Themed dining in Las Vegas, Las Vegas Sun, July 5, 1996

Let them eat sports! Lisa Sciortino Friday, July 5, 1996 | 11:59 a.m. First there was the giant guitar. Then came the homage to Hollywood and a yellow submarine. Themed restaurants such as the Hard Rock Cafe, Planet Hollywood and Dive! may have made their marks on the Las Vegas dining scene -- and even the skyline -- in recent years. But, if all goes as planned, Vegas will need a separate phone book for them by this time next year. The Country Star American Music Grill joined the list Monday with with a star-studded VIP opening. And the Official All-Star Cafe is up to bat next. The sports memorabilia mecca is owned by tennis star Andre Agassi, football great Joe Montana and hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, among others. Patterned after an old-fashioned baseball stadium and equipped with the mitt-shaped booths, the cafe is set to open in December in the Showcase Mall by the MGM Grand. Future outlets are planned for Atlantic City and Orlando, Fla. Another sure thing is the Stratosphere's jungle-themed Rainforest Cafe this fall. The lush decor of the enviro-friendly restaurant helps re-create the sights, sounds and smells of an actual rain forest (yes, it rains in the dining room!) What does a rain forest taste like? You'll have to try the "Rasta Pasta" and "Rumble in the Jungle" for yourself. Just don't feed the animals, whether they're living (parrots and tropical fish) or anamatronic (gorillas, elephants and crocodiles, oh my!). Just when you think the city has more cutesy cookeries than you can shake a mozzarella stick at, the next course is ready to be served. A heapin' helpin' of themed restaurants -- from auto racing to stand-up comedy to superheroes -- is set to take shape on and around the Strip. At least, that's the plan. Though a handful of theme-minded restaurateurs from around the country claim they've been scouting the Strip, most have shied away from disclosing a firm location, groundbreaking or opening date for their ventures. But rest assured, they're coming, says Frank Volk. The local commercial real estate broker for Stuart Mixer Commercial specializes in property purchases along Las Vegas Boulevard. He's heard through the grapevine that several restaurant chains may open the flagships of their operations here. "That was unheard of five years ago," Volk says. "Five years ago, nobody even wanted to come to this market because nobody understood the dynamics of the market." Volk takes credit for having scouted out the lot that Country Star occupies (Harmon Avenue and the Strip) for executives, who searched two years before settling on the location. It didn't take much, however, to convince them that Vegas was the new hot spot. "Once Planet (Hollywood) or Hard Rock enters the market, everyone else follows suit," Volk says. Born to be wild If you ride a motorcycle (or just wish you did), you'll surely be in hog heaven when the New York-based Harley Davidson Cafe rumbles into Las Vegas "soon," says owner Marc Packer. Packer and his crew are working on "some new, innovative ideas" for the 20,000-square-foot Las Vegas location, but declined to be specific. One of them is not the restaurant's facade: a huge cycle complete with handlebars, headlights and front wheel that protrudes off the building. It's the same design as the East Coast cafe. "It's not as imposing as the volcano or the pyramid. I'm just another little guy on the street," Packer says. Inside the $10 million restaurant, a sampling of classic and celebrity-owned cycles will serve as eye candy for up to 400 diners who'll feast on salads, fajitas, sandwiches, pastas and specialty deserts. And in the retail store, shoppers can purchase plenty of logo items, everything from denim jackets to shot glasses. Well, almost everything. "You can't buy a bike," Packer jokes. You needn't be the "Easy Rider" type to feel comfy at the cafe. Packer says Harley's caters to the Planet Hollywood-Hard Rock crowd. "Just your basic tourist." Yuk it up It's a comedy club! No, it's a restaurant! No, it's a museum! It's a factory? The latter is how Jaime Masada, founder and president of the famed Hollywood comedy club, The Laugh Factory, describes his newest venture. He's teamed with music mogul Quincy Jones and partner David Salzman to open Laugh Factory Funhouse restaurants around the country. First stop: Las Vegas. "If you can make it in Las Vegas, you can make it anywhere," Masada rationalizes. "The reason people go to Vegas is to have fun, enjoy themselves. Vegas is the land of fantasy and enjoyment, and the Laugh Factory is going to fit in the same way." Upon entering this 40,000-square-foot Funhouse, a hostess will recite the joke of the day and present the place's joke-riddled menu, featuring what Masada assures will be "the best chicken sandwich you can get in Las Vegas." (Just hope it's not a rubber chicken!) The restaurant will also be a comedy shrine, of sorts. There will be a Comedy Hall of Fame ride, featuring Laugh Factory artifacts and comedy collectibles (Groucho Marx's costumes, W.C. Fields' hat). A hard hat -- it's a factory, remember -- will double as the admission ticket. Computers hooked up to humor databases will be sprinkled about. Comics -- newcomers and established jokesters -- will perform each hour on the stage. There's even something for amateurs: open-mike nights and