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I saw Prince in concert at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino this past Saturday night. He performed as part of his west coast tour with a limited engagement show at The Joint, which just celebrated the 4th anniversary of its new location. My friend Jason and I arrived late to our balcony suite seats and realized, when Prince had his encore almost two hours later, that we were dancing next to Magic Johnson the entire time.

Life is a bagatelle. And a beach. And those artful cultivators of all that is fabulous and famous--Remi Laba and Aymeric Clemente--will be unveiling both this coming Cinco de Mayo weekend. The new and anxiously anticipated Bagatelle Beach will be an amphibious extension of the brand's lavish restaurant-cum-nightclub at the Strip's legendary Tropicana. Where inside is all dazzling lighting design and glittering chandeliers, its littoral spinoff emphasizes mellow poolside lounging in private cabanas, or on stylishly designed loungers and, um, lily pads. Or just float on out in the pool, drinkie in hand. With a white sand beach and exotic foliage, it's a little slice of St Tropez chic in Vegas. Of course, it's all just a fantastic excuse to launch a new edition of Bagatelle's already storied champagne brunch.

Kinky, bizarre, theatrical things are happening at Las Vegas’ new nightclub The Act inside the Venetian Hotel, and last night, Nima Yamini elevated the craze to a whole other level with his open-format DJ set. Tonight, April 19^th, the co-founder of Avenue A Soundcheck lands in San Diego, at the Latin-Spanish nightclub Sevilla, where he’ll spice up their VIVE Fridays party with his Latin house, EDM, and hip-hop spins. And after his stint at the Pussycat Dolls Dollhouse on the 20^th, Nima jets off to the east coast, where he’ll hit up Trump Soho on the 23^rd and Greenhouse on the 26^th. It’s the month of Nima; catch him before it ends.

If there can be an entire restaurant dedicated to grilled cheese, then certainly a temple to one of the world's most hallowed tipples seems more than reasonable, especially in Las Vegas. And the Cognac Lounge comes by way of equally hallowed culinary god Guy Savoy, whose restaurant in Vegas' Caesars Palace has already earned two Michelin stars. Bottles are not "stocked" here--they're "acquired." And several are exclusive to the restaurant and lounge, including the 140-years-aged Perfection by Hardy, a special Hennessy Ellipse, and the 1990-bottled Hine Talent, fittingly housed in hand-etched Baccarat crystal.

So, you’re in Vegas and it’s 10 AM and you’re standing in a cloud of second-hand smoke on the casino floor. All around you, Midwesterners in tank tops drag their bloated bodies back and forth from one flashing machine to another, and no one is winning. And no one is smiling. Upstairs, everyone’s hungover or broke. Outside, it’s the same Mandalay Bay-to-Bellagio parade. The possibilities for the day in Vegas seem tired, perverse, and well, shitty. And you have two more days of this?

A nod to the Greek goddess Hera, for whom the Heraean Games (the first women's Olympic competition) were named, The Palms' new Heraea has a similar revolutionary intent: to give the fairer sex a place of their own to cheer on their favorite teams, with high tech screens for taking in the action. Yet with chic interiors, appropriately, by Seed Design, this latest hotspot from those bringers of unrepentant glamour The One Group forswears the usual dude-appropriate style elements of typical sports bars. Instead, it's all tufted banquettes, warm woods, moody lighting and a prevailing sexy lounge vibe--poolside seating included.

If ever a restaurant was clear in its statement of intention, it's the new Citizens Kitchen and Bar at the Mandalay Bay Resort. Though The Light Group  has certainly glittered up Vegas with its share of flash, celeb-magnet nightspots (Haze, Lily, 1OAK, etc), CK&B has a populist bent; at 6,787 sq. ft., it can satisfy a large swath of the citizenry at once. Munge Leung's interior design has infused the massive space with a cozy Americana feel with lots of antique touches, faux-vintage lamps, and a charming higgledy-piggledy collection of art and photos adorning the walls. 

The original Nobu, which opened in Tribeca in 1994, was perhaps the first celebrity destination restaurant where the quality of the food matched the blazing star power. Now with 22 outposts from Milan to Moscow, and Melbourne to Mexico City, it was inevitable that the empire would spawn its own hotel. And so the doors are at last opening on the Nobu Hotel at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas—which stands athwart the strip’s gargantuan resorts. 

Two decades of experience in New York nightlife prepared Matt Shendell, president of Paige Hospitality Group, for the challenges of opening the Ainsworth, an upscale gastropub that has TVs for big games, but keeps them turned off at other times. The concept was a hit, and he’s keeping it going with other Ainsworth locations, as well as 121 Fulton in Tribeca. We chatted with Shendell to get the lowdown on his first job at a legendary nightclub and the delicate balance required to elevate the sports bar concept into something classier.

It only makes sense that Gordon Ramsay should continue to expand his empire into the only city that can match his unapologetic brazenness. Now appropriately staking ground at Caesars Palace (what is Gordon, if not the Julius Caesar of the kitchen?), his buzzing and bustling new GR Pub & Grill continues his recent more populist bent.