Courtesy of Caesars / Studio K
The dining room is shown at the Bugsy & Meyer’s Steakhouse at Flamingo Las Vegas.
Monday, Jan. 20, 2020 | 2 a.m.
The Flamingo has a long history on the Strip dating back to the 1940s. Its new steakhouse will pay homage to that history.
A nod to gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel and businessman and mob figure Meyer Lanksy, the $10 million Bugsy & Meyer’s Steakhouse will provide patrons with an opportunity to “travel back in time,” said Flamingo President Eileen Moore-Johnson. It will open in the spring. The duo helped open the Flamingo in 1946.
“We want guests to feel as if they’ve traveled back to when the Flamingo Las Vegas first opened with glamour, class and intrigue, but it will be positioned in today’s world with modern touches,” Moore-Johnson said.
The main entrance to the steakhouse will be through a bakery-type façade, said officials at Caesars Entertainment, which operates the Flamingo. Guests will also walk past the kitchen and meat cooler, giving the illusion of entering through a back portal, as many did decades ago following the Flamingo’s opening.
In short, think of the famous scene from the 1990 film “Goodfellas” in which Martin Scorsese had main character Henry Hill escort his future wife to a table through a secret entrance at the Copacabana Club.
“In the old days, the best seats were accessed through the back of the house, and people will have that experience here,” said Ken Janssen, the Flamingo’s general manager. “They’re going to walk past the bakery facade and see the culinary staff bringing everything to life.”
To tie a bow around the vintage feel, the steakhouse will also have a speakeasy called the Count Room.
The steakhouse will sit across from the Flamingo’s wildlife habitat’s main entrance in the former Center Cut, Café to Go and Laurel Lounge spaces.
“We’ve combined those spaces into one new space, which has caused a need for some unique construction things to bring everything up to one level,” Janssen said. “We’re going to have some unique touches. I think the Count Room experience will be a really nice capstone to the experience.”
From the Mob Museum to the Siegel Suites and Bugsy’s Blinds, there are literally signs all over the Las Vegas Valley of Siegel’s influence on the city.
The El Cortez in downtown Las Vegas even has a Bugsy-themed restaurant of its own in Siegel’s 1941. El Cortez co-owner Kenny Epstein said there’s plenty of the Bugsy mystique to go around.
“I think it’s terrific,” Epstein said. “I’m really proud that a big hotel like the Flamingo is following in the El Cortez's footsteps. I think that’s a compliment to us.”
The connections between Siegel and Lansky and the two properties have been entrenched for years. A group of investors — led, of course, by Siegel and Lansky — opened the Flamingo the day after Christmas in 1946. The duo, however, got their start in Las Vegas at the El Cortez.
“Bugsy and Meyer used the money and expertise they got from owning the El Cortez to open the Flamingo,” said Adam Wiesberg, general manager of the El Cortez.
Siegel and Lansky helped shape Las Vegas into what it is today. They represent the early days of Las Vegas and the city’s connection with the often glamorized and sometimes mythical gangster lifestyle.
“Back in the day, I think there was a little apprehension to embrace the city’s mob past,” Wiesberg said. “With the Mob Museum now and with all the interest in that period, things have changed. It’s a nasty part of history, but it is part of Las Vegas’ history. It’s intriguing and appealing now to all generations.”
Like the Mob Museum, Bugsy & Meyer’s will also sell mob-related merchandise, which some of Lansky’s surviving family members had a say on, according to Caesars.
Next year, the Flamingo will celebrate its 75th anniversary and the steakhouse figures to play a big role in however property officials decide to mark the occasion.
“It’s interesting when you think about guest preferences and how things change,” Janssen said. “There’s definitely an increased interest in nostalgia. I think the Bugsy & Meyer’s space is going to be a nod to that. We’re going to play into some of those old touches.”
