FEW RENOWNED CHEFS about to Open a restaurant under their own moniker would be enthusiastic about a last-minute renaming of the establishment. But Theo Sehoenegger was. He had been lured away from the plum posi¬tion of executive chef at Los Angeles’ Patina to create an Italian restaurant, tentatively named Theo’s, for Encore, Steve Wynns latest Las Vegas resort. Designer Roger Thomas’ elegant space off the main lobby was well on its way to completion, and Sehoenegger was developing his menu, when the proj¬ect underwent a change of personality.
The switch came about when Bob Finkelstein, a lawyer for the Sinatra family and a friend of Steve Wynn, met with Steve to ask his advice on doing a Sinatra wine,” says Danielle Price, director of wine for Wynn Resorts and co-owner of Coup de Foudre Winery “[Finkelstein] also mentioned that they had a restaurant idea. Steve decided that, if anyone was going to do a Sinatra restaurant, he wanted to be the one to do it.”
The chef, who had the opportunity to cook for the fabled singer while at New York s now-defunct San Dom-enico, embraced the new theme. Few modifications needed to be made to Thomas’ interiors. The designer intro-duced several portraits of the Chair- man of the Board to the dining rooms sleek decor; heightened the presence of Sinatras favorite color, orange; and installed display cases to exhibit memo-rabilia, including his Oscar for From Here to Eternity and one of his Gram-mys for “Strangers in the Night.” The Sinatra family also assembled a collec¬tion of the musician s tracks, some of them rare recording;, to serenade diners,
Sehoenegger revised his original modern Italian menu to include old-school favorites. “We incorporated some classic Italian dishes—some of Franks favorites,” he says. “He liked clams, so we made clams posillipo. He liked OSSO buco, so we did that”Sehoenegger, who grew up in Italy, combined these flawlessly executed comfort dishes with the seasonal cre-ations he became known for at Patina.
Diners can pair their selections with a glass of the inaugural vintage of the wine that started it all, The recently released 2007 “Come Fly with Me” Cabernet Sauvignon by Sinatra Family Estates—the winery created by Price and vintner John Schwartz in partner¬ship with the Sinatras—is now avail¬able at the restaurant. “We’re going to dedicate each vintage to a different song,” says Price. “The 2007 is a mas¬culine Cabernet—perfect for the steak houses and Italian restaurants that Sinatra preferred “.
[...] Sinatra’s last concert with Dorsey was in September 1942. Three months later, he made history at the age of 27 with his first solo appearance at the Paramount Theater in New York City. Billed as an ”extra added attraction” on a program headlined by Benny Goodman, Sinatra appeared on Dec. 30 and set off a public hysteria that made headlines. Within weeks he had signed lucrative contracts with Columbia Records, R.K.O. Pictures and the radio program ”Your Hit Parade.” [...]
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