Jokie-oke, a comical version of karaoke. "Hopefully from the time you walk in to the time you walk out, we'll make you laugh," Masada says. But will the concept fly as smoothly as a whipped-cream pie to the face? He thinks so. "Laughter is an international language. That's the key point to the whole restaurant." Masada hopes to have the Funhouse open by spring. Vrooom, vrooom Gentlemen, start your stomaches! If you feel the need for speed (or just a hamburger), you may be able to motor on over to Race Rock soon. The motor-sports-driven restaurant opened its first outlet in Orlando earlier this year, and Race Rock's chairman and CEO, Andrew Newman, says the cafe could be headed for a pit stop in Las Vegas. "It's a proven great location for a themed restaurant. We're looking at a variety of locations," Newman says, though no opening date has been set. Motorheads will dig this place, decorated with the actual vehicles -- dragsters, NASCARs, monster trucks, motorcycles, hydroplanes -- and uniforms of racing giants Richard Petty, Rusty Wallace, Michael Andretti, Don Prudhomme and others. "We say that there's enough horsepower within the walls of Race Rock to shake the world," Newman says. Diners can also race other diners (or the celebrity racers who stop by) on virtual-reality simulators. Fill up your tank with turbo-charged munchies like "Nitro Wings" (chicken wings), "Race-Adillas" (quesadillas), "Circle Tracks" (gourmet pizzas) and Mama Andretti's pasta. Burn rubber into the lobby and pick up a piston clock or fuel-can-shaped coffee mug at Race Rock's retail store, a pair of 18-wheelers. Hurricane Harry A hurricane in the desert? Once an hour or so, if local entrepreneur Mark Advent has it his way. The Henderson resident, a former commercial and music video producer who also served as the conceptual designer of New York-New York, has come up with a dining concept that's sure to stir things up a bit. That with the help of a seven-minute windstorm that will whip through Hurricane Harry's Casino and Adventure Emporium when it opens next year. Construction is set to begin on the 90,000-square-foot dining-entertainment complex, located in the parking lot of the Galleria at Sunset mall, in about two months. The center's theme is based on an adventurer-explorer-gambler character named Sir Harry O'Brien (whom Advent tongue-and-cheekily contends really exists). "He's sort of everybody's alter ego. He's what everybody wants to be -- the epitome of romance and adventure," he says. The Caribbean-flavored complex will feature palm trees and a lagoon outside, a small casino, cigar/cognac lounge and three-story rock-climbing wall inside. When the hurricane hits, lights and sirens sound as the bow of a ship comes crashing through the roof. A 4,000-square-foot retail area will offer a variety of unusual knickknacks to compliment the theme -- microscopes, globes, books -- as well as a line of safari-style clothing. A full-service "adventure travel center" will help guests book their own trips to the Australian Outback or Nile cruises. "It appeals to the adventurer in everybody, the fantasy that everybody wants to live," Advent says. "I think people are looking for authenticity. The public is real sensitive to that. "There's nowhere else you can do this on such as grand scale as you can in Vegas." The $25 million place will house not one, not two, but three restaurants. Advent is working to bring the trendy, California-based Cheesecake Factory on board, along with an upscale steak and seafood restaurant and one named after Harry himself. The menu there will boast "international concoctions" that are low in fat and preservatives. "A lot of these (themed restaurants) don't serve that great of food," Advent says. "The last thing we want to stick on our menu, just because everyone else has it, is a lot of greasy french fries and cheeseburgers." The Henderson location will be the first in an international chain of Hurricane Harry's restaurants Advent plans to open in the next six years. "I want to build a prototype that's transportable not only to (vacation) destination locations, but locations that could be in any city." Advent is also in negotiations with television producer Lorne Michaels to bring another of his themed eatery ideas -- the Saturday Night Live Cafe -- to fruition in Las Vegas. Rumor has it ... Several other themed restaurants have at least expressed an interest in setting up shop around town. Comic-book collectors can take heart as Marvel Mania, a cafe celebrating favorite Marvel Comics superheroes (X-Men, Wolverine), is said to be on its way. From superheroes to supermodels, the Fashion Cafe, a tasty ode to couture fronted by models Claudia Schiffer, Elle Macpherson and Naomi Campbell, is also looking for a Las Vegas location. So are Billboard and Sports Illustrated magazine-themed restaurants. The Motown Cafe is shoop-shooping its way into town. Details of the New York-based restaurant's mid-December opening (location to be announced soon) are being kept under wraps, though, according to Traci Jordon, one the eatery's partners. Quincy Jones may also have a stake in another restaurant venture here -- his own -- called Q's Juke Joint. Outlets are being planned for around the country, though a Las Vegas opening, according to Jone's publicist Arnold Robinson, would be "a ways down the road." Or does he mean the Strip? archive