Britney's Venetian Visit, plus Wolfgang and Other Starchefs Shine

For some extraordinary, unfathomable reason, Britney Spears' fans want -- nay, demand -- every minute detail of the pop singer's life. Particularly when she's on a happy-go-lucky holiday in Vegas with arm-charm stud-muffin hubby Kevin Federline. Last week, their surprise, momentarily secretive sojourn in Sin City brought forth an avalanche of worldwide questions about the couple's on-off-and-on again marriage and whether Brit was pregnant again with their 2nd child (if so, was she really drinking alcohol?). Journalists from around the globe went into a feeding frenzy, making me completely crazed with demands for a minute-by-minute rundown. That, and all of you LuxeLife emailers blitzing the need for break-in bulletins ... it's enough to make a grown man scratch his balding hairline in befuddled bewilderment! So, ever anxious to please, we will interrupt our normal scheduled Luxe Life Journal for this special Brit Birthday Broadcast:

MONDAY 3/20: Britney and Kevin fly home from Hawaii to LA and on to Las Vegas. Back in Sin City again, and together this time. No more Kev at Hard Rock and Britney reserving suites at the Wynn. Instead, they check into Venetian Hotel Presidential Suite with 2nd adjoining bedroom for baby Sean Preston and nanny (should upgrade public image). Mother Lynn Spears sends a pre-emptive letter asking all Venetian staff who come into contact with Brit and Kevin be sworn to secrecy under penalty of dismissal, so no details of the stay are leaked. They make dinner reservations at Valentino in the romantic hideaway private wine cellar chef's table (above left) for a gourmet meal by superchef Luciano Pellegrini [click here for AOL Vegas video of the restaurant and chef].

TUESDAY 3/21: Beauty day. Britney rests, relaxes and rejuvenates at the Canyon Ranch Spa with massage treatments and beauty sessions. Then they celebrate Kevin's 28th birthday with dinner at TAO (right). They have 8 bodyguards issued with police flashlights to prevent anybody other than Brit's official photographer from getting pictures to sell to tabloids and magazines. Still, the private affair should silence the naysayers predicting another split. Dressed in an up-to-here/ down-to-there black halter dress, Britney personally escorts her husband to the restaurant's private dining room, where friends and family are waiting. The group starts with drinks and appetizers at approx. 8:30 (Britney drank a cosmo, Kevin a Jack & Coke) and then feasts on chicken satay, spare ribs, squab wrap, crispy tuna, vegetable dumplings, chicken dumplings, veggie rolls, pork rolls, zucchini, lobster and shrimp tempura, Chilean seabass, Buddha chicken, grilled Kobe steak, chicken broccoli, sweet shrimp, seaweed salad, lobster rolls ... basically everything fantastic on TAO's amazing menu ... till about 11:30PM

Eyewitnesses report that the couple are very affectionate -- Britney even sits on his lap and is hand fed some finger food. After dinner, the birthday boy (dressed in his usual white tank top, blazer, jeans, sneakers and hat) is presented with his birthday cake by two female "little people," who climb on to the table to sing "Happy Birthday." The group then goes on to PURE at Caesars (above left), where Brit becomes our newest Vegas party princess after midnight struck, mixing Amaretto sours and Dom Perignon champagne. It would be safe to call it a "modestly wild" night for the 24-year-old Spears, who sidelined her pop career temporarily for the birth of Sean. She dances on one of the club's all-white VIP beds for Kevin, then nuzzles him most of the night. "They simply behaved like a young couple lovestruck on each other" says one clubgoer who got to look in on their hideaway private party area. "It was a mild makeout ... they were hugging and kissing and holding. You wouldn't have thought she was pregnant yet for the second time."

The couple are in Vegas for more than just fun: Federline's here to discuss a nightclub appearance and vip party launch for the late April release of his debut CD 'Off The Record.' And Brit wanted to be with him on his visit to our party town, especially on his birthday. "She's not letting him out of her sight for a while" says our spy-witness.

WEDNESDAY 3/22: They sleep in late. Britney plans Kevin's birthday party (pt. II) in TAO's nightclub (below right)... The couple arriveds at the Venetian club at 11:45PM with four friends, and takes the biggest VIP booth in the TAO Lounge for their uber hip Wednesday party SUTRA -- Kevin in his signature blazer, jeans and hat look, and Britney almost matching in a white fedora, black lace print shirt and jeans. Brit's secured plus-sized female impersonator Shorty Rossi and "little person" Steve Daley (who appear in the 'Buck Wild' show at the Sahara Hotel) to dress respectively as Cher and sing "If I Could Turn Back Time," and as Sonny Bono to join her for a duet on "I Got You Babe."

