Cosmopolitan Hotel Mega Party Brings the Food Fun!

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This past weekend, the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas hosted a weekend-long party to celebrate its official grand opening (even though the hotel has been open for two weeks), opening its doors to a mix of celebrities (Gail Simmons and Giada De Laurentiis), Vegas VIPs, and a cast of hangers on that happened to include Eater. Joy!

Besides the general debauchery that is a party weekend in Vegas, the Cosmopolitan restaurant collection just happens to include the first desert offerings from some foodie loved luminaries including the Bromberg brothers (Blue Ribbon Grill), José Andrés (Jaleo and China Poblano), David Meyers (Comme Ca), and Scott Conant (Scarpetta), among others. The restaurants threw open their doors by offering multi-course tasting menus, giving guests a chance to sample the goods and also make it easier on the kitchens to meet the heightened demand.

It was very surprising that the restaurants, although not inexpensive, did not have the eye-gouging prices that are so often found in Las Vegas, including the chance at many of the restaurants to eat large meals for relatively low prices. Perhaps most surprising was how seemingly anti-Vegas most of the restaurants seemed, with most offering restrained design schemes and modest floor plans that were the opposite of some of the gargantuan offerings found at other hotels. Scarpetta and STK even had large windows that offered diners relatively unobstructed views of the Strip.

A weekend of eating left us feeling that — despite some missing menu items Blue Ribbon — the hotel was hitting on all cylinders from the get-go, while José Andrés' offerings, while both offering tasty items, were still working out the kinks in terms of service and operations. All of the chefs were on hand to oversee the grand openings (and party), so hopefully the changes are being made to help the restaurants hit their stride. Everything is open to the public now.

· All Cosmopolitan Coverage on Eater [-E-]