The Vegas Room was the Little Supper Club That Could in the second half of 2020, the rare space offering live entertainment for restricted-capacity audiences during the first year of the pandemic.
In 2021, owners Tom Michel and David Robinson expanded their operation in historic Commercial Center by taking over a vacated Mexican restaurant and opening the Nevada Room, containing a piano bar and bistro space and a larger showroom that could accommodate big bands and other acts.
After some strategic changes, things are once again in full swing in 2022. The original space has been shuttered, and the piano bar space has been renovated, becoming the new Vegas Room, which debuted on March 12. It maintains the intimate listening-room and supper-club vibes of the previous incarnation, while adding some cool local history: This is the space where the Commercial Deli— a Rat Pack haunt in the 1960s—once stood.
Country Captain’s Chicken Over Carolina Rice
“The Las Vegas Country Club is right there on the other side of Karen Avenue, so when they came off the golf course and Frank [Sinatra] wanted New York deli, this is where they would come,” says Robinson, also the chef at the Vegas and Nevada Rooms. “We love that pedigree. Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher used to eat pastrami here.”
Old-Vegas vibes are also evident in the thriving Nevada Room, which holds about 100 people for shows like Kelly Clinton’s residency and comedy legend Pete Barbutti’s accordian-aided performance Wednesdays through Fridays. Plenty of locals have become repeat visitors over the past year, enjoying refined, scratch-made fare like beef bourguignon or puff pastry-topped chicken pot pie with a cocktail or two and a night of memorable music.
“Since these rooms opened, we’ve had over 300 local performers on these stages,” Michel says. “The two things that hit the sweet spot are … being able to provide this kind of resource for local performers who we know are so talented, and, as a city, we are far more than a service industry for the Strip.
“We love the Strip, but there are also a lot of locals who deserve their own place, where they can come and have great food, great entertainment and great drinks with a thousand free parking spaces and not break the bank.”
Indeed, the cost of parking at a Strip casino on a big-event night could eclipse the price of dinner at the Nevada Room, which offers a la carte options and pre-fixe meals in the $35-$40 range per person. The venue has been recently relicensed as a theater, so it can sell tickets instead of charging one price for dinner and show (the Vegas Room is undergoing that process as well), and ticket prices typically run $20-$35.
The upcoming calendar spotlights the versatile programming at both spaces, with Clinton’s show taking over on St. Patrick’s Day (March 17) with musical director Mike Clark and their band. Chicago R&B group The Next Movement continues its new monthly residency in the Nevada Room on March 18 (that acclaimed act also has plans for two special 50th anniversary shows, featuring all five original members, on April 22 and 23). Then Patty Powers, who has performed with Barbra Streisand and Aretha Franklin, sings accompanied by David Marinelli on March 19 in the Vegas Room. And veteran comedian Frankie Pace, who got his nickname “The Lovable Madman” from Joan Rivers, performs in the Nevada Room on March 23.
The Vegas Room was originally born of local artists’ need for a place to perform and audiences’ desire for a locals’ spot to be entertained, and any level of stability and success Michel and Robinson have achieved at their venues can be attributed to their steadfast dedication to satisfying both.
“You have to be tenacious and you have to be nimble,” Michel says. “If we find someone that says, I wish you had this kind of a drink, or why don’t you do this kind of a night, that’s the beauty of not being a corporation. We can change much more quickly.”
THE VEGAS ROOM & THE NEVADA ROOM 953 E. Sahara Ave., 702-533-0075, vegasnevadarooms.com. Wednesday-Thursday, 6-10 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 6-11 p.m.
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