Las Vegas Welcomes “Little Macau”

In Late March 2007, Jeff Fine and Joe Valdes opened a new watering hole in Las Vegas, (sometimes called the Macau of the West) that caters not just to denizens of the local Chinatown but aims to attract casino people from the nearby mega-resorts on the street that wants to be Cotai, a.k.a The Las Vegas Strip.

They named it Little Macau, and it’s a bar/tavern/lounge that can seat 150 customers on a 24-hour basis, with video poker and slots a DJ for the music and all the requisite trappings of a sports bar and karaoke lounge. With a Las Vegas Tavern License for Little Macau, the owners are limited to 15 slot machines, and are considering featuring some Asian-themed slot machines. “Las Vegas locals tend to favor video poker machines as their tavern game of choice,” Fine explains.

The “Macanese meets Las Vegas” menu features 15 finger food items, including the must-have egg tarts and Macau beer.

Fine and Valdes considered several factors before deciding to open Little Macau. One, Macau is a hot topic in Las Vegas these days. As they put it, there’s “a lot of excitement and interest in Macau’s booming gaming market” because it’s mentioned so often in the press that it’s enjoying a bit of buzz right now throughout the Las Vegas gaming community. Two, they found an available property in Chinatown that was perfect for a Macau-themed tavern. And three, they could see the local market was beginning to demand that taverns “evolve from their original roots as just beer pubs to more sophisticated entertainment, drinking and dining spots.”

Patterned cobblestones

Little Macau’s interior design was conceived by Paul Steelman of Paul Steelman Design Group, Steelman has offices both in Macau and Las Vegas, and if anybody knows how to integrate the one into the other, he’s the one. Steelman is famous for his design of casino mega-resorts, and is the same architect and designer selected by the Venetian to design the Sands Macao.

“Paul’s team envisioned a space that is a sophisticated, contemporary Asian design accented with Portuguese architectural influences like the colonial columns and arches and patterned cobblestone sidewalks,” Valdes says.

The decor brings to life both the old and traditional aspects of long-ago Macau, along with its newest casino resort developments, using wall displays that highlight historic elements, famous landmarks and, of course, the latest innovations. “We’re also importing the famed patterned Macau sidewalk stones to bring more authenticity and have commissioned several art pieces by local artists,” Fine explains.  The partners have even commissioned several hours of Macau video footage through a Macau company, Conde Group Advertising, for authentic Macau imagery.

Capitalizing on “the Macau curiosity factor”

Fine and Valdes have a lot of confidence that their new place will be a hit.  “First, we are the only Asian-themed tavern in Las Vegas,” Fine says, which is a bit surprising, considering the city has a Chinatown. “Second,” he continues, “we are capitalizing on the recent Macau curiosity factor by providing a place will, we hope, introduce customers to Macau’s imagery through its design, while at the same time filling a void in the market for an upscale lounge/tavern in Chinatown near the Strip.

Neither partner is a newcomer to this particular business. Their company, Silver Nugget Gaming, is the owner of the Silver Nugget and Opera House Casinos located on the Las Vegas Strip.

Fine is also involved in retailing and has a real estate company that manages and develops commercial property and apartments locally.

The two got into the local tavern business two years ago with the opening of the Balboa Pizza Company in Las Vegas’ Green Valley District.  Starting out with a budget of more than US$2 million for Little Macau, they cut costs by purchasing a tavern and renovating an existing bar space.

“Yakety-yaks” and other customers

They’ve done their market research and identified several types of tavern customers to target.  One is the “ESPNer,” a customer who may be visiting the tavern with friends to watch a sporting event.  Another, the “Texas Hold’em,” or patron who visits the tavern solely to play the video Then there are the “Beer and Martini-ers,” who are there to meet and socialize with members of the opposite sex, the “Wings and Fries” crowd, who visit taverns for the convenience of moderately-priced quick-serve-food and its moderate pricing, and the “Yakety-Yaks,” who show up in groups of two or more to meet and socialize.

All these pointed them to a design that incorporates a large, focal-point bar with plasma televisions, restaurant seating and a lounge area and a small menu “focusing on fun-fair food.”

Fine and Valdes are currently “having conversations” with a casino operator in Macau to lease food and beverage space for two other concepts they have up their sleeves that they choose to keep hush-hush at the moment, “until after our deals have been finalized.”  But they do admit they’re “excited about bringing in some high-energy venues to Macau.” They’re also looking at some complimentary investments here and are actively seeking office space for a permanent local presence.  Let’s wait and see if they open a place in Macau and call it “Little Las Vegas.”

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