The Underground Culinary Tour by Damian Mogavero

Author:Damian Mogavero
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2017-01-23T16:00:00+00:00

The night the cab lets me off in front of the MGM Grand Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, the facade of the largest single hotel in the United States is bathed in the glow of green lights. Just before I hop out, I take in the massive banners draped across the front of the building touting upcoming nightclub appearances by two world-renowned DJs—Calvin Harris on one, Tiësto on the other.

As I cut through the lobby and the floor of the casino, I can see that the gaming floor is busy, but it feels as if everyone I see has another destination in mind. Every guy I see is sharply dressed. Every woman seems to be attired in a tight black dress.

It’s club night in Vegas, and people are getting ready to make some noise.

We all converge in a second lobby area toward the back, not far from the entrance to Hakkasan, one of the hottest nightclubs in the city. I send a quick text to my contact, Carlos, the club’s general manager. While I wait, I mill around trying to wrap my head around the size of Hakkasan’s operation. There’s a line of women waiting to enter the club. Another much shorter line for guests with prepaid tickets. A longer line for guests who are buying their tickets last minute. And another line for the high rollers of the evening, guests who have booked VIP tables somewhere in the club. All in all, it’s a remarkably efficient way of managing all these different types of clientele.

Everywhere I look, there are security personnel outfitted with ear mics and hosts who are there to welcome the VIPs for whom they have arranged a truly special night of partying and entertainment. Everyone working the lines is dressed immaculately in perfectly tailored gray or black suits.

Carlos appears out of nowhere, a well-dressed gentleman who treats me like an old friend, though we’ve never met. Later, once we’ve been enveloped by the darkness and thumping of the club, he gets me a drink, leads me on a tour of the place, and confesses to being something of a data geek.

Turns out, Carlos first used my software as a manager of China Grill, one of my early clients and a trendy upscale Asian restaurant with locations in New York, Mexico City, and Dubai. And he uses it today at the club, against a backdrop of gyrating bodies, cutting-edge music, and colored lasers.

Hakkasan is the first club unveiled in Las Vegas by Hakkasan Group, which has more than forty restaurants and fifteen club venues around the world, as well as a relatively new concept on the block: dayclubs.

The club we are in now has five levels, and eighty thousand square feet. Far below us, on the dance floor, DJ Ruckus is enthralling a crowd of a few thousand people. Every time I come to Vegas I try to visit a variety of clubs to see my clients, drink in the spectacle, and get my eardrums and mind blown.

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