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Xania Woodman

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  • Cocktail of the Week

    Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008

    Anyone who says that water is water is water is lying to himself and is sadly missing out on a great beverage pleasure. The velvety soft, pleasant mouth-feel of Tasmanian Rain makes it a good nighttime bedside sipper, as opposed to the naturally sparkling, highly mineral (smacks of baking soda) Vichy Catalan, which pairs well with any meal.

  • Nights on the Circuit

    Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008

    In this, Sugarcane’s opening night, the Sushisamba bartenders are beyond bustling—they’re downright flustered. Though they’ve had a month to softly open inside the Shoppes at the Palazzo, tonight is, well, kind of a big deal.

  • Cocktail of the Week

    Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008

    Perhaps even better in liquid form than the 2006 James Bond flick of the same name, the Casino Royale, property master mixologist John Dupont’s menu leader, is a broad adaptation on the Kir Royale—blackcurrant liquor topped with champagne—and is conveniently packed with antioxidants.

  • Palazzo

    Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008

    So what the heck is going on with the third floor of the Shoppes, just above Barney’s?! It’s the future, kids. And it’s bright.

  • Nights on the Circuit

    Thursday, Aug. 7, 2008

    In a world routinely committing crimes against rock culture (Tuscan Orange Grapefruit Michelob Ultra?!), it’s gratifying to see little pockets of rebellion still clinging to the social calendar.

  • Nightlife

    Thursday, July 31, 2008

    A little bit Country Time (think rocking chairs) and a little bit rock ‘n roll (think streaking), bartender Toni Rossi’s irresistible creation has a deceptive sting.

  • Nightlife

    Thursday, July 31, 2008

    Giving new meaning to the phrase “Are you in the book?” first-time author Jay Louis’ debut, Hot Chicks With Douchebags (Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 2008), attempts to plant a righteous finger into a dam bursting with sightings of, well, hot chicks with douchebags, that is, men Louis would consider unworthy with the women they are unworthy of.

  • Nightlife

    Thursday, July 24, 2008

    It’s hard not to feel just a little like a hooker when you’re dressed to the nines, waiting for a man you couldn’t pick out of a lineup and whom you only know by his first name.

  • Nightlife

    Thursday, July 24, 2008

    Oranges, mint and jalapeños?! Surprisingly, it works.

  • Nightlife

    Thursday, July 17, 2008

    "The wine area is mobbed. Way busier than last time,” the text message reads. I’m off bridesmaiding in New Jersey, but an enlisted spy keeps me in touch with Red Rock Resort’s second poolside Bottle Rock-It Saturday, a 14-week duet of rock concert and wine tasting ($30, $15 respectively).

  • Cocktail of the Week

    Thursday, July 17, 2008

    Calm down, caffeine fiends—Coke hasn’t gone and changed its magic formula or anything like that. But for a short time, at least the bottles will be available in some very original new packaging.

  • Nightlife

    Thursday, July 10, 2008

    Anuhea "Anu" Hawkins has made a name for herself as the sommelier at Nove Italiano at the Palms, but when she's not studying and serving wine, this native Hawaiian prefers spending time with her 6 year-old daughter.

  • Nightlife

    Thursday, July 10, 2008

    Christian Audigier—the man, the designer, the winemaker? I learned a lot about the French designer-culprit behind Ed Hardy, Diesel and Von Dutch during a hard-hat tour of his new joint, successor to Tangerine at TI. Beyond his fashionable designer-for-hire past, I found out, Audigier, 50, has lent his good name (originally Christian Ginutti) to a good many other personal ventures: “The Cool Wine” by Montpeyroux Estates (“It’s a lifestyle, screw tradition!”), Ed Hardy by Christian Audigier fragrances, Crystal Rock jewelry, named for his daughter … his resume reads like a celebrity’s shopping list.

  • Cocktail of the Week

    Thursday, July 10, 2008

    Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a … raging bloody hangover! Summer drinking, pool parties, insufficient water intake, quaffing alcoholic drinks for refreshment—all can lead to killer hangovers. Though not a cocktail per se, this simple concoction of water and an effervescent lemon-lime wafer does in fact—we discovered after an outdoor wine-sampling event—take the edge off a potential hangover.

  • Cocktail of the Week

    Thursday, July 3, 2008

    “Sweet” doesn’t even begin to describe the full impact of a Dirty Blonde Cocktail, Sunday night, where five ladies and one somewhat bewildered guy sampled the DBC variety pack.

