Woody Hugh
Drake at Marquee
Tuesday, March 27, 2018 | 2 a.m.
Welcome to your first edition of the Rewind. As it turns out, there is too much fun happening on any given weekend in Las Vegas, yet we are still going to bring you the highlights right here every week. Why Tuesday? The Vegas weekend doesn’t often end on Sunday night. No rest for the wicked.
My own personal weekend started with dinner and drinks at the Mirage’s new Osteria Costa, an upgraded Italian experience for the iconic resort from its talented chef Michael LaPlaca. You can’t order poorly here, but for now I’ll strongly recommend the pizza margherita and linguine with clams. Trust me on this.
Ricky Martin at Park Theater
Saturday night took me back to the Park Theater to see one of my favorite headliner shows on the Strip, Ricky Martin’s “All In” residency. The Puerto Rican superstar (who you may be watching in the FX miniseries “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”) had to cancel a show earlier this month due to an injury but he was in perfect shape this weekend, shaking bon-bons and whatnot. His charisma is matched by a scorching-hot dance troupe and band, both among the best of their kind on the Strip. Once they break out his 2016 hit “Vente Pa’ Ca,” everyone was up and dancing for the rest of the night. You don’t have to be a fan of Martin to enjoy this energetic night of music and I highly recommend you check it out when he returns in May and June.
One of the biggest names in music made a surprise appearance Saturday night at the Cosmopolitan. Drake joined resident artist French Montana onstage at Marquee to perform current hit “God’s Plan,” then partied the night away with a group that included former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger. The hip-hop titans dined earlier that night at Beauty & Essex, where gossip journalist Perez Hilton was also in the house, celebrating his 40th birthday. Hilton spent his Friday night taking in the amazing “Baz – A Musical Mash-Up” at Palazzo.
Giada De Laurentiis and family with Mat Franco at the Linq
Celeb chef and Vegas restaurateur Giada De Laurentiis also took in a show over the weekend, but she didn’t stray far from her restaurants at Caesars Palace and the Cromwell, checking in for Mat Franco’s friendly magic extravaganza at the Linq and a post-show meet-up.
Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue models dominated the Strip over the weekend, partying left and right to celebrate the launch of the 2018 issue. Among their stops: Marquee on Friday night, where they jumped on stage with DJ MikeAttack; and Encore Beach Club for a blowout pool party on Saturday, where they took over the luxury bungalows and spent some time with Wynn Nightlife resident star Diplo before he joined his cohorts in Major Lazer behind the decks.
Diplo and friends at EBC
Finally, in delicious restaurant news, the Palms announced its next culinary unveiling, Scotch 80 Prime in the steakhouse space formerly occupied by the iconic N9NE venue. Longtime chef Barry S. Dakake is back in the kitchen and ready to fire up tomahawk ribeyes, A5 Japanese Kobe, mesquite-fired crustacean towers and more. It opens in May.