Afterwards, the group parties to hip-hop sounds with 2 bottles of Cristal champagne and 2 bottles of Jack Daniels on their VIP table. As the DJspinsBritney's hit "I'm a Slave 4 U," Kevin dances it up and the crowd screams -- though Britney herself misses the performance while on a trip to the ladies' room. At 1:30AM, Kevin pops over to the DJ booth to slip the mixmaster a copy of his forthcoming album. The DJ starts with the first track, a mid tempo rap song. But the second song he plays is a "club banger," and the crowd really gets into it. Considering lyrics like "Baby I'm a rock star, I do what I wanna do, I play what I wanna play..." it certainly sounds like Kevin is really living it up... After a few more drinks, the gang leaves TAO at 2AM. (click here for our inside look at TAO)...

THURSDAY 3/23: They sleep in late again, and postpone morning checkout to go shopping for new baby clothes at Kids Karnival in The Venetian's Grand Canal Shoppes. Then it's time for some casino action: Brit plays craps with $1 and $5 chips while Kev stacks up $25 chips. (Apocryphal?) Finally, they end their four-day romantic romp and return to the Malibu manse.

Memo to the Federlines: Please come back to LV whenever you wish! You keep the town on its toes, morning, noon and night, and always make great headlines. It's exhausting, but thanks, and cheers!

And now, let's resume our normally scheduled LuxeLife Journal: Congratulations to our Vegas superstar chefs and ritzy restaurants, who have finally catapulted onto the national scene with the ultimate recognition: nominations on the James Beard Foundation Restaurant and Chef Awards, the "Oscars" of the food and restaurant world (that we used to televise on the Food Networkwhen I was there for five years).

There's no doubt that up until '91-'92, the LV food scene was better known for 99 cent shrimp cocktails and $1.99 all-you-can-eat buffets. Then Wolfgang Puck (left) arrived to change everything, pioneering the celebrity chef invasion which has now made us one of the top dining destinations in the entire world. So, who better to congratulate? Wolf not only was nominated for Beard's Outstanding Restaurateur Award, but at the weekend's Best of Las Vegas Awards show, his Spago restaurant at Caesars Palace won for Best Hotel Gourmet Restaurant, and his Trattoria del Lupo restaurant at Mandalay Bay won for Best Hotel Italian restaurant.

Wolfgang, who has been a good friend of mine for more than 20 years, talked with me exclusively about the extraordinary achievements: "We are simultaneously excited and humbled to be recognized by our peers in the industry," he told me. "We took a big chance on the city of all-you-can-eat buffets 14 years ago. And with great local support, dedication to quality product and outstanding hospitality, Spago has maintained its position. We have flourished with exceptional and consistent cuisine, design, management and hospitality. The evolution of the Vegas dining scene is on its way to rival New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles and in re-inventing ourselves through design and culinary passion, we are privileged to be a part of it." (Click here and you can meet Wolf cooking in his Spago kitchen and tour his top Vegas restaurant in our AOL Vegas videos)

"When we brought our namesake restaurant from LA to Vegas in 1991 and opened in 1992, it was like making another child. It was really risky, but since Spago is the foundation of all our businesses and a household name, we had to make a mark in Vegas with it. For me, it was simple. I used to come to Vegas for the fights -- I love boxing -- but I never knew where to eat. I wanted a place to go with friends afterwards, a good restaurant. But there wasn't one, so I had to open it myself. And the business was not good for the first two weeks when we opened in December. I had no idea that was a really slow month. There was a rodeo convention when we opened, and I thought I was on a Texas prairie. They'd come to the open kitchen thinking it was a buffet line and want hamburgers. I looked at them blank and said 'What am I gonna do?" I thought it was a mistake.

"Spago became the beginning of the restaurant revolution in Vegas, and to think it almost never happened! I'd go home, drink wine, fall asleep in front of the television wondering what I'd done. I got up at 6AM with a headache, dreading going back. I'd have nine waiters and very few customers It was not a happy moment and I had a lot of self-doubt. Then it suddenly changed -- two weeks after, at New Years, we took off. And now, after 13 years, we are more successful than when we started. I just think our cuisine appeals to everybody, a mixture of California-style comfort food with some Italian and Asian influences mixed in. You can come for a special occasion and feel wonderful, or just drop by for a pizza and red wine. It's about being comfortable. It's casual elegant.

"Las Vegas has become our main hub for restaurants. We have five world-acclaimed restaurants and a catering company [here], so in total we have over 800 employees now in Vegas, including my executive chef David Robbins and my general manager partner Tom Kaplan. I couldn't have done any of this without them. I tell all the young chefs of today that they have to be like them in order to be successful -- a great cook, a great manager and
a great businessman all rolled into one."

And don't think Wolf is resting on his laurels: he's opening two more new restaurants this year. His first steak restaurant, which he's naming CUT, will open at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, And Puck's American Grille will open at the Borgata Hotel in Atlantic City...

