Las Vegas Weekly

June 2, 2010 · 2:23 PM

Counter Intelligence: Taste of the Nation; Top Chef Masters; NSL opens

By Robin Leach

Part of the planning committee for Taste of the Nation 2010, Carlos Guia also will be cooking for the charity food fest.

Photo: Courtesy

Hot off the grill! More than 30 of our top restaurants and star chefs join forces tonight as part of a nationwide bid to fight childhood hunger. It’s the 18th annual Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation, and Las Vegas is one of 45 North American cities taking part as a premiere culinary benefit.

It starts with a VIP reception at 5:30 p.m. at Rain in the Palms, and then it’s open to the public from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at TasteoftheNation.org, and proceeds go to Three Square food bank, Catholic Charities and Chefs for Kids. Since 1988, Taste of the Nation has raised more than $70 million.

Chef Carlos Guia of The Country Club at the Wynn is the Las Vegas restaurant chairman, and he’s joined by all the Palms chefs, including Mark Purdy and Tammy Alana of Alize, Barry Dakake of N9NE Steakhouse and Geno Bernardo of Nove Italiano. Others include current Top Chef Masters competitors Rick Moonen and just-ousted Susan Feniger’s Border Grill, Michael Mina’s restaurants, Emeril Lagasse’s restaurants and others including Aureole, B&B Ristorante, Bouchon, Circo, Lavo, Nobu, Roy’s, Seablue, Sensi, Silk Road, Sushi Samba, Tao, Tender and Valentino’s. In addition to the fabulous food, wondrous wines and cool cocktails, there’s a silent auction and live auction.

TOP CHEF MASTERS

It’s the next-to-last episode of Top Chef Masters tonight, and our Mandalay Bay hero Rick Moonen of RM Seafood is still alive and in the Final Four. Tonight’s episode on Bravo could be titled Chef’s Improv.

The finalists are sent off to get inspiration from the Groundlings Improv Comedy Theater, and in the challenge, the comics give the chefs just three words. They are then required to improvise a full dinner based on the key words just as a comic would improv a routine based on three words called out by the audience.

NU SANCTUARY LOUNGE

To celebrate the grand opening of Nu Sanctuary Lounge, the owners produced a colossal 9-liter bottle of Perrier Jouet champagne for the celebration. It took Luxor headliner Angelica Bridges from Fantasy and me to uncork the $5K bottle for the red carpet bash.

We posted a review of NSL and interview with chef Brian Howard before the imaginative new restaurant and ultra lounge officially opened at Town Square. The owners include nightlife specialist Gino LoPinto, Mediterranean dining and lounge entrepreneur Zaher “Z” Fakih and medical professionals and entrepreneurs Dr. Timothy Beckett and Dr. Naz Wahab. Las Vegas headliner hypnotist Anthony Cools and Chippendales and Fantasy dancers were there.

NSL offers freshly made fruit hookah and cocktail selections, a unique and modern global fusion of food, and an innovative lineup of DJs and live music. NSL is open for lunch at 11 a.m., and the kitchen is open until 3 a.m. for pre-dawn meals.

NEW HAPPY HOUR

Celebrity chef Michael Mina has four of his five Las Vegas restaurants now celebrating Happy Hour nightly, and the newest is the 4 to 6 p.m. After-Beach experience at Stripsteak in Mandalay Bay. The bar and lounge has food and beverage deals for the pre-dinner crowd.

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 at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

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