VTW – Virtuoso Travel Week – is HARD work. By day two people are looking a bit drained, by day three sky-high SJP shoess are replaced by sneakers, Yeezy rather than Walmart. By day five it’s what edibles – and potables – can keep one alive.
The food quality throughout was sensational (see a separate story on the final gala). At lunchtime, typically, hotels, groups or individual properties, host tables, their choice. The Set Collection had a prized table at Harvest, THE IMPERIAL NEW DELHI at Lago. These were always set menus, say wagyu carpaccio followed by branzino, and dessert, at Lago, last day. There were also long queues at the myriad of ‘fast’-service places dotted in and around convention walkways (Bellagio’s Il Palio) and casino areas (Aria’s 24-hour Patisserie) and, especially, at the myriad of Starbuck’s that seem to be everywhere.
At dinner, as well as truly memorable one-off parties – watch this space – some groups, like Montage and Preferred, cleverly escaped to Las Vegas’ home of style, WYNN LAS VEGAS and its quasi-integral ENCORE. There, the place to be is Delilah. See an image above. It’s a multi-level theatre of constant entertainment, Vegas 70 years ago but also Berlin and Sally Bowles, showbiz and Marilyn, and is that Frank coming out of retirement yet again? Slinky Los Angeles dance sirens may pirouette among static columns by your table, but don’t miss that silver-sequinned number on the main stage.
And, as can be expected at Wynn, food and service are superb. The night Girlahead was there, a burrata panzanella was terrific for two, and the subsequent Creekstone Farms ribeye was, with grilled jumbo asparagus, ideal for an individual carnivore. The here, there, everywhere ambience, with acoustics so fine tuned you cannot hear even a word of others’ must-be-fascinating conversations, continues as you sashay into the night. Brian stands by the Rolls, ready to go.