As we said above, Puck was not the only Vegas chef/restauranteur to be recognized in the Beard nominations. Fellow Outstanding Restaurateur nominees include Daniel Boulud (left, at his Daniel Boulud Brasserie here at WYNN), Jean-George Vongerichten (who has Prime at Bellagio) and Richard Melman (who has Mon Ami Gabi at Paris, Joe's Stone Crabs Seafood at Caesars Palace Forum Shops and Café BaBaReeba in the Fashion Show Mall). The Best New Restaurant category saw Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare (WYNN) [Incidently, you'll see chef Paul Bartolotta on our AOL Vegas video in a few days' time] and Joel Robuchon at the Mansion (MGM Grand) get two of the five national nods. A tip of the toque also went to chef Carlos Guia of Commanders Palace at the Aladdin in the Best Chef in the Southwest category, while Master Sommelier William Sherer and his flying wine angels at Mandalay Bay's Aureole were short-listed for Outstanding Wine Service (did you know his wine list even features a $36,000 magnum bottle of merlot dated 1900?). And, though not specifically named for their LV locations, the prestigious Beard organization also tapped Tom Colicchio (Craftsteak at MGM),

Nobu Matsuhisa (Nobu at the Hard Rock -- below right) and Hubert Keller (Fleur de Lys at Mandalay Bay) for the Outstanding Chef nomination. In addition, Thomas Keller (Bouchon at the Venetian) was nominated in the Outstanding Restaurant section for his French Laundry in Napa Valley.

Altogether, it's Vegas' best showing ever in the annual awards, which will be announced in New York on May 8...

Coincidently, this weekend saw the live awards show presentation of the Las Vegas Review-Journal's 25th annual Best of Vegas, a compendium of readers' votes on the city's best restaurants, hotels and people. The show, hosted by Rita Rudner and narrated by yours truly, will be telecast this coming Friday (Mar 31) at 7.30PM, and it offers great insight into what LV residents and fellow service industry professionals really feel represent our city at its best. Here are some of the highlight awards:

Overall best French restaurant: Andre's (with my personal favorite Marche Bacchus as runner-up)
Best Gourmet restaurant off-Strip: Rosemary's
Best Gourmet restaurant on-Strip: Spago at Caesars Palace
Best Italian restaurant: Lupo at Mandalay Bay
Best New Restaurant: TAO at The Venetian
Best Nightclub: PURE at Caesars Palace
Best Movie Theater: Brenden Theaters at The Palms
Best Singles Bar: ghostbar at the Palms.
Best Strip Hotel: Bellagio
Best All-Around Performer: Danny Gans (with my personal favorite Clint Holmes as a near neck-and-neck runner-up)
Best Comedian: Rita Rudner (with my personal favorite George Wallace as a close runner-up). Rita also won as Favorite Las Vegan Female, just beating out Celine Dion!
Best Magician: Lance Burton at the MonteCarlo
Best Showgirls: Jubilee at Bally's
Best Singer: Celine Dion (with my pal Clint Holmes again a very close runner-up)
Best Show: O at The Bellagio, which also won for Best Choreography
Best Spa: Mandalay Bay (with my favorite Canyon Ranch a very close
runner-up)
Best Place to spot Celebrities: The Palms
Best Celebrity Resident: Andre Agassi (who also won as most Generous Las
Vegan)
Best Dressed Las Vegan: Steve Wynn (who also won as Most Powerful Las
Vegan)
Favorite Las Vegas Male: Mayor Oscar Goodman.

Now, before you start clicking around AOL Vegas to make reservations, two final TV food notes: Food Network starchef Emeril Lagasse (left), owner of Delmonico's at The Venetian (and his Fish House at MGM), popped upstairs to TAO to invite executive chef Sam Hazen to appear on his TV show next month... And the finale of Bravo's 'Top Chef' TV show ,which has been set in San Francisco will move to Vegas for its finale at MGM with judges to include Tom Colicchio, and yours truly, invited in for the last minute hold-your-breath verdicts.

We'll be back here tomorrow with Vegas' newest outrageous resident, legendary rapper and outre TV star Flavor Flav, plus a full wrap-up of our star-studded weekend of sports stars, Hollywood celebrities who just keep on piling into our city to party without stop. Meantime Meantime, feed our hungry curiousity with an email to robinsvegas@aol.com. And click here or on the 'Alert Me'tab at the top of this page so we can email you the moment our LuxeLife Journal is posted each day.

Don't forget: Go to AOL Vegas for much more on hotels, casinos, restaurants, nightlife, and everything Las Vegas! Check AOL Travel for great deals on hotels, airfare and much more!

And when visiting Vegas, be sure to see Las Vegas Magazine in your hotel suite featuring a print edition of Luxe Life: Vegas, and an incredible directory of attractions, shows and restaurants here.

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Britney's Venetian Visit, plus Wolfgang and Other Starchefs Shine