Famed Brit chronicler of bitch and famous alike, Jackie Collins, once wrote that, in Hollywood “…if you want to have power, you create something that everyone wants. And everyone wanted to go to Swifty’s Oscar party.”

Of course the Swifty she alludes to was famed literary super-agent, Irving “Swifty” Lazar (who despised being called Swifty, to his face; but was known to adore the concept of having the nickname, having been so dubbed by Humphrey Bogart upon closing three major deals for the star, in one day – and on a bet, no less), whose annual Oscar viewing party – first at Romanoff’s, then Bistro Garden, then at Spago’s original Hollywood location – was the stuff of ‘80s A-list legend.

There’s just something about the vibe at that famed evening that I think most closely translates in contemporary Vegas parlance to the annual Super Bowl viewing party, at The Country Club at Wynn Las Vegas, thrown by Scott Menke (who abhors having his photo taken, but is happy in the knowledge that people want to memorialize his handsome countenance for posterity).

Both groups of attendees preferred their cushy locale (at one of their respective cities’ premiere culinary “power” spots) to sitting in uncomfortable stadium seating.  Likewise, it should go without saying that the food at these affairs puts stale popcorn and salted nuts well into the pale. 

And while the attire for Lazar’s dinner-and-après fete was decidedly glam – and Menke’s is all about comfort (albeit comfort in a cashmere and crocodile by way of Crystals kind of way) – it’s the attendees that make the party.  Then, as with today, the mix of old-school and Young Turks is palpable.   

Maybe it’s that Spago, now celebrating its 30th Anniversary, is as wonderful as it ever was (with Chef Wolfgang Puck – the only chef to twice been awarded the James Beard Foundation's honorific of “Most Outstanding Chef” – receiving this year’s “Lifetime Achievement Award”); is close to my heart (and arteries).

Maybe it’s that Chef Carlos Guia (who helms on of my very favorite brunches, in a city known for them) makes an fabulously scrumptious corned beef (which, when stacked on Garlic Semolina rolls with a slice of Jarlsberg and a dollop of stone-ground Dijon mustard, transports me to my happy-place).

Maybe I’m a just kook, with an unhealthy relationship to food, who simply needs to adjust his meds.

Whatever…  It works for me.

Scott Menke’s Annual Super Bowl Viewing Party
The Country Club at Wynn Las Vegas
Click HERE for info

Get into it!