Wynn Las Vegas Magazine by MODERN LUXURY

Wynn - 2011 - Issue 2 - Fall

Wynn Magazine - Las Vegas

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La Cave's In Vino Veritas room, also known as The Cellar Michael Morton of Latin phrases divides the In Vino Veritas room from the rustic yet refi ned dining room, where a bar topped with walnut runs the length of the far wall. The restaurant's serene, comfortable patio overlooks the elegantly landscaped pool and is seamlessly connected to the interior through an indoor-outdoor garden lounge set off by sliding-glass doors. An elaborate wall-mounted display of living plants—a "woolly pocket"—enhances the garden atmosphere inside, as do woven rattan patio chairs suspended from the ceiling. The space is climate-controlled of out of the blue," Herold says. "I literally had two hours to look at the fl oorplan to come up with something. I'd never heard anything about it, didn't know anything about it. It was born right there in Steve's offi ce." One of the Dutch-born designer's strengths is spontaneous inspira- tion, with most of the ideas for clients coming to her within the first hour. "That's for the basic design," says Morton. "Then there's this evolutionary process where you have to let things percolate and sim- mer." But the basic ideas begat the details. They had 3,000 square feet of space to work with that had previously been part of Terrace Point Café, and they decided to divide that into three 1,000-square- foot spaces that flowed into each other but contained distinctly dif- ferent environments. The front In Vino Veritas room—or The Cellar—is the most social, with a low-vaulted ceiling and the central table elevated higher than the dining tables in the rest of the venue. Upon entering La Cave, guests see an open kitchen on the right, where white leather bar stools allow them to converse with the chefs as they watch their food being prepared. A bar with a top upholstered in fi ne leather is on the opposite side of the room, with white leather bar stools and carved walnut trim adorning the arch curving over the bar. Appropriately, an iron gate fashioned entirely during the warmest weather to create cool comfort for dining. In keeping with the Wynn design aesthetic, special touches and tactile experiences are ingrained in the rooms. The wine racks in the transparent rooms on either side of the herringbone-patterned walnut- topped dining room bar contain controllable LED lights that change color or switch on and off to create patterns; they look like they might be embedded in the wine bottles from a distance. A wall containing a framed wide-screen television in the center has horizontal strips of painted, fringed burlap that look like they could scratch the skin, but are in fact more pleasant than prickly. Patrons of the bar in the Vino room may fi nd themselves unconsciously sliding their hands across the soft leather, which feels like a fi ne saddle. While the small-plate items, artisanal draught beers and Enomatic wine-dispensing machines are crucial to the identity of the bar, it's the atmosphere that may be the key element that keeps guests coming back. Being able to dine at the bar, in front of the open kitchen, beneath the in vino veritas sign, in the dining room, the garden or the patio may provide more intimate dining settings than any other establishment on the Strip. It's defi nitely a new chapter for the design duo of Herold and Morton, as well as Wynn and Thomas. ■ WYNN 65 PHOTOGRAPHS BY BARBARA KRAFT (INTERIOR); ALEX KARVOUNIS (MORTON)

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