This week in my Green Felt Journal column I talk a little about the role of food in marketing a casino, the future of Downtown, and how the Plaza’s going to fare by looking at Terence Fong’s Island Sushi. From Vegas Seven:
In that light, recruiting chef Terence Fong, owner of Henderson’s Island Sushi and Hawaiian Grill, to open a branch of his popular Eastern Avenue eatery in the Plaza was a masterstroke for two reasons. First, Fong is a casino veteran who spent years at Caesars Palace and with Wolfgang Puck; he worked in some of the city’s most historic restaurants (Bacchanal, Andre’s) before leaving the Strip to spend more time with his family and, ultimately, to pour his energy into Island Sushi. He knows how to run a casino eatery.
via In the Dining Business, the Plaza Plays Smart | Vegas Seven.
I first tried the Plaza Island over a lunch meeting with a trio of high-powered Plaza marketing executives. Got the chicken katsu. Was very impressed. Would have gladly paid for it had one of the execs not had the Power of the Pencil. While I’d been thinking about doing a piece on Fong, I’ve got to admit that the quality of the food made it a “hey, I want to write about this next week” as opposed to, “this might be a good idea for an article someday” piece. In a later interview, I found Fong to be passionate and deeply knowledgeable. I don’t usually do “food” writing, and I wouldn’t call this food writing since I’m more looking at the role of the restaurant in the Plaza (and Downtown’s) rebirth as opposed to comparing it to other sushi places.
I thought highly enough of Island to check out the Eastern location, where I had great sushi and some of the best-tasting seaweed salad I’ve had in a long time. It put the stuff they serve at the Wynn buffet to shame, at the very least. I paid my own check, so this is not a sponsored conversation.
Speaking of which, I also took a look at the Cosmopolitan’s social media strategy at the prompting of a Vegas Seven editor. I struggled to articulate just how I felt about it. While the piece, part of the new media section, isn’t available in its own html page just yet, you can check it out in the digital edition right here.