wynn resorts

Wynn Resort's Alex Restaurant To Close

Filed under: Dining

The luxurious Wynn Resort in Las Vegas has gone through several dining transitions recently. Back in August we heard about the resort's decision to add more vegan and vegetarian options. In November, we learned that the space formerly occupied by Daniel Boulud Brasserie became the Lakeside Grill on the hotel's Lake of Dreams. Now Wine Spectator reports that the Wynn's Alex restaurant, one of the most luxurious restaurants on the Strip, will close on January 15 after a six-year run. Chef Alessandro "Alex" Stratta will stay at the hotel and run Stratta, a more casual restaurant that focuses on wood-fired pizza and Italian-inspired cuisine.
The restaurant served classic French cuisine with an Italian twist and using fresh ingredients. The $185 tasting menu included items including crispy carbinieri prawn with cauliflower, savory custard, vadouvan curry and carrot ginger sauce and saute of Sonoma foie gras with sweet potato, caramelized onions, black truffles and butternut squash sauce. The restaurant's jewel-box-like setting will now be used for special events and private parties.

The comprehensive and expensive Alex wine list had earned a Wine Spectator Grand Award in 2010 and the resort plans to distribute the wines in Alex's several cellars to other restaurants at the Wynn. Danielle Price, wine director for Wynn and its sister resort Encore, who expressed disappointment in the decision, told Wine Spectator that the high-end Italian wines will got to Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare and the majority of the other wines from the cellar will be added to the SW Steakhouse wine list.

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Wynn Resorts Offer Vegan Delights

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Eating vegan no longer exists on the fringes of culinary culture. Even the Wynn Resorts are getting in on the vegan craze. The resorts have created an all-new vegan culinary program. The chefs at Wynn and Encore in Las Vegas have designed vegan dishes that highlight vegetables and contain no meat or dairy, instead using exotic grains and vegetables with coconut milk and vegetable purees to lend creaminess to risottos and sauces. Shown above is the tofu carpaccio at SWITCH restaurant, Encore Las Vegas.

Other dishes include fava bean puree with sauteed hon shimeji mushrooms, snap pea salad and aged balsamic vinegar at ALEX and the market chopped salad with avocado, carrots, celery, pumpkin seeds, edamame and tarragon vinaigrette at Society Cafe Encore. Other temping vegan delights include the summer vegetable gratin at Botero, risotto con verdure di stagione (risotto whipped with seasonal vegetables) at BARTOLOTTA Ristorante di Mare and Napoleon of savory tofu with ratatouille and fried eggplant at Tableau. The Country Club has a vegan version of their popular watermelon gazpacho with avocado, jicama, tomato, cucumber, cilantro and yucca crisp and STRATTA offers whole wheat pasta primavera. Even at SW, Wynn's signature steakhouse, vegans will dine well on grilled royal trumpet mushrooms with creamy polenta and shallot balsamic sauce.

Wazuzu's vegan crunch roll with crispy asparagus, avocado, cucumber and arare; Okada's vegan cold soba noodle and Wing Lei's crispy tofu with sugar pea, water chestnut, carrot and bean sprout feature flavorful Asian ingredients. Vegans aren't left out at desserts with treats like blueberry cobbler with toasted almond ice cream at Sinatra and banana crepes with coconut ice cream and avocado mousse at SWITCH. It's enough to keep both vegans and non-vegans quite satisfied.

Tags: las vegas restaurants, vegan, vegan diet, veganism, vegans, wynn resorts

Wynn Opens Encore At Wynn Macau

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Casino mogul Steve Wynn is such a believer in the strength of the Chinese gambling hub of Macau that he said, while promoting the launch of Encore Macau, that he is planning a third major casino there and will consider relocating the Las Vegas headquarters of Wynn Resorts to Macau.

Encore is adjacent to sister resort Wynn Macau and has 414 suites and villas. Encore introduces two new restaurants to the Wynn dining family plus Bar Cristal, the elegant lobby bar. The Spa at Encore offers treatments in eight private therapy suites, each with its own steam room, sauna and aroma-hydrotherapy bath and shower. The Shopping Esplanade is home to three signature stores, Cartier, Chanel and Piaget, which will offer limited-edition pieces unique to Encore.

Wynn told reporters he plans to start construction next year on a hotel and casino on Cotai, an area that's already home to a casino operated by the Las Vegas Sands Corp. That hotel and casino complex should be completed before the end of 2013.

Gallery: Encore Macau

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The Wynns, When Divorce Doesn't Mean Get Out Of My Company

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wealth

Megarich couple on the outs could learn a lot from the Wynn divorce. Gambling mogul Steve Wynn and his ex-wife Elaine have split the shares in Wynn Resorts Ltd following what is their second divorce. She owns more than 11 million shares of the company, shares which were once communal property. This means that she and Steve Wynn each have around a nine percent share in the company. The Wynns already sold off some shares last summer. According to one article the move has made Aruze USA Inc. a subsidiary of a Japanese gaming company Wynn's largest shareholder with close to 20 percent of the shares.

Elaine Wynn indicated in an AP story that while she will still remain on the board and serve as a public face of the company she is shifting her focus to philanthropic efforts.

She is the chairwoman of national nonprofit Communities in Schools and she and Steve Wynn recently donated $1 million to nonprofit Three Square, to support the "BackPack for Kids" Program providing bags of food for needy children in the Clark County School District so they have something to eat over the weekend. The giant check bears both their names on the name of a foundation they started together.

While the marriages may not have worked out the Wynns still seem to have a good working relationship. Of course at one point the Blixseths were touted as having an amicable separation and we all know how that turned out. But Elaine Wynn has played a key role in determining the look and feel of Wynn resorts. She selected many of the retail shops and is partly responsible for the luxurious look and feel of the Wynn enterprises. Barring any unforeseen future squabbles, the company is likely stronger for continuing to keep her on the board and at least partly active in the organization.

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Wynn Divorce Could Be Costly For Company

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

The king and queen of Las Vegas are divorcing. Billionaire Las Vegas casino magnate Steve Wynn and wife Elaine filed for divorce last week. Wynn is the charismatic chief executive of Wynn Resorts which is behind the luxurious Wynn and Encore hotels on the Las Vegas Strip. Elaine Wynn is a director on the company's board and was recently nominated for another three year term on the board.

This is a second divorce for the Wynns who were first married in 1963 but divorced in 1986 and then remarried five years later. Elaine Wynn has had an influential role in the organization especially in helping decide which stores would be in the Wynn Resorts' retail spaces. Rumor has it that Steve Wynn is involved with another woman, British socialite Andrea Danenza Hissom.

Steve and Elaine Wynn each own more than 24 million shares in Wynn Resorts. Those shares have slumped in the past few months but are still worth around $460 million. The divorce could be one of the costliest in the U.S. and a great deal depends on just how amicable it is. If Wynn needs to buy his wife out that could have a serious impact on a company that is already affected by the tourism slump in Las Vegas.

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Tags: divorce, elaine wynn, ElaineWynn, las vegas, LasVegas, steve wynn, SteveWynn, wynn resorts, WynnResorts

Steve Wynn Plans His Encore

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

That didn't take long, Steve Wynn is working on a new hotel, Encore at Wynn Las Vegas. The resort will be located adjacent to the Wynn on the north side of the property on the site of the old Desert Inn. Encore will be a full scale hotel that will be integrated with the Wynn. It will include new hotels rooms, meeting space, a casino, restaurants, nightclubs, a spa, retail outlets and swimming pools. Wynn's latest baby is scheduled for completion in December 2008.

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