Yearly Archives: 2011
Ring in the New Year Your Way
What better place to ring in 2012, than Las Vegas! With only a few days left in the New Year, we're planning something special for those who are spending their last hours of 2011 at M. Our resort is the perfect spot to party on New Year's Eve, so be sure to make this year one to remember and celebrate whichever way you please. We've got entertainment, dining and parties for every taste and budget complete with a champagne toast at midnight for our guests.
Party
We think cover charges are overrated so we invite our guests to celebrate without waiting in line or paying an entry fee. We'll be offering complimentary party favors, and cake and champagne stations throughout our casino. Toast the New Year with us and enjoy live entertainment beginning at 9pm in Lobby Bar, Ravello Lounge, M Bar and Hostile Grape. See which venue is the right fit for your celebration style.
Ravello Lounge - The New Year's evening will kick off in our lounge with go-go dancers and a DJ spinning hits to get the party started, beginning at 9pm. At 10pm, 80's tribute band Loveshack will take the stage and sing the best of the 80's and 90's and some NYE-style party music. The entertainment in Ravello will be going all night long and is ideal for our high-energy party goers.
Lobby Bar - Relax at Lobby Bar and take in a performance by Lowkey Junction. The band is a unique blend of masterful music mixes, live percussion and saxophone. With the best people-watching views, Lobby Bar is the perfect fit for a relaxed New Year's celebration.
M Bar - For those who like to be at the center of all the action, M Bar is for you. Located in the middle of our casino floor, DJ Simon and go-go dancers will be kicking off this party at 9pm. Get there early for a seat on M Bar's cushy couches or get your groove on to the tunes DJ Simon will be spinning.
Hostile Grape - Take a sip of more than 160 wines by the glass in our underground wine hideaway. Veteran DJ Art will be mixing up the music for the night for the oenophiles.
Play
End the year with good luck here at M! We'll be giving away $24,000 in free pay randomly beginning at 8pm on New Year's Eve. Every 15 minutes we'll be drawing 10 winners. Two players will win $300, four players will win $150 and another four will win $100. All you have to do is play with your iMagine Rewards Card to be eligible.
Not to be outdone, our poker room will be giving away a grand share of money as well. Play with us and you could win the following: Heart Royal = $2,012; Club Royal = $2,012; Diamond Royal = $2,012 and Spade Royal = $2,012. All Four of a Kinds = $212 and the poker room will have $2,012 in cash giveaways. Complete details can be found in the M Poker Room.
Dine
Our restaurants will be ready for you to kick-off the New Year's festivities. Marinelli's, our authentic Italian restaurant will be offering a la carte specialty items in addition to its regular menu beginning at 4pm and our steakhouse, Anthony's will be serving up a limited menu for the holiday starting at 5 pm. And of course, Studio B Buffet will be serving specialty dishes all day.
No matter which way you decide to spend your holiday night, we hope to have you at M to celebrate 2012! We wish all of our guests a happy and safe New Year.
Working the Plate
Oyster Bar's M Girl Sushi Roll.
Part of serving great food is the presentation. A feast for the eyes is just as important as a feast for the mouth in the restaurants at M. When our chefs present a dish, it's not only about the trendy tablescape underneath it but also how the food is displayed on top of it. Guests eat with their eyes first and they get a visual feast with what we're plating up in our kitchens.
When plating food our chefs know the importance of balancing colors and textures. Each dish at our restaurants has its own plating guide, a step-by-step instructional sheet teaching our culinary team members the exact specifications of how a menu item should be displayed. These guides ensure that each dishes' appearance is consistent and visually pleasing.
Combination Sashimi from Oyster Bar.
With the addition of a new menu at Anthony's Oyster Bar, our Food & Beverage Team recently had the opportunity to create new plating guides, unique to the venue. Our plating guides show a photo of the dish, what course type it is (appetizer, entr?e, etc.), which outlet it's served at, ingredients, how to prepare and lastly how to plate.
A little color goes a long way, with our Combination Sashimi plate. The different color fish slices contrast with the shredded daikon, shiso leaves and lemon garnish. The sashimi slices are fanned out on top of one another and separated by type of fish.
Shrimp Tempura from Oyster Bar.
A great base is always the start to plating. Here, our Shrimp Tempura dish is placed upon a Ti leaf. A bed of fried rice noodles is assembled on top of the Ti leaf with the Shrimp Tempura and other tempura vegetables leaned up against them.
A diner's experience is heavily tied to what they see on their plate and has the ability to alter their opinion of the tastes of the food. Presentation can be the difference between a dish being mundane or gourmet. The goal of every dish we send out is to create a balance between flavors and looks, creating the ultimate dining experience.
