Vegas for Millionaries

The 1,000,000 VACATION

LAS VEGAS isn’t all about winning the big bucks—it’s about spending them, too. Splurge your way through the city, from a $3,000 cocktail to a $225 sushi roll.

BY TONY WARE

In recent years, Las Vegas has been reborn as a culinary capital and home to big-ticket entertainment, rather than just a place to gamble. There’s no end to the extravagance for those with the means, even without setting foot on the casino floor. And while you don’t have to be a millionaire to experience these thrills, it certainly helps. Here, check out a sample of something that was once rare in Vegas: gambling-free ways to maximize your fun with unlimited funds.

LAS VEGAS OFFERS A WEALTH OF WAYS TO REPLENISH THE SPIRIT. Like a setting from A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Wynn Las Vegas (www.wynnlasvegas. com), the city’s latest jewel, offers an ethereal lobby of floating topiaries smelling of sweet lilac and gardenia. The Wynn is the world’s most expensive hotel, having cost $2.7 billion to construct (that’s more than $1 million a room). The Tryst—the Wynn’s opulent, expansive ultralounge—does not disappoint. One particularly decadent drink recipe combines Cristal Rosé, limited production Hennessey Ellipse cognac and Grand Marnier 150 Year cognac. As if that weren’t luxurious enough, this drink also contains 24-karat gold flakes and liquid gold syrup. It’s said this might be good for circulation, which could help prepare your heart for when the bill arrives at $3,000 per cocktail.

Over at the Bellagio (www.bellagio.com), Prime Steakhouse has the West Coast’s only bottle of Chivas Regal Royal Salute 50-Year-Old. (There are only 255 bottles of this aged, blended Scotch worldwide, originally launched to honor Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation.) A shot and keepsake glass costs $1,050. Scotch lovers can also visit the Bellagio’s Club Prive, which offers the exotic Macallan 50 Year Old Scotch at $695 a shot, as well as cognacs like Hennessey Ellipse at $500 a shot and Hardy Perfection at $695 a shot.

Hardy Perfection is also featured at SEABLUE inside the MGM Grand (www.mgmgrand.com) in an $825 Sidecar, mixing it with Grand Marnier 150-year and hand-macerated Meyer lemons. At BOA Steakhouse, located in the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace (www.harrahs.com), try “King Richard’s Pride,” a $1,000 cocktail featuring Hennessey Richard, Dom Perignon Rosé 1996, Chambord, plus the juice of one lime, muddled orange and a splash of cranberry juice in a keepsake Baccarat glass. Try one on the prime patio; the rich view of the Strip is like sitting on the hills of Florence looking down on the Duomo. Other million-dollar views include the rooftop deck of PURE at Caesars and the House of Blues’ Foundation Room in Mandalay Bay (www.mandalaybay.com), a clandestine $2,500- to $8,500-a-year members-only club, open to the public on Monday nights.

Wine is certainly an integral part of the Las Vegas experience. A $15,000+ bottle of DRC Romanée Conti is not as hard to find as you might think if you dine at Guy Savoy at Caesars or Alain Ducasse’s Mix at THEhotel

And if you need a chaser, pick up a frosted, Swarovski Crystal-encrusted bottle of Bling H20—that’s water, at only $95 a bottle— available at blistering hot spots such as TAO in the Venetian (www.venetian.com).

So you drank it all in, and now you want a meatier experience. BOA offers its signature “Surf & Turf,” featuring an 8-oz. Japanese Wagyu NY strip topped with sautéed Hudson Valley foie gras and black truffle huckleberry sauce, plus a 14-oz. grilled Australian lobster tail, averaging $190 at market price. You’ll find no shortage of similar top-shelf Kobe beef “specials” at Bradley Ogden in Caesars and StripSteak in Mandalay Bay.

Also at Mandalay Bay is Fleur de Lys, where the “FleurBurger 5000” features Kobe beef stuffed with foie gras and black truffles, topped with special black truffle sauce on a brioche truffle bun. Accompanying is a bottle of Chateau Petrus 1995 served in keepsake Ichendorf Brunello stemware, all for $5,000.