  • Nightlife

    Thursday, July 3, 2008

    For all the ground we covered, trying over the last few years to be so sophisticated with our half-a-grand bottles of $35 vodka, the Hummer and that too-good-to-be-true down payment on a condo in that high-rise tower over by the …

  • Cocktail of the Week

    Thursday, June 26, 2008

    As true to 19th-century Creole apothecary Antoine Amédée Peychaud’s original as he can come, Sproule employs the new Cask No. 16 (aged in French Oak that previously housed Cognac) and his favorite absinthe.

  • Nightlife

    Thursday, June 26, 2008

    Red Rock Retreat (now on its second summer season at Red Rock Resort) pulls me out of the grueling nightlife routine of seemingly endless pool parties, drinking and debauchery and instead gives me a new itinerary of … pool parties, drinking and debauchery.

  • Cocktail of the Week

    Thursday, June 19, 2008

    It’s official. The Sex and the City movie has cleared $119 million in just three heart-fluttering, shoe-dropping, dressed-to-kill weeks. If ever there was cause for celebration…this is it!

  • Art

    Thursday, June 19, 2008

    In the temporary home of the Symbolic Gallery on Dean Martin Drive, I and my plastic cup of chardonnay rest on a glass case wherein nestles the original disco ball from Saturday Night Fever as well as a weathered Godfather script and Carmen Electra’s panties.

  • Nightlife

    Thursday, June 12, 2008

    I leave Bob for Aaron. Then to Daniel and Ron. . . I feel rather like a swing slut. Along the way we learn some tricks, or as Greg puts it, “swing-jitsu.”

  • Cocktail of the Week

    Thursday, June 12, 2008

    Weighing in at a bladder-busting 92 ounces—you might just want to bring some friends in on this one—the Red Head fishbowl honors those red-headed partiers out there, those imbued with the spontaneity and drinking know-how to throw ’em back like champs.

  • Nightlife

    Thursday, June 5, 2008

    Creepy as Marilyn Manson is, the pale, lanky star is also a known lover of the nefarious and oh-so-delicious green (or, as I discovered in Hungary, red, blue, clear or black!) spirit absinthe.

  • Nightlife

    Thursday, June 5, 2008

    A hometown girl! Jessica enjoys what is quite possibly one of the sexiest jobs in this sexy city of ours.

  • Nightlife

    Thursday, June 5, 2008

    "Jeremy!” Yet another go-go dancer mounts photographer Jeremy Womack for a one-armed cuddle, while his other hand cradles his beloved camera.

  • Nightlife

    Thursday, May 29, 2008

    Jeff MacKay isn’t shy in admitting that he lied through his teeth to get his first bartending gig back in 1996 at the Glitter Gulch. His first night in the well was a trial-by-fire scene right out of Cocktail, starring a roomful of Comdex execs and a cocktail server with a weak spot for educating attractive young bartenders .

  • Nightlife

    Thursday, May 29, 2008

    The dreaded velvet ropes and stanchions line up inside like soldiers, with none of the club’s darkened stillness hinting at the crazy scene soon to overtake it. Party Director Jeannette Ivy and her colleague Kokie Abebe will be juggling 300 girls—up from yesterday’s 250—over Memorial Day weekend.

  • Cocktail of the Week

    Thursday, May 29, 2008

    Packing a strong herbal energy punch, this cola goes where others dare not: into the realms of flora and spice like licorice, cinnamon, lemon, ginger, orange, corn mint, pine, cardamom, mace and clove.

  • Nightlife

    Thursday, May 22, 2008

    Preparing to interview her last summer as she keynoted a conference, I foolishly thought that speaking with the woman behind “Carrie Bradshaw” (Bushnell’s admitted alter ego) might feel something akin to meeting a long-lost older sister and recklessly fantasized that she might take me under her wing. It was not to be.

  • Nightlife

    Thursday, May 22, 2008

    As the signature drink of Moon’s newly christened Satellite Bar house room, the Tourment Trance shot is just one of N9NE Steakhouse bartender Dave Herlong’s many space-inspired absinthe cocktails.

  • Cocktail of the Week

    Tuesday, April 22, 2008

    Everything old is new again. Or at least should be when it’s as tasty as master mixologist Tony Abou-Ganim’s classic Cable Car, a drink he invented in 1996.