Spago Goes Vegas

There’s one thing you’ll never see at Spago in West Hollywood: men wearing lampshades. But at the new Spago at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, what could be more natural? Actually, the lampshade boys drew only a few passing glances as they nibbled on their lamb-sausage pizza.

From your seat at the “outdoor” Spago cafe, with a good view of Caesars’ Forum Shops promenade (a place that makes Disneyland seem underfinanced), there’s plenty to gawk at. Watch the painted “sky” change from day to night in a matter of minutes. See the tourists pose for pictures in front of a deity-cluttered fountain. Observe Caesar--or at least a University of Nevada at Las Vegas football player dressed as Caesar--as he jostles bodies, extends his hand and commands, “Make way!”

And listen to the crowd: “Ah, Spago,” says one woman, pausing in front of the cafe, “isn’t that from New York?”

Her husband examines the posted menu: “Nine dollars for a burger! I can get a steak dinner for a buck-99 down the street!”

What’s more, this is a Vegas restaurant with no Keno runners.

But if you think the only thing fresh in Vegas is a conventioneer in a room full of cocktail waitresses, Spago Vegas will be a revelation. In the Adam Tihany-designed dining room, full of suspended metal magic carpets and a huge James Rosenquist painting, Spago fans will find much of the fresh California cooking that made Wolfgang Puck famous: a chopped vegetable salad, saffron fettuccine topped with steamed Maine lobster, roasted Chinese duck with mango sauce. The food is close to, but not quite up to, the original Spago standards--at least not yet. Puck himself can be seen roaming the room--shaking hands, signing Spago aprons (for sale along with WOLF GANGT-shirts and caps) and checking on the food in the open kitchen.

In the cafe up front, you can get the famous Spago pizzas baked in a wood-burning oven and a terrific steak sandwich. The cafe is also where you’ll get the best view of the Vegas mall diorama. But, remember, you too are part of the exhibit.

“Ah,” says a French guy who stops to observe the inhabitants of the cafe, “America!”

* Spago, the Forum Shops at Caesars, 3500 Las Vegas Blvd. S . , Las Vegas, (702) 369-6300. Pasta and entrees $9.50 to $28.