In the anything-goes atmosphere of Las Vegas, few indulgences are forbidden. The city is a magnet for hoteliers and restaurateurs who long to venture into the ostentatious, the grandiose, the outlandish, or the avant-garde and to live at the cutting edge of fearless style making and trendsetting. At the south end of the Las Vegas Strip, in the freshly gilded Luxor, Cathouse has opened its doors and promises to thrust forward the pleasures of dining and nightlife from the mere sensual into the sensuous.

With the much-publicized reconception and $300 million renovation of the Luxor, MGM Mirage made it clear that every facet of the hotel would push the envelope of guest expectations. The first major step toward that goal was to assemble a high-powered selection of superlative venues to fill 45,000 square feet of prime dining and nightlife real estate.

Cathouse, a nineteenth century French bordello-themed “loungerie” with a kitchen helmed by Chef Kerry Simon, is the final piece of phase one of that makeover scheme, which has included celebrity-partnered openings of LAX Las Vegas, Company, Noir, and other exclusive hot spots to fuel a sophisticated elite scene that takes dead aim at the jet-set and high-society club crowd. With its lingerie-clad servers and performers and its seductive ambiance, Cathouse walks the perilous and thrilling path between the socially acceptable and the carnal lure of the demimonde.

PLAYFUL FOOD
Celebrity Chef Kerry Simon has his work cut out for him to capture the attention of guests distracted by voyeuristic impulses to glance at waitresses passing in provocative outfits or to watch women primping behind glass in a dimly lit peek-a-boo boudoir showcase. To complement and challenge the hypnotic allure of Cathouse’s sensual charms, Chef Simon has created a culture-spanning array of entrées and tapas-style small plates, providing global fare at seemingly modest Las Vegas prices. The full-service menu of American, Asian, and European-inspired dishes is available for traditional hours, and the lighter fare menu of shared-plate items and innuendo-laced desserts continues late into the night.

Sharing small plates of creative and playful food is representative of the more simple philosophy behind the overt sexiness and seductive atmosphere of Cathouse, says restaurant consultant, former MGM Mirage and Wynn Las Vegas executive, Cathouse partner, and all-around Las Vegas shaker-and-mover Elizabeth Blau.

“At the end of the day,” Blau says, “we’re a restaurant. We want the food to be fun and approachable … and for people to have fun enjoying it together.” Blau, who deserves as much credit as anyone for making Las Vegas the dining destination it is today, knows concept restaurants have a short lifespan without the food to back up the enterprise. She, her husband Kim Canteenwalla, and Chef Simon have previously teamed up at the now-closed Simon kitchen + bar at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, Simon LA, and Simon Telluride. When partners Seth Yudof and Douglas Leferovich of Masquerade Productions approached them with the bordello concept and asked them to create a complementary food concept, they shied away from the rampant excess so common on Strip menus and concentrated on simple-yet-indulgent food experiences.

"Our heart is on the food side," says Blau, "and we want it to be comfortable for people." Consequently, Chef Simon has produced dishes that approach comfort food status, while more adventurous fare waits nearby on the menu, all with the added comfort of affordability. In few places would house-made potato chips with onion dip share a menu with Amercian sturgeon caviar.

BEVERAGE PROGRAM
The beverage program also wants to be fun and approachable, and it has the added task of appealing to late-night ultra-loungers. With wine and beer, Cathouse has taken a food-centric path to offer a variety of choices for the perfect dining experience. The wine list is not heavily laden with prestige labels or vintages. Rather, it focuses on wines to accent Chef Simon’s Cathouse cuisine, and, Blau reports, sales have been “heavy.” GM Larry Downey says sparkling wines have a strong presence on the wine list, and the “bubbles” fit into the Cathouse scene well. “Champagne and strawberries are perfect for the Cathouse atmosphere. And the Shingleback Black Bubbles [Sparkling Shiraz] is very popular.”

The beer list offers bestsellers and a few food-friendly craft brews. The beer menu is not “highlighted” says Downey, but it features Belgian-style brews like Chimay that complement Chef Simon’s cuisine as well as popular, larger-volume favorites for the nightclubbers.

The signature cocktail menu, created by Chef Simon, Chris Wessling, Brook Stanford, and others on the bar and culinary staff, intends to take guests across the threshold from restaurant to nightclub and from the usual drink experience to something more sumptuous and indulgent. Blau believes cocktails can be elixirs and philters to open the senses to more intense experiences and points to chocolate and coffee liqueurs as inherently seductive ingredients that can be extremely sensuous, “as long as [the drink] is not too sweet.”

Despite the period piece feeling of the heavily velveted Lee Cagley-designed décor, Cathouse has not mined history to uncover bordello-appropriate drinks. “We didn’t try to find some absinthe cocktail recipe from the nineteenth century.” Instead, Blau says they chose a “modern cocktail program” that takes advantage of the availability of fresh ingredients and the ever-mounting number of new liqueurs and flavored spirits. Managing Partner and Creative Director Seth Yudof says the specialty menu follows the flirtatious spirit of the Cathouse philosophy. “We created drinks with sexy, fresh ingredients and gave them playful, double entendre names that go along with the bordello theme.”

French Kiss and Between the Sheets appear on the list, but the Cathouse versions raise the bar with Ketel One Citroen, Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne, Hennessy VS cognac, 10 Cane rum and Cointreau in the recipes, while the Multiple Orgasm becomes more luscious than the standard orgasm by calling for Absolut Vanilla vodka and Godiva Dark Chocolate liqueur. A Strawberry Blonde promises a lush, invigorating mixture of Ketel One vodka, Lillet Blonde vermouth, fresh lemon sour, and strawberry purée. Guests will also find the risqué-sounding Latin Lover, XXX, and Perfect Pear on the list, using fresh juices, fruits, herbs, and fine spirits.

Bottle service, nearly ubiquitous in Las Vegas clubland, has been especially productive at Cathouse. Guests buy bottles at upward of $325 and get unlimited mixers, garnishes, and service. Downey says sparkling wines and vodkas, most notably Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label and Grey Goose, are current favorites.

“Veuve Clicquot is the lowest-price Champagne for service,” says Downey, “and Grey Goose is a hot brand they mix with energy drinks, drink as martinis, and can mix with just about anything.” In the 400-person capacity loungerie, Downey has about 20 tables ready for bottle service and can expand that to 40 if necessary. Bottle service has become a “status purchase,” and one bottle can lead to several as the night goes on. “It isn’t just rich guys coming in here and buying expensive bottles; it’s regular kids who are doing it, too. Today, it’s ‘how they roll,’ so to speak,” observes Downey.

Since opening at the turn of the year, Cathouse is rolling with great press and the buzz and numbers to call it a preliminary success. It would appear that teetering on the edge of iniquity—and having a good meal while you’re at it—is a heady and exciting place for the Sin City crowd. Thanks to the careful balance of sexiness and playfulness, Blau says, the bordello atmosphere is equally a hit with men and women.

Culturally, the true bordello experience was as much about the food, drink, and ideas in the socializing area as it was about “what might be going on in the other room.” While the Cathouse concept teases at the frayed ends of the socially and morally acceptable in the twenty-first century, Chef Simon, Elizabeth Blau, and company faithfully create fun, accessible food and drink for a new bordello society. Perhaps venturing so close to the forbidden will help guests rediscover the sensuous wonders in those pleasures allowed us.

Denny Lewis is a frequent contributor to HOTEL F&B.