Las Vegas Weekly

September 25, 2009 · 8:26 AM

Star-studded opening for Emeril Lagasse’s Stadium in the Palazzo

By Robin Leach

Emeril Lagasse.

Photo: Scott Doctor/www.greatscottstudios.com

Sports fanatic and celebrated chef Emeril Lagasse finally sees a longtime dream come true tonight. He’ll open his very own Stadium sports restaurant at the Palazzo in the space formerly occupied by hip-hop mogul Jay-Z's 40/40 Club.

I’m going to sit down with Emeril and kick it up a notch with him in a one-on-one interview before a slew of stars arrives for the celebration. He and I are longtime friends dating back to the very early days of The Food Network.

Expect to see his good friend Andre Agassi drop by to congratulate him on the opening of Lagasse’s Stadium. It was exactly a year ago this Grand Slam weekend that Emeril first told me excitedly about his plan for the new restaurant.

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

Jeremy Piven at the premiere of The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard at Planet Hollywood.

Also scheduled to attend: Entourage stars Jeremy Piven, Rex Lee and Kevin Dillon, Peepshow star and former Danity Kane singer Aubrey O’Day, Dancing With the Stars finalist Melissa Rycroft and her fiance Tye Strickland, DWTS alumnus and former NFL star Warren Sapp, UFC fighter Tyson Griffin, radio shock deejay Howard Stern’s wife Beth Ostrosky, television fashionista Carson Kressley, racecar driver Danica Patrick, Olympic swimmer Dara Torres and my Olympic gold medal winner friend Bruce Jenner, stepfather to Khloe Kardashian, who is marrying L.A. Lakers star Lamar Odom this weekend.

In fact, Lamar’s good buddy, four-time NBA champion Derek Fisher, is not only attending, but also earlier in the day, he’ll be meeting with fans at a signing of his new book Character Driven about life, lessons and basketball.

Photo: The Venetian

Character Driven by Derek Fisher.

Emeril has lowered the lights and turned up the heat. Inspired by two of his life-long passions -- cooking and sports -- Lagasse’s Stadium marks a new dining standard for a sports and entertainment venue. Custom sports viewing walls consisting of nearly 100 HDTV screens will provide unprecedented access to nearly every major college and professional sporting event, including bowl games, track races, tournaments and championship match-ups.

We’ll have a photo tour and interview with Emeril right here at Vegas DeLuxe next week.

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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