Thursday, May 11, 2000 | 9:30 a.m.
He likes the food, enjoys the waitresses and loves the oversized booths -- so much so that he had one duplicated to fit in his own home.
When Penn Jillette, the deadpan vocal half of the comedy/magic team of Penn & Teller, designed his Las Vegas home six years ago he had a booth from the Peppermill Inn measured and built into his kitchen nook -- replicated down to the little glass sugar jars and wooden salt-and-pepper shakers that sit on the tables.
"He is always in here," Peggy Orth, manager at the Peppermill, said. "We see him at least once a week."
The acerbic comedian said that he frequently drops in with friends and other comedians for late-night dinners and long conversations.
"I'm always comfortable sitting and talking with (comics) Gilbert Gottfried or Paul Provenza in the Peppermill all night, so I knew I could sit all night at this table and be very, very happy," the 6-foot-6-inch Jillette said.
And then there is the food.
"They have big food, they serve Flintstone food," Jillette said. "You go up there, they put the plate down and your whole car tips over."
Jillette favors the gigantic fruit plate, which comes with an entire pineapple, two bananas and a whole, sliced orange among other tropical treats. "It's like a hat," he said.
"They have this psycho turkey sandwich thing that has the wrong stuff in it," Jillette said. "It's this crazy nut sandwich that once you pick it up you can't put it down."
When the Bravo cable channel came to town last month to film a documentary of Penn & Teller the duo took the crew to the Peppermill for a midnight taping at their favorite restaurant.
Although he's a staunch non-drinker ("I've never touched alcohol," he said), he has walked through the lounge and is impressed with the fireplace, a shallow pool with a gas pipe in the middle that causes the flames to appear as though they are dancing on the surface of the baby-blue water.
"It's water, but it burns," Jillette said, emphasizing the absurdity. "I mean, it's water but it burns."
But that little magic trick is not lost on some other celebrities who have hosted parties in the plush, dark-blue room. Low sofas line the mirrored walls, which reflect the flames, colorful drinks and even more colorful characters who frequent the lounge.
Besides the 1995 Martin Scorsese film "Casino," with Robert De Niro in the gold-rimmed lounge, scenes for the ill-received 1995 film "Showgirls," starring Kyle MacLachan and Elizabeth Berkeley, were shot at the Peppermill. It also hosted photo shoots for international magazines such as Marie Claire, which sent supermodel Heidi Klum to the recesses of the languid lounge to be photographed.
Liza Minnelli and the late Frank Sinatra would hobnob at the restaurant, unbeknownst to other diners.
"Liza Minnelli came in and sat at the first booth," by the entrance, Mickey Ban Hooser, a Peppermill manager, said. "She never really wore makeup or called attention to herself. Nobody noticed her and she sat right there."
Then there are the private parties: Before he traipsed down the aisle with singer Whitney Houston in July of 1992 musician Bobby Brown frolicked with strippers in the privacy of the closed lounge.
And the five-man teeny-bopper group 'N Sync recently stopped by to indulge in mounds of the Peppermill's signature sundaes. They were such fans of the monstrous creations that they had their photos taken with the decadent desserts for a teen magazine.
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