Good food, laughs and magic had at Empire

Joe Delaney

Friday, July 30, 1999 | 9:25 a.m.

Caesars Magical Empire has been operating in Caesars Palace for approximately three years and we have resisted going there until this past week. Our mistake. Had we attended sooner, we would have taken visiting friends there or at least suggested they included the Magical Empire on their things-to-do list. The $72.50 tab includes a three-course dinner, continuous entertainment, taxes, gratuity and a glass of wine with dinner.

The Salad of Tuscano was crisp and fresh with a choice of two dressings. Main dishes included chicken, salmon, beef or pasta primavera. Our beef tenderloin was just right, and we checked those who had selected one of the other main courses and the reviews were uniformly excellent. The Triumvirate Sampler was a dessert worthy of a gourmet room.

What made the dinner portion of the program special was the comedy of Lloyd Ziel as a costumed host, with an approach that was 90 percent Rip Taylor and 10 percent Charles Nelson Reilly. His humor was mainly impromptu and we've seldom seen a group of 24 diners who laughed as hard or enjoyed themselves more. Actor, comedian and ice skater Terry Head, a good friend, was the Empire's first dinner host and a model for those who followed.

Dinner seatings are from 4:30-9 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Ours was a 5:30 p.m. seating and, after dinner, we thoroughly enjoyed George Tovar's "Up Close and Personal" magic in the Secret Pagoda at 7:05 p.m., the fire and light show in the Sanctum Secorum that followed and the incredible masks and magic of Jeff McBride. McBride's act in the Sultan's Palace did not catch fire until he brought up a young man from the audience to perform with him; it continued hot through his sleight-of-hand closer.

Before entering the Magical Empire our group was entertained by a costumed young man named Steve Turner, a street-performer type, a class act. Once in we were led into a room where the "descent" was made to the Magical Empire. We also found the Sultan Rahja (Tony Arias), who set up McBride's Sultan's Palace entrance, very funny.

We started at 5:30 p.m. It was 8 p.m. when we entered Sultan's Palace for McBride and, unfortunately, had to leave at 8:40 p.m and missed Bob Jardine doing close-up magic in the Secret Pagoda, starting at 8:45. We found the level of comedy very high throughout; a complement to the quality magic in each room.

Michele Segnello manages Caesars Magical Empire, and a man with multitudinous credits, Brian Dixon, serves as producer.

Other attractions include Maximus Maven, the world's only 10-inch-tall magician, in the Spirit Bar, and Invisabella, an invisible pianist who plays requests, in the Grotto Bar. The fire eater was off, ill. They assured us it wasn't heartburn.

We were well-fed and well-entertained for nearly three hours in an unusual, well-run setting that represents about $35 million in pre-opening expenditures, well-spent.