you can add ketchup just like she does. Kim’s hot dog is a Polish BLT with guacamole, and Mel B’s dog is a Spicy number with onions, nachos, jalapenos, tomato, sour cream and guacamole. She can eat it without spilling a drop! It would be all down my shirt if I tackled it.

Also on the menu is the recent nacho cheese and chili hot dog that Miss America Katie Stam created. Our pal Frank Marino has his own Polish hot dog with sour cream over nachos and chili.

Pink’s is unlike any other hot dog stand in America because movie stars pull up in their Rolls-Royces or send the limo driver for a pickup. Multi-millionaire movie moguls rub shoulders and stand in line with regular customers. Paul and Betty Pink, who founded the landmark 70 years ago -- and are still in the same tiny Hollywood locale -- say they’ve lost count of how many millions they’ve served over the years!

Pink’s has a gourmet reputation for serving the best hot dogs in the world, and you certainly couldn’t keep the stars away from them here at the Vegas opening. Both Mel B and Kim Kardashian went into the kitchen and made it themselves!

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

Jerry Mitchell and Mel B at Pink's Hot Dogs opening at Planet Hollywood.

Mel told me: “I really watch my diet and only eat very healthy food six days a week. But one day a week, I make it ‘eat whatever you want but in moderation.’ ” Mel had just landed from a 10-hour flight from London. Michael Boychuck’s Amp Salon staff at the Palms styled her hair, and Rain Andreani did the makeup for her posed step-and-repeat walk down the red carpet.

Mel and husband Stephen Belafonte also were celebrating the film festival success of his new movie Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans with Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes and Val Kilmer. But Mel was biting her tongue so she wouldn’t reveal to me her next big career move. “In two weeks, there will be a big announcement. I don’t dare tell you now, but it will start out in London and then move over to the States,” she said.

Surprise of the night, though, was my candid conversation with longtime friend Kim Kardashian. She confirmed the rumors that her romance with New Orleans Saints star Reggie Bush is now completely kaput.

“We tried to make it work one more time after we broke up a little while ago,” she told me. “We both care for each other very much and always will, but with his sports schedules and my reality show and career choices, we got to be more apart than together. Although absence makes the heart grow fonder, it doesn’t make it easy when the demands of time simply prevented us from ever being together.”

Photo: Erik Kabik/Retna/www.erikkabikphoto.com

Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush -- who works out occasionally -- at Wet Republic.

Kim said she’s now totally single and free again. “Maybe the next time it will all be less complicated,” she said. Kim also revealed that she’d once auditioned for Peepshow before her friend Holly landed the role.

Kim confided to me: “I was shy. I didn’t think I could parade myself around a stage in just a little lingerie. I was self-conscious about my body. I just totally made a mess of the audition -- but, you know, we’ve talked about a day of possibly doing Peepshow, and I think when the time is right, I could probably handle it now. I love the show, I love watching it, and Holly is fabulous in it -- who knows it might be there one day!”

Meantime, she’ll appear on the Oct. 23 episode of the new Fox sitcom Brothers, and her Keeping Up With the Kardashian on E! continues for another new season.

Lately, the spotlight has been on sister Khloe and L.A. Lakers forward Lamar Odom, who have confirmed in L.A. that they will wed this Sunday at the home of record mogul Irving Azoff. Kim didn’t want to tell me too many secrets about the couple, but she did confirm that they’re inseparable.

“They are very much in love. He is a really neat guy, and they’re perfect together. Both of them are completely happy and comfortable with each other. They’re laughing and smiling like a couple of teenage kids, and she’ll be at all his home games this fall -- yes, even when they play in Vegas next month!”

While in town, Kim went with a group of friends to meet up with Pussycat Dolls creator Robin Antin to watch her new show Matt Goss Live at the Palms. Kim went up onstage to sing and dance with Matt in his finale number “St. James.” It proved that if she’s serious about ever doing a guest run in Peepshow, she’s got the body and voice to make it work!

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.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter HERE.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter HERE.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter HERE.

Share This