"LasVegas" news and stories

Las Vegas has oversaturated its high-end restaurant scene, according to a prominent restaurateur.

Drew Nieporent, president of the Myriad Restaurant Group which owns Nobu, believes Las Vegas' new City Center development and its top restaurants may kill other eateries in this gaming town.

"Las Vegas is a fantastic place now for restaurants except it seems to me they've oversaturated," Nieporent tells Bloomberg. "This new City Center has approximately, I think it's close to two dozen new establishments, all pretty high end, and what that's going to is it's going to -- I think they'll do well because it's new -- but a lot of the other places in Las Vegas are going to feel the impact because they don't have the mass audience like we do in New York."

Nieporent says the current economic crisis hasn't affected New York's high-end dining scene too badly because "New York is 365 days of business."

Photo: Frazer Harrison, Getty Images

If you were betting on Vegas for the season finale of "Top Chef Las Vegas," you've lost.

The finale of the show will be filmed in Napa, Bravo officials said Monday.

Be sure to check out Slashfood's latest recap of the series here.

Top Chef judges Toby, Padma, Tom and Gail. Photo: Bravo TV.

Chef-testants for season six of Top Chef were announced today. The showdown will take place in Las Vegas, which Tom Colicchio assures us is a "very serious food town."

The primary thing a bunch of these newbies have in common? Tattoos, big time. Click through the gallery and let us know if we're wrong. That's not to say we don't spy some serious contenders in the mix. Talent ranges from Michael Voltaggio, chef de cuisine of the buzzed-about José Andrés Bazaar in Los Angeles, to the innocuous-looking (but perhaps culinarily ferocious) Jesse Sandlin, one of the tattooed toques, who sports a flower in her hair.

Don't skip the video of our four judges, in which Gail declares, "I'm eating very well," and Padma asserts, "A few of these contestants have even taught Tom a thing or two." Hmm. We'll see.

Are you stoked about Top Chef Vegas -- or are you over it by now?

Frank Sinatra was a man who loved to dine. Indeed, he was many a restaurants' favorite patron, from the neighborhood pizzeria to more upscale spots. Additionally, his picture hangs in hundreds, probably thousands of places he never even set foot in because Sinatra means Italian food.

The ultimate in Frank-revering restaurants has opened in the new Encore casino in Las Vegas, where Sinatra (Well, what would you call it?) is the first restaurant fully sanctioned by Ol' Blue Eyes' family. So sanctioned that it's bursting with enough memorabilia to stock a museum; not only photos, but gold records, Grammys and Frank's Best Supporting Actor award for From Here to Eternity grace the dining room, which puts a glossy, post-modern spin on Sinatra's signature Palm Beach style.

Heading up the kitchen is executive chef Theo Schoenegger (formerly of LA's Patina) whose Italian cuisine eschews red sauce and Mama Dolly's pasta for dishes possessed of a more minimalist elegance with a few simple, fresh ingredients applied to maximum effect. Order up a chairman-approved cocktail and toast the good life.

The point of fast-food franchises is instant familiarity--every outlet serving the same food under the same sign in essentially the same building. But McDonald's has been messing with that paradigm, opening new restaurants that are hard to recognize as the home of Ronald and the Big Mac. Viva McDonald's recently opened on the Las Vegas Strip, tearing down a 25-year-old golden arches to rebuild a slick new restaurant. The arch is still there--at least one, anyway--stretched as a marquee above a row of 20-foot wide video screens. Inside, there's something of the Quonset hut design of a Chipotle, along with even more screens, all broadcasting McDonald's own in-house TV channel. You can even get a latte and use wi-fi!

Not enough change for you? How about the McDonald's with no branding at all, not even the name. In Tokyo, the fast-food megalith has opened several small restaurants named, simply, Quarter Pounder. There's not an arch in sight--the black-and-red decor looks more like a bar or nightclub and even the wrappers are redesigned, streamlined and logo-free. However, don't get your hopes up about a chic new shame-based No-I-Am-Not-a-McDonald's: The stores are open as part of a promotion for the quarter pounder, which was not previously available in Japan.