Viva La Sacco

Guest blogger Joey Jalleo shares insider notes from his whirlwind party weekend in Vegas for nightlife impresario and restaurateur Amy Sacco’s celebrity filled birthday bash.

When the Queen of New York Nightlife invites you to a party, you have no choice but to attend. When the party happens to be her 40th birthday blowout at The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, you start packing your bags before you even RSVP!

This was the case last week when my good friend Amy Sacco (of Bette and Bungalow 8 fame) invited 125 of her nearest and dearest friends from New York and Los Angeles to help her ring in the big 4-0. The family was all there including, Benicio del Toro, Angie Harmon, Dean Cain, Brett Ratner, Michael Shulman, art world queen Yvonne Force Villareal, Bungalow 8’s Nan Lily Cho, Bond Street’s Darryl Gibson and the king of all things hotel, Michael Rawson.

As the current Creative Director of the Hard Rock, Amy knew it was the only choice to host the festivities. Given that it was located in the City of Sin was just icing on the birthday cake!

The night started off with with dinner and cocktails at Ago, the Hard Rock’s newest Tuscan restaurant. Rosé champagne was passed upon arrival while assorted pizza, smoked salmon crostini and proscuitto wrapped bread sticks whizzed by on silver platters. In true Italian fashion, Chef Agostino Sciandri (who flew in from his LA outpost to personally commandeer the dinner) served his creations family style. By the time we finished the first course of penne pomodoro, risotto pesce and trofie pesto, we hardly had room for one of my favorite dishes, sliced NY steak served over arugula and tomatoes!

For the after-party, three of my friends had to roll me downstairs to Body English, the famed nightclub at the hotel which boasts over 41 VIP booths and a vintage Baccarat chandelier worth over $250,000. Management wasn’t too happy when they caught me swinging from it a couple of hours later! We had the whole club to ourselves and every table had a bottle of Grey Goose with all the fixings. All we really needed was a bottle with a straw and the night was on its way!

DJ Donna D’Cruz of Rasa Music presided over the turntables in her signature Swarovski encrusted headphones while a Donna Summer impersonator took to the stage and serenaded Amy with Bad Girls. After Donna Summer finished her “Ode to Sacco,” two midgets in black suits, fedoras and sunglasses took to the stage for a tag team version of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean. It was truly BEYOND! Shortly after midnight, a four-tiered birthday cake of individual butter cream iced chocolate cupcakes, hand-made by hotel pastry chef Nicole Jones, was rolled out alongside four Vegas showgirls clad in feathered head dresses and holding sparklers that lit the room up brighter than Amy’s smile.

The madness continued until the morning light upstairs in Amy’s master suite which came equipped with its very own bowling alley! It was all fun and games until I dropped the ball on my foot! And, like all good things, our night of celebration finally came to an end…but what a night it was!

- Joey Jalleo is one of NYC’s foremost event producers who also presides over J’Adore Joey, his account of all things J’Adorable.

PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Michael Shulman