To be honest, Las Vegas does not ‘do’ luxury. The gigantic-resorts are brilliant at crowd control and unseen security, and at the military-precision mega-banquets that Bellagio produced for 4,000 Virtuosos last Thursday. They also cleverly outsource superb restaurants to names of the calibre of Mario Cardone, Wolfgang Puck and the like. The properties employ thousands but you can never find a ‘manager’ to ask anything and if you want bathroom necessities or a coffee machine, forget’em. Want water? It’s there, in the auto minibar, but pay through the roof.
But, luxury lovers, help is at hand. The exception to all the above is WYNN LAS VEGAS and its assorted siblings. It’s huge but you feel in a manageable environment, and there’s an 18-hole Tom Fazio course if you want 360° space. Take a Tower Suite, look around you at a new colour palette, by Todd-Avery Lenahan. Now it truly feels residential (wish one had art like that at home – see the video below). One entire wall of the 200sq area, which consists of bedroom with outline four-poster, bathroom area and all-purpose living, looks down and over Las Vegas, with mountains beyond.
Of course there is the best of fitness equipment (the gym has complimentary fruit as well as water). There’s superlative retail, with Louis Vuitton soon joining the multi-floor offerings, and, joy oh joy, there are Wynn-run restaurants. Delilah must definitely not be missed for dinner. Book now. Created out of a former meeting room, a team led by Lenahan, food conceptor Elizabeth Blau and super-passionate President Wynn Las Vegas Brian Gullbrants – that’s him above, by the sumptuously embroidered door to Delilah. They hav toge, working together, created an Art Deco burlesque, hemispherical proscenium with band in front, among-tables be-columned plinths on which, a metre above the floor, slinky girls in full-length bias-cut crèpe gently sway with the music. Food that is believable, best of Americana old and new. Slip of the tongue, adult Martini with Haku vodka, Ahi tuna tradito with Hass avocado, Black Hawk Kentucky flat-iron, a 50-50 American Wagyu marriage, banana pudding crème brûlée.
It’s the same at breakfast, say in the circular conservatory that is part of Tableau. Unique circus scenes on the back of really comfy chairs, sourdough that has village-baker taste, and, not too loud, Cole Porter’s I’ve got you under my skin. And if you’ve ordered a car to the airport there’s a jolly good chance it is a just-new Rolls Royce. Yes, THIS is luxury, and for the moment no-one in town can match it. Last weekend in October, by the way, Wynn Las Vegas hosts the first of its annual Concours d’Elegance weekends, and every month through 2022 it has an exclusive Harlan Wine Pairing dinner, which gives fast-track entry to the much-coveted Harlan ‘wine club’, headquartered at MEADWOOD in St Helena CA.
