St. Regis Residences to Open in Las Vegas - Newest High Rise Condo Project To Provide The Ultimate in Luxury

When the Las Vegas Sands teams up with Starwood Hotel & Resorts, amazing things happen. Case in point: in a joint venture between the two, the world renowned St. Regis brand is now set to enter the Las Vegas high rise condo marketplace with 398 private luxury residences currently under construction between the Las Vegas Sands' Palazzo and Venetian resorts located right on the famed Las Vegas Strip.

This news brings this project to the forefront for all discerning high rise condo buyers searching for the ultimate in luxury, world-class amenities, and high rise life. Suffice to say, the St. Regis name alone makes this project the most compelling and exciting project in town, dwarfing even the presigious Project CityCenter in my opinion.

Here's the bottom line: quality and luxury sell in any type of financial environment. Add to that the premium location of these residences which make the St. Regis perhaps the rarest of opportunities to live the ultimate in high rise condo lifestyle in a one of a kind residence on the Strip.

When this high rise condo project opens in March 2010, the St. Regis Residences unit owners will be treated to everything that's made the St. Regis brand the finest in the world, including the signature St. Regis Butler Service, meticulously designed interiors with no detail overlooked or expense spared, the custom tailored experiences, access to luxury accommodations in the best addresses in the world, and so much more. The residences will range in size from a 1,700 square foot unit to over 10,000 square feet for a duplex villa with a private pool. Said Venetian owner Sheldon Adelson:

"The St. Regis Residences at The Venetian Palazzo, Las Vegas will provide its occupants a private, secure sanctuary combined with instant access to more than 30 world-class restaurants, two state-of-the-art spa and fitness facilities, four exciting theatres, and more than 150 premium retailers... The glamour and excitement of the Las Vegas Strip will literally be right at your doorstep -- where else in the world would residents of a high rise be able to go downstairs every night and choose between Mario Batali, Emeril Lagasse, Wolfgang Puck, Thomas Keller, or Charlie Trotter for dinner?"

And he's absolutely correct in that accessment! We are currently forming a website and an interest list for this opportunity. Prices are TBD at this point, but as you can imagine, they will not be cheap. Are you ready for the ultimate in luxury living? If so, and you have the means, perhaps you can be one of those fortunate enough to take advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity.

Let them eat Las Vegas High Rise Condo Penthouse Cake? I don't think so!

Remember this post?

Well, that Las Vegas high rise condo penthouse unit is getting ready for foreclosure. If you want to find out about the inside deal and how you can pick this unit up for about a million dollars less, you need to contact us IMMEDIATELY.

Update on Madonna Tickets

All the Madonna Madison Square Garden concert tickets have been spoken for. Availability for the dining is also no longer available.

Pre-reserve with me for Vegas MGM. Although it will not be the same, we have a private tasting of our 2007 Best Of Chocolates Victor, the Noka Vintages Collection. For those of you who were not privy to last years indulgence, Noka chocolate is a compilation of the finest dark chocolates, sourced from select plantations in Venezuela, Trinidad, Cote d'Ivoire and Ecuador.

The Vintages Collection of chocolate is 75% pure, single-origin cacao, with other ingredients that include cacao butter and sugar. Noka does not use any type of emulsifier, such as soy lecithin, in their chocolate-making process, nor do they add vanilla. At $857 per pound, I promise you will enjoy every bite.

Why do we not have a Noka Chocolate here in Vegas? The opening of the third Tiffany’s will be at the Crystal and is said to be 10,000sf. I don’t know why, but I just felt this was important information!

Back to Madonna Vegas…the after party will be hosted by RB again and will be limited to 20 guests. The location will be disclosed the evening of the event - surely you will smile. Order Fathers Day chocolates directly on line. They are package beautifully.

Bette Midler NYC Hulaween Gala Waldorf Astoria

For those who want to purchase tickets to the New York Restoration Project's annual Hulaween gala at the Waldorf Astoria in NYC on October 31st, 2008, please email us and we will send information. This is a an amazing funtastic event.

One of the world's best-loved and most versatile entertainers, Bette Midler has garnered accolades in all quarters of show business. She's earned four Grammy Awards, two Academy Award nominations, three Emmy Awards, one Tony Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and nine American Comedy Awards. Her SRO tours have placed historically in the Top 5 grossing concerts in a calendar year.

Equally famous off the stage for her humanitarian work, Bette has celebrated eleven years of restoring parks, gardens, and open space in impoverished neighborhoods throughout New York City with the New York Restoration Project (NYRP), which she founded and continues to lead with vision and unbridled enthusiasm. Now, Bette and The New York Restoration Project are donating two VIP tickets for the 2008 Hulaween Gala. The event is a costume party and gala dinner benefitting NYRP, hosted by Bette Midler at the Waldorf-Astoria on October 31, 2008.

This is an incredible opportunity to dress up in your wildest costume and hang out with some of the most famous names in the entertainment industry! Start working on your costume today so that you can celebrate Hulaween withBette, and party with the stars for a great cause. For a list of costume designers, email us. We will have a full-body creative make-up artist attending.

Madonna Tickets: Sticky & Sweet World Tour Dates Set

There are three sure things in this world: death, taxes and Madonna being the hottest ticket in music. Her Sticky & Sweet World Tour is set, and we have four tickets left for the Material Girl's epic return to the stage on October 11, 2008 at Madison Square Garden.

The twenty-seven of the VIP tickets sold on the first day and I only have four left at $6,000 per ticket. To date, we eighteen LVWG members are booked at the Mandarin Oriental, five will be staying at Trump International.and the other members have NYC residences. So if you are interested, call me and Jacquee will be happy to make your arrangements.