In terms of lavish wine dinners, the Wynn wins, offering 10 packages ranging from $10,000 to $110,000. Featuring rare vintages and customized menus, the meals are served in settings such as the 18th hole of the Wynn golf course, the dance floor of Tryst or center stage at the theatrical production Le Rêve.

If it’s Sunday brunch you’re looking for, a must-try is the most sumptuous buffet in town. A white linen affair available only once a week, Bally’s Sterling Brunch is $65 and offers unlimited champagne, lobster, tenderloin, sushi, caviar—you name it, as long as you name only the best.

The dining scene is definitely full of gems, including the four Las Vegas restaurants awarded the AAA Five-Diamond rating: Picasso and Le Cirque (Bellagio), Joël Robuchon (Mansion at MGM Grand) and Alex (Wynn). Chef Robuchon—the Michelin Three-Star French “Chef of the Century”— was lured from retirement to offer up to 16 courses of peerless precision at $350 per person. This is the city’s most expensive prix fixe—nearly double with wine.

Now you’ve had a few drinks, maybe a marathon meal. Sure, it’s Sin City, the city that really never sleeps, but it’s imperative to catch a few Zs. Head straight to the top of the Palms’ Fantasy Tower (www.palms.com), and book the Hugh Hefner Sky Villa. This two-story, three-bedroom, 9,000- square-foot suite (which can fit 250) offers an outdoor Jacuzzi, private bar, spa, exercise complex, poker table and more, for only $40,000 a night. If you didn’t hop fast enough to snag the most expensive suite in town, “downgrade” to the $25,000, 10,000- square-foot Hardwood Suite (featuring a basketball half-court) or the $7,500, 5,000-square-foot Kingpin Suite with two full-size bowling lanes.

Once rested, get the ultimate Vegas souvenir: a commemorative demo in the Studio at the Palms. For as little as $2,000 a day, get time in a cutting-edge recording studio with a trained engineer.

Of course, money’s no object, so indulge in the Studio’s “Music Fantasy” program. The Studio will help assemble your dream lineup of famous musicians and accomplished producers to professionally record with you. Pick something from an established catalog for the ultimate “karaoke,” or gather ace studio musicians to collaborate on an original song. The price—in the tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars—depends on the musicians and time accrued.

So you’re not a millionaire but still fancy a trip to Vegas? You can
always win a big hand in the casino first—and then splurge

A WEALTH OF OPTIONS

Take four of your friends along in a 1959 Cadillac Convertible for $325 a day (www.dreamcarrentals.com). It’s like living out a ’50s or ’60s screwball fantasy—travel from the Paris of Charade to the Rome of Roman Holiday, or navigate the slick capers of Ocean’s Eleven, all on one stretch of torrid tarmac. If there’s just the two of you and a lot of Benjamins, pick out a Lamborghini Gallardo for $1,599 a day. If you prefer wind whipping through your hair, a Ferrari 360 Spider convertible is $1,499. If you have an extra $200,000 to burn, you are in luck: Penske-Wynn, Nevada’s only factory-authorized Ferrari and Maserati dealer, is located in the Wynn.

After a swing around town, perhaps you’d enjoy swinging some clubs. If you’re staying at an MGM Mirage property, pay $500 to tee off on a round at secluded Shadow Creek, a lush oasis amid Las Vegas. If staying at the Wynn, pay an equal green fee for that resort’s private Strip-side course.

Getting married but want to skip the Elvis wedding chapel? Book an aerial wedding; $3,300 per couple plus guests ($439 each additional guest) gets you a helicopter ride to the floor of the Grand Canyon— minister included.

If you’re in need of recuperation, book a session at Spa Bellagio, where numerous treatments—including the $200 Caviar Fusion Facial—soothe overstimulated nerves. Indulge in the $160 Egyptian Gold Body Treatment, which concludes with a light sprinkling of gold dust to give the face and body a natural luminescence.