The food menu offers southern home-style food and some of Keith's favorite recipes like a fried bologna sandwich or a pulled-pork sandwich tossed in Toby's barbeque sauce. For something sweeter, there is sweet potato pecan pie with bourbon ice cream.

Studies conducted by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority show that over five million kids visit Las Vegas each year. Camp Las Vegas offers tours on the Las Vegas Strip specially designed for kids from ages seven to 17. Daily tours, rated "K" for kid-approved, run during the day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and evening from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. The adventure tours are $99, call 888-657-4543,

Tour activities combine everything from shark sightings, safaris, mummy tombs, knight jousting, roller coasters, American Idol auditions, 3-D movies to arcade games. All tours include a meal at fun restaurants such as Rainforest Café, Planet Hollywood, NASCAR Café, etc. Plus, kids go home with a free tee shirt and gifts.

Adhering to high security standards, the camp offers a secured check-in and check-out process of children at various hotels on the Strip where each tour commences and ends. A ratio of one camp director for every six campers and a maximum limit of 12 kids per tour ensures a secure, supervised environment. All camp tour directors have passed local, state, and national background checks.

The first Newport Pacific Jazz Festival will be held at the Dragon Ridge Country Club in Henderson on Aug. 27 and 28. The Saturday show will benefit the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program and the Sunday performance will fund the Las Vegas Philharmonic. VIP tickets are $75 and $100 for a two-day VIP pass. General tickets are $50 and $25.

The confirmed artists are Sister Sledge, Susan Anton, jazz great Nils, Sharon Osbourne, Clint Holmes, Buddy Greco, Larry White Jazz Band, Woody Herman Reunion Band, Impulse Jazz Group and at least four major jazz stars who are Osbourne's friends.

The event will include tents where restaurant sponsors will have food for sale and art displays.

The 711-room Hotel San Remo, which is remaining open as it evolves into Hooters, is presenting Ristorante Dei Fiori, an innovative restaurant offering guests three choices. One is the all-you-can-eat buffet for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Two is café style dining featuring a variety of menu options and daily specials 24-hours a day. Three is a fine dining atmosphere after 5 p.m.

From 6 - 11 a.m., the breakfast buffet is $8.95 and on weekends a bubbly breakfast Champagne is offered for only $2.50 per glass. The lunch buffet from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. is $10.95 and dinner from 5 - 10 p.m. is $15.95. On weekends, Champagne is available to accompany the meal for an additional charge.

Earlier this year, JW Marriott Las Vegas opened Shizen, an authentic Japanese restaurant located on the Palms Promenade that offers everything from masterpiece bento box dinners to entertaining Teppanyaki selections prepared at the tableside grill.

Shizen offers a vast selection of sushi with over 100 choices on the menu. Entrée prices begin at $14.50 and include a green salad, Miso soup and rice.

The restaurant recently opened the patio area adjacent to the restaurant, which provides a beautifully landscaped courtyard, lush gardens and tranquil water features.

Shizen is open for dinner from 5 - 10 p.m. nightly, call 702-869-7900.

TOP OF NEXT COLUMN

The 49 Cuban singers, dancers and musicians in the Stardust's "Havana Night Club" show fearing for reprisals from Cuban authorities filed for asylum in the United States last November and recently received news from federal officials that they can stay.

The Stardust revue showcases the musical and cultural richness of Cuba through music and dance.

Palace Station closed its Laugh Trax comedy club. The room will be changed to Sound Trax and revert back to a music schedule with bands.

The nightclub La Bete, which is French for "The Beast," at Wynn Las Vegas will be closing, and undergo a name change, a multi-million dollar renovation and new management. Victor Drai, who left Hollywood eight years ago, moved to Las Vegas and opened Drai's restaurant in the basement of the Barbary Coast and later Drai's After Hours nightclub.

Mirage headliner Danny Gans will undergo rotator cuff surgery on this right shoulder and leave a three-month schedule gap starting in November. He will return on Feb. l7. Some of the fill in acts being schedule include Daryl Hall and John Oates on Nov. 4 and 5 and the Moody Blues on Nov. 18 and 19. Meanwhile, pop singer Seal will work in front of Gans' bandstand on Aug. 19 and 20.

