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Tuesday, July 28, 2009 | 1:53 p.m.
Wolfgang Puck's Chinois restaurant at the Forum Shops at Caesars has closed, and the Poetry nightclub upstairs from Chinois plans to close as well and relocate to a new location.
Officials at Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday on the closing of Chinois, which closed over the weekend. The company's Spago restaurant remains open at the high-end mall on the Las Vegas Strip.
Branden Powers, a partner and marketing director at Poetry, said he understood Chinois would surrender its liquor license this week and that would force the immediate closure of Poetry since it operates under the Chinois license.
"Our future is tied to their future," Powers said.
Powers said Poetry officials are looking at leasing one of two potential sites elsewhere on the Las Vegas Strip and hope to re-open within eight to 12 weeks.
Poetry and Chinois have been locked in a court battle with the Forum Shops over access to the mall from the Caesars Palace casino floor.
The restaurant and nightclub charge the Forum Shops closes its main entrance to the mall late at night on weekends when Poetry is open because Forum Shops tenants are uncomfortable with the club's mostly black clientele -- a charge denied by the Forum Shops.
isn;t there an old mob boss around to show people how to run vegas. overpriced small portion foods will catch up with you. vegas has gotten so far removed from reality it stinks. town i love and hope best for it's people, is being run into the ground by sleazy rich people.
Poetry Nightclub is a great , fun place. I was always told to not go there because it was a "black club". I am a white man and went there for a co workers birthday party. I had such a great time. I cant believe i believed the lies and rumors about Poetry. The staff was so nice, the music was great and the customers were friendly. Not once did i feel uncomfortable. In fact i felt welcomed, and even had people buy me drinks cause they were happy a white person checked out their club. I wish them the best. It's too bad that such a great club has to close its door while others like Pure and Prive do illegal activities and stay in business. Not fair. But such is life. I cant wait for Poetry to reopen. Take my word for it. Dont be scared Las Vegas. It was a very nice club.
Wolfgang Puck's food blows. It's just not good.
"Forum Shops tenants are uncomfortable with the club's mostly black clientele."
Typical liberal media "race card" pop shot! Unfounded and baseless racist accusations on whitey. This so-called journalist Steve green obviously went to Harvard and was taught by Professor Henry Gates Jr.
I don't understand how white folks are so docile when they're called or perceived as racist in the media without justification. Don't ya'll get angry?
firedawg you are ignorant. Poetry Nightclub is owned by white owners. So no race card needed. Also , Poetry Nightclub is one of the most successful nightclubs in Vegas. They are clearly going out of business due to their landlord Wolfgang Puck going belly up. Poetry is doing better than Wolfgang. As far as their lawsuit have you read the complaint? I have . Its public knowledge. Poetry nightclub has tons of documentation to support their lawsuit. Including President of Caesars Gary Selesner calling its patrons derogatory names. And security guards for the mall and Caesars who were told to falsify reports. The list is long. It will all come out. Expect Poetry to win 100 million on this one. Maybe it will be the lesson Caesars and Simon Malls needs to learn.
we really do need the mob again.
this town is just dying a slow, painful death because it's run by guys with spreadsheets.
Just because his name is on it,dosent mean its fantastic. Most of his dishes are quarter size,and cost ya 75.00 bucks.Bring back some places where you can get the amount of food for your buck?Too bad they took a good place down with them too,in poetry...
True, Vegas was a much better town when the mob ran things.
Many more fine dining establishments will be closing in the next year.
Wolfgang restaurants...all show with a price tag to go with it. No loss as far as I'm concerned.
Boycott Wolfgang Puck and Caesars! Shame on you Tom Kaplan and Gary Selsner! I hope this comes back to bite you! Karma!
Can't imagine if I was a store owner having any problem with "Black customers" at a higher end club walking by. I imagine given the location that they're higher income folks or tourists who are not looking for any trouble. In other words, potential customers you would want in your store. The closure is probably more related to high price, chintzy portions at the restaurant. I generally go to country music type clubs. We don't call them "White clubs". Black clientele is never a problem, drunken white jerks are the only trouble I ever see, thankfully not that often.
Again this all falls back to that giant corporate cancer that is killing Las Vegas by the name of Harrahs.
Well, Puck's apparently scratching out a living at the Springs Preserve. Maybe he can open taxpayer subsidized restaurants at the Clark County Government Center and Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas city halls.
You can always get a Wolfgang nine dollar tuna fish sandwich at one of those kiosks at the airport. Ouch !!!
I'm glad Poetry is looking for new locations. They're the only place on the Strip that hosts a rockin' slam poetry competition every Thursday night which features both local poets and some out-of-town guests.
I have to agree with the other patrons that the club is extremely well-run, comfortable, and pleasant.