Vegas’ newest hotel ups the ante

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

LAS VEGAS — Celebri-chef Jose Andres stops stirring his massive pan of paella to lead me into a small room behind the bar of his restaurant, Jaleo, in the new Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

“Come,” he says, motioning me through a door discreetly labeled “e.” “This is a very special place.”

The dimly lit den has a counter with half a dozen chairs. A pair of stilettos is mounted on a ladder that snakes up the wall before disappearing into the ceiling. We’re surrounded by a bizarre assortment of trinkets — tea cups, a baby doll, a crucifix; Andres personally picked them out at funky shops in Vegas’ Arts District.

The Spanish chef seems most excited about the old Underwood typewriter tucked in the corner of the room.

“To type out customers’ bills!” he says, pretending to punch away at the keys.

This clandestine lair, where up to 10 diners can feast on a special 20-plus course menu, feels a lot like the casino-resort it sits in: sexy, fun, a bit decadent and, like the Cosmopolitan’s advertising slogan says, “just the right amount of wrong.”

The Cosmopolitan — the last major Las Vegas resort approved before the Great Recession — opened in December in the heart of the Strip. Its debut comes at a time when Vegas has been notoriously down on its luck. A recent Brookings Institution and London School of Economics study says Sin City has one of the worst economies in the world — ranked fourth from the bottom out of 150 cities — and the odds for a rapid recovery appear slim.

Cosmopolitan’s next-door neighbor, the year-old CityCenter, generated an operating loss of $1.27 billion the first nine months of last year. It’s now worth about one-third of the $8.7 billion it cost to build, according to MGM Resorts financial filings.

So yes, opening a flashy new resort with a big price tag is a gamble. But gambling is what Vegas does best.

“I was more nervous two years ago,” said Andres, who has two restaurants in the Cosmopolitan, which was built by a German investment bank after the original developer defaulted. “Now, I think everyone’s feeling good.”

The mood certainly was upbeat during last month’s opening weekend.

People of all ages filed in off the Strip to check out what’s likely going to be the last Vegas casino resort to come on the rolls in the near future. They snapped pictures of the lobby’s massive columns broadcasting abstract videos and bought original art from vending machines peppered throughout the property. They sipped some of the Cosmopolitan’s 100 signature cocktails while sitting in a giant chandelier made up of 2 million crystal beads. (It’s only a matter of time before someone who’s been over served tries to play Tarzan on this shimmering centerpiece.)

“Luxury with a wink” is how CEO John Unwin describes the $3.9 billion property, where workers aren’t called employees; they’re “co-stars.”

Guests can get scrubbed down in a multimillion-dollar Turkish-style hammam or reserve casino cabanas to play slots or cards in privacy.

The Cosmopolitan might sound pretentious. It’s not. It’s one of the more welcoming Vegas resorts I’ve wandered into.

The casino’s floor-to-ceiling windows front the Strip, giving the place an accessible vibe. Even the “high limits” area of the 100,000-square-foot casino seems more open than intimidating.

A communal area stocked with plush couches and pool tables acts as a sociable town square, surrounded by a neighborhood of restaurants that include Andres’ Jaleo, STK steakhouse, the first Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill outside of New York and an unmarked pizza joint hidden at the end of a hallway.

The Cosmopolitan’s layout — more tall than wide — gives it an air of intimacy lacking among many of its competitors.

Sandwiched between CityCenter and the Bellagio, the resort didn’t have much choice but to go vertical on its mere 8.7 acres.

Nearly 3,000 hip rooms and spacious suites are spread among two high-rise towers, the east one missing floors 40-49 because 4 means bad juju in Asian cultures. Guests can check in and go straight to their room without doing the obligatory march past endless rows of one-armed bandits.

Many of the hotel suites originally were meant to be condominiums, meaning they’re large and come with kitchenettes. More than two-thirds of the guest rooms have terraces with impressive views of Vegas.

The Cosmopolitan’s full inventory of overnight accommodations — another 1,000 rooms — should be open by summer, resort officials said. How easy it will be to fill them remains to be seen.

“I think the market’s in a condition that it can absorb the rooms,” said Unwin, Cosmopolitan’s CEO, who describes himself as an optimist, not an economist. “And I think we’ll help bring some new business to Las Vegas.”

Contributing: AP

Information for this article was gathered on a research trip sponsored by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.