I don’t know why, but I suspected Gordon Ramsay to open a place at CC, after all he is one of the Big Names still yet to have a restaurant here, and I don’t know where else in the Near Term he could/would open. Given Wynn’s Requirements that the Chef who’s name is over the door be there more than once in a Blue Moon (Which I agree with), it won’t be Encore, but then again there is Echelon and the Plaza, should they ever get completed, or even CC North , considering he is already partnering with Kerzner in Singapore.

Here's MGM's press release:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080918/lath016.html?.v=101

I was surprised to see so many names from Bellagio. Michael Mina has some fine restaurants, but there's no way he can personally guarantee quality. He already operates 14 restaurants, and now he's adding another.
Prime, at Bellagio, has never been one of my favorite steakhouses. I'm not quite sure to make of Vongerichten's new place at ARIA. What the heck is a "strong dose of energy and sex appeal"?
Maccione and Serrano should both do well.
I'd like to try them all; it's too bad I'll be bankrupt by the time CityCenter opens.

What's with the really short names? Here, I'll make a few MGM restaurant names myself:

Smoke
Bass (either as in music or a fish)
Roast
Cafe (chef's name here)
Freedom
The Pit

It's like everyone's trying to do a Bellagio one-word restaurant name anymore.

I want to eat at The Pit.

from what MGM is using all the best chefs from bellagio, I hope they dont overdue the restaurant names.

I am happy to see Julian Serrano open another restaurant here in town. My father and I just ate at Picasso last Monday night, and I can tell you that place lives up to all of the hype. It is very well deserving of all of the accolades it has received; I told the manager on the way out that Mobil Travel Guide simply must have misplaced Picasso's fifth star. It is an outstanding dining experience.

Yeah Picasso is a pretty cool place.

Didn't the press once quote an MGM wonk as saying there is no buffet?

And yet, there is.

Chef Ramsay said in an interview when his restaurant in L.A. opened that he has no interest in opening in Las Vegas. His exact quote:

"Vegas? I don't want to play my card in Las Vegas. It's materialistic."

The best part about that quote is that he was in LA when he was complaining about another town being materialistic. I still get a chuckle out of that.