We are planning on arriving on the tenth of October. Afternoon and dinner at Raos has been changed as Chef Batali will be spoiling our pallets! Mario Batali's great achievement, among many, has been to turn animal viscera into the epitome of haute cuisine. Even after repeated, feverish tastings, I'm still not tired of his lamb's-tongue vinaigrette, or crispy pig's-foot Milanese, with its soothing thatch of arugula on the side. Batali has eclipsed most of the country's effete French chefs in terms of notoriety, influence, and glossy-cookbook sales.

After a glass of grappa or three, it's even possible to argue that he is the Escoffier of our messy, Rabelaisian era. Despite an influx of celebrity diners from around the globe, Babbo still manages to achieve that elusive combination of style and comfort better than any restaurant in town.

Also on the list for the 12th is Le Bernadin. The city is full of ornate restaurants, but none of them manages to exude the glamour and class of Manhattan the way this one does, without any overweening glitz. The impeccable French service is the best in the city. The wood-paneled room is grand, but in an oddly soothing way. And then there's the chef, Eric Ripert, who, unlike most super-chefs in town, tends to stay in his kitchen and cook. All the food is excellent-from uni seviche to barely cooked salmon with black truffles - but if it's on the menu, order Mr. Ripert's shrimp ravioli puddled in truffle sauce.

We will be celebrating the anniversary of JWS & his lovely bride of 5 years at Masa and all are invited. A bit ofadvice: Michel Couvreux is one of the great sommeliers in America - let him choose the wines. Masa Takayama, the illustrious sushi god from L.A., came to New York with a uniquely Japanese, if slightly insane proposition: that a meal of the highest quality is worth almost any price. It turns out he's right, but only under the most specific Rashomon-like conditions. Whatever you do, sit at the bar of this quirky, lavishly overpriced little restaurant (not at the dinky, dimly lit tables), preferably in front of Masa himself (not one of his acolytes). The ensuing spectacle, complete with risotto folded with uni and truffles, Kobe-beef sukiyaki, and slabs of foie gras cooked in a little shabu-shabu pot, is part nourishment, part entertainment, and part ancient performance art.

It's not just a meal, it's an event-well worth the $350 cost of a single omakase dinner (before the sakes are factored in), and as different from the average dining experience as a TV rerun is from a first-rate Broadway show. There will be lots planned. Join. Or choose not too.!

By the way, the tickets are fabulous. There are tickets for $15k available. As soon as Vegas tickets pre-sale as an ICON, I get fabulous first choice.

Champagne & Caviar Affair - Delicious!

Our annual private Champagne & Caviar Affair event was held at the secluded MGM Mansion: a most spectacular 18th century Tuscan Villa.

We started in the Grande Salon sipping cognac and walked the manicured gardens, admired the limestone fountains and just enjoyed a serene Las Vegas evening. We all wandered back to the villa to be greeted by chilled Russian Vodka and an array of caviar with tastings from California Golden Osetra to Iranian Special Reserve.

The evening continued as we sipped Krug and admired an intoxicating display of Crocant Gaudi, Trout Roe Tempura, Chocolate & Eucalyptus with Pear Sorbet, Lollipop of White Chocolate & Lemon Candy and trysts of Bread with Tomatoe & Rosemary Butter.

The finale was a delicacy brought in by our member R.B. and we thank you whole heartedly as we will have imbedded in our taste pallets forever your gift of White Truffles.

There is only one word for the entertainment - unbelievable. The evening was remarkable as twenty members and five guests mingled until dawn. Next year's reservations are accepted with an $18,000 deposit. We are increasing the reservation list to forty as all twenty members reserved. We have invited all five of the guests to join… a first!

Palazzo's Now Home to Bauman Rare Books

Last year's 2007 Best Of Book Collections, J N Bartfield, has a serious competitor and its all about location, location, location - here in Las Vegas, our very own Bauman Rare Book hideaway at the Palazzo.

While the Palazzo is well... not Wynn... they do have Barneys and Bauman! While many bibliophiles accumulate volumes for a personal library, the serious book collector is interested in the physical books themselves, not just their content. Bauman offers the quality.

I know many of you banter/joke about my intense descriptions for delicacies, shoes, shows and dining and sipping and I have been challenged to bring excitement to as so unelequently put by DMT buying a 'book.'

Here goes Debbi-doubter: many collectors seek out first editions of books, or acquire copies of every work written by a particular author or on a particular subject. There are billions of books in the world, and thousands of bookstores, and while manuscript books are all expensive, even incunabula (books printed in the 15th century) can be found for several hundred US dollars.

Advanced collectors may pursue the great rarities; the Gutenberg Bible and Shakespeare's First Folio are famous (and pricey). On the other hand, so long as a book (or anything else) is and appears likely to continue to be easily procurable at any moment, no one has any reason for collecting it. Beginning to sound interesting? It has even been laid down that the ultimate rarity of books varies in the inverse ratio of the number of copies originally printed, and though the generalization is a little sweeping, it is not far from the truth.

To triumph over small difficulties being the chief element in games of skill, the different varieties of book-collecting, which offer almost as many varieties of grades of difficulty, make excellent hobbies. Neither the collector nor the curator can be content to keep a mere curiosity-shop. It is the collector's business to illustrate his central idea by his choice of examples, by the care with which he describes them and the skill with which they are arranged. In all these matters many amateurs rival, if they do not outstrip, the professional curators and librarians, and not seldom their collections are made with a view to their ultimate transference to public ownership.

In any case it is by the zeal of collectors that books which otherwise would have perished from neglect are discovered, cared for and preserved, and those who achieve these results certainly deserve our attention. Oh, and if you have to ask the cost, then you have chosen the wrong hobby.