Since the investment company Tamares Group took over the Plaza resort downtown from Barrick Gaming, actor Larry Manetti, the former co-star of the "Magnum P.I." television series, closed his Italian restaurant at the hotel and stopped his involvement with the hotel's Sunday morning Celebrity Brunch. Meanwhile, Manetti is preparing to shoot a pilot in September for a TV series based on the 1997 film "Donnie Brasco."

Comedian Vinnie Favorito has closed at Binion's downtown.

"Eddie Griffin's Killer Comedy Club" has closed at the Stardust.

"Showgirls of Magic" closed on July 24th at the San Remo.

Station Casinos has numerous resorts around the valley and they are booking some good acts. Boulder Station on Boulder Highway has the following lineup: Gary Lewis & The Playboys - Aug. 6; Harry Connick, Sr. Sept. 2 and 3, and ; Sammy Kershaw - Sept. 23; and Billy Ray Cyrus - Oct. 7.

Sunset Station in Henderson has booked Lonestar on Aug. 6 and Kenny Rogers on Aug. 20 on Sept. 9. Gipsy Kings will perform at Green Valley Ranch in the Grand Events Center and these tickets are higher priced. For information, call 866-264-1818.

World-class puppeteer Jerry Halliday will perform at the Riviera Comedy Club the week of Aug. 15 and feature the return of his tribute to "Madame."

Halliday's puppet act includes many different puppet characters like his outrageous original puppets Lola, Sista Girl and the Not-So-Holy Nun. Last December, he made the decision to build his own Madame puppet and put her in the line-up of his Divas. He's perfected the Madame puppet and his routine.

The FOX 5 television series, "Gimme The Mike" filmed and produced in the 1,100-seat Sam's Town Live! located inside Sam's Town in 2004, was recently nominated for two regional Pacific Southwest Emmy Awards in the categories of "Best Entertainment Production" and "Best Lighting Direction." Cory Walker, lead lighting technician for Sam's Town Live! and the show's lighting director, was named a nominee for "Best Lighting Direction."

This month, the Las Vegas Monorail turned one year old. It is starting year two with a new sponsored red BankWest of Nevada-themed train.

A recent "Los Angeles Times" article profiled the nightclub industry and examined the growing ties between the Las Vegas and Los Angeles club industry. A couple recent examples that opened with Los Angeles ties are the second Rainbow Bar & Grill owned by Jerry and Bob Greenberg and the Beauty Bar downtown. The article also mentioned Avalon, a nightclub with plans to open a Las Vegas branch on the Strip towards the end of the year.

Football season is fast upon us and it might be a surprise that the traditional Irish pub, J.C. Wooloughan's at the J.W. Marriott turns into a Steelers Bar with 400+ members of the Terrible Towel Club in attendance from September through January.

The Nevada Cancer Institute (NVCI) has chosen Louis Longi to construct "Flight Invoked," a 25-foot bronze symbolic sculpture that will grace the 142,000-square-foot flagship facility's entrance opening this fall in Summerlin at 10441 W. Twain Ave. The sculpture, with more than 2,500 pounds of bronze, will appear to have wings with a skyward glance that looks to be reflecting upon one's own journey. Originally from Las Vegas, Longi now resides in Los Angeles, Calif.

During the third quarter of 2005, Las Vegas is scheduled to host 12 trade shows and conventions that have a projected attendance of 10,000 or more. Together, the shows are expected to attract 401,500 convention attendees, which will represent a 21.3 percent increase over the same time period last year.

A new bistro in Summerlin's Boca Park is celebrated restaurateur Hannah An's neighborhood restaurant featuring the An family's legendary fusion cuisine with innovative American twists. Hannah An is a third-generation member of a distinguished restaurant family that emigrated from Vietnam in the seventies. Hannah is the eldest of five daughters in the An family, internationally known for opening Thanh Long - the first authentic Vietnamese restaurant in San Francisco, and their celebrity-studded, Crustacean restaurants in San Francisco, Beverly Hills and Las Vegas at the Aladdin's Desert Passage mall.

The décor offers a contemporary Asian ambiance with a Zen garden and a waterfall above the chic Sushi and Asian Tapas Bar. In addition, there is an outdoor Satay Bar and Grill, the family's signature "Walk on Water" sunken koi-filled aquarium, and a hip, crystalline, water-filled communal "neighborhood table."

Hannah's is open daily featuring lunch from 11 a.m.-3 p.m., a light menu from 3-5 p.m., dinner from 5-11 p.m., and a late-night bar menu from 10 p.m.-1:30 a.m.

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