Best Food
Harrah’s New Orleans
In a city like New Orleans, there’s stiff competition for visitors’ dining dollars. Add the fact that Harrah’s New Orleans is adjacent to the French Quarter and smack in the middle of the business district and convention center area, and you’d think that guests and groups would probably find more attractive opportunities offside for their meals in the heart of the Cajun food capital.
But this competition has only made Harrah’s New Orleans step up its game.
“Being that New Orleans is such a foodie destination, we can’t just offer standard fare,” said Samir Mowad, assistant general manager and vice president of operations, as well as a local. “The real-estate piece is the biggest thing. As we’re right downtown, we take that commitment very seriously, and we make our food and beverage something that the city can be proud of.”
For its flagship fine-dining restaurant, Harrah’s looked to another local with international celebrity in the culinary world: James Beard Award winner John Besh. His steakhouse, Besh Steak, which has also been named one of the top 10 steakhouses in New Orleans and one of the top 10 casino restaurants in the country, brings copious etouffee pies, oysters, Andouille sausage and other local staples to the steakhouse experience.
“It’s about putting a New Orleans spin on it,” said Mowad. “For our sports bar, Manning, we partnered with Archie, Eli and Peyton Manning; the whole family brings name recognition that speaks to New Orleans, while at the same time, the menu is not going to just be chicken wings. We’re got gumbo and po’boys.”
Even the casino’s buffet, which is known to have lines that extend outside the casino doors, holds fast to local traditions, such as home-style red beans on Mondays.
www.caesars.com/harrahs-new-orleans
Best Entertainment
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Hollywood, Florida
Due to its proximity to Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, the AAA Four Diamond Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino can be just as attractive to groups in terms of airlift and price point as Las Vegas.
“The majority of our groups come from New York, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Chicago and Atlanta, as well as Florida,” said Mark Tascione, director of sales and catering.
Twenty years after the first Hard Rock Hotel and Casino resort opened in Las Vegas, the Hollywood location has embraced being the main source of nightlife — big-name acts in everything from electronic music to hip-hop as well as comedy — in south Florida, a tall bar but one that it easily clears with a steady flow of acts like Billy Joel, Billy Idol, Huey Lewis, Rob Thomas, Smokey Robinson, the Gipsy Kings, Jason Derulo, Daughtry, Three Dog Night and more.
Concerts from music legends rock the 5,500-seat Hard Rock Live concert arena. But walking around the property, it’s difficult not to run into top talent, as internationally renowned DJs spin at the Center Bar in the middle of the casino floor, the L Bar in the lobby, the Beach Club along the lagoon pool and brunch at the Blue Plate restaurant; and even the award-winning steakhouse hosts regular concerts.
Kuro, a Japanese craft kitchen from the resort’s creative culinary director, Alex Becker, who worked at Nobu for nearly a decade, opened this past March as an interactive dining experience; it provides a guided journey through traditional Japanese cuisine, accompanied by frequent live music and DJ sets.
Though the full 2016 schedule is still in the works, the Beach Boys, and KC and the Sunshine Band are already confirmed for the spring.
www.seminolehardrockhollywood.com
WEB EXCLUSIVE: Best Architecture
Red Rock Resort Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada
As the capital of casino culture in the United States, Las Vegas is full of not only big spending players but also big spending developers, so it’s hard to find casino architecture that outshines the Strip without heading all the way to Monaco or Macau.
However, within the Vegas city limits but well off the Strip, Red Rock Resort Casino reigns as one of the top architectural experiences in Vegas, even though you’ll barely feel like you’re in Sin City. The casino resort lies just two miles from the Mojave Desert’s Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, home to 3,000-foot-tall iron-rich red cliffs with rare cliffside waterfalls and opportunities for scenic drives, hiking, bird-watching and horseback riding.
“The desert-modern look of the property was inspired by the classic resort architecture found in Las Vegas and Palm Springs during the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s with design elements from Swarovski and Preciosa crystal chandeliers and custom glasswork to exotic woods and rare stones; only the finest materials were used to create a stunning desert oasis,” said Lori Nelson, vice president of corporate communications. “The color palette of the property was taken directly from the neighboring Red Rock Canyon, as was the red sandstone. That allows for the true natural beauty to flow inside.”
The resort does strong corporate business in February, March, September and October, so Veronica Kistner, vice president of sales, recommends that groups looking for good value and lots of availability look at the summer and December.