Serving Up Cocktail Cuties: 2012 M Girl Calendar
Ever wonder what goes into having a photo shoot? How about a photo shoot with 26 girls? We've been working hard, getting our 2012 M Girl Calendar ready for you just in time for the holidays. And we're bringing you a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into putting together a calendar featuring 12 months of cocktail cuties.
With a team of four hair and makeup stylists, two photographers, a lighting specialist, an art director, wardrobe stylist and many more helping hands our team worked many long days (and nights) photographing our sexy servers in fun and unique settings. Get your first peek at the girls in the video below and be sure to pick up your M Calendar today, they're on sale at 32? Draft Bar, M Bar and Studio B Buffet.
Lighting up M
Flashy signs have been lighting up the Las Vegas skyline throughout history. Oversized glittering displays mark the entryway to our city, with the Welcome to Las Vegas sign, and signs of the past are preserved at the Neon Museum. A showy sign is standard embellishment for Vegas resorts and can be spotted adorning the buildings of just about all of them.
Our resort is lit up by a marquee and two giant M-shaped signs, one on either side of our glass building. Our M signs aren't your ordinary Vegas signage. While traditional Vegas signs are outfitted with neon, our Ms are fully composed of LED lighting, a green alternative for sign lighting. LEDs or light emitting diodes use much less electricity than their flashing counterparts. Each M has thousands of LEDs and is over 60 feet tall.
Not only can our LED Ms light up any color in the RBG spectrum, they can also display any type of video. We even have the ability to display a full movie on our Ms. On a typical night you'll most likely see our logoed signs light up in blues and light yellows. During the holidays they display anything from pumpkins and candy canes to snowflakes and even an Italian flag during special events.
The control room at M where the sign images are changed.
To keep our Ms looking good, our team of designers creates color schemes in video format. When our resort opened, over 30 different color combinations were presented to our resort's president who had the final say in which colors got the go ahead for the Ms. To actually get the colors to appear on them, our creative team uses specialized software and hardware to upload the videos and control when each one is displayed.
Whether you're approaching M from Las Vegas Boulevard or driving in from California, our unique building shape makes the M signs viewable from nearly every angle. On your next visit to M, we invite you to take a look up (after dark) to see what color our Ms are.
Eight Days of Light
There are many different ways to celebrate the holiday season. Next Tuesday night, we will host our third annual Menorah lighting to celebrate the start of Hanukkah. The eight day festival of lights begins at sundown on December 20.
For readers who may not know, Hanukkah, which translates to "dedication" in Hebrew celebrates the recapture and redirection of the Temple in Jerusalem by Judas in 164 BC. Once the Temple had been reclaimed, a lamp was lit for its rededication. The lamp miraculously burned for eight nights despite only have enough oil for one. To commemorate this, a Menorah is lit during each night of Hanukkah.
Our Menorah stands approximately five feet tall in our hotel lobby. One each night of Hanukkah one candle is lit on the nine-brand candelabra. The ninth branch or shamash is the servant light, which is lit first and used to kindle the other lights on the Menorah. Candles on a Menorah must be the same height and in a straight row. The shamash should stand out from the other eight candles either being higher or lower than the 
others.
We invite you to help spread the holiday cheer and join us in our lobby at 4 pm on Tuesday Dec. 20. Assistant Rabbi Zukrow of Congregation Ner Tamid will lead the lighting and prayer. Hot chocolate and sugar cookies will be served after the ceremony.
Put a Little M in Your Holidays
The holidays are always the perfect time to indulge, especially while you're in Las Vegas. Our thoughts frequently turn to food - what to eat and where to eat it. At M, we're providing our guests with an appetizing assortment of dining choices for the Christmas holiday. From all-you-can-eat, fine dining and even a meal to bring back to your own home, there's no need to cook this Christmas.
Spend the yuletide day with a meal of Italian favorites. Marinelli's is offering a three-course dinner filled with some of their signature family recipes. Each course also has a custom wine pairing.
First Course
RAVIOLI D'ARAGOSTA paired with Marinelli's Pinot Grigio
Spinach pasta filled with Maine lobster, leeks, scallops, vodka tomato cream sauce
Second Course
Choice of…
PESCE BIANCO
Pan-roasted Chilean sea bass, herbed gnocchi, English peas, heirloom carrots and roasted tomato-tarragon cream sauce
OR
IL GRANCHIO E' INCROSTATO IL FILETTO DI MANZO
Crab crusted beef tenderloin, cipollini onions, pancetta, risotto cake and Brunello di Montalcino reduction
Either paired with Marinelli's Sangiovese.
Third Course
PANETONE CON CIOCCOLATO paired with Michele Chiarlo Moscato D' Asti
Warm homemade Italian panettone filled with chocolate nutella & cr?me anglaise
Since the holidays are about indulgence, why not indulge in a buffet (the best in town, no less) including over 200 food selections and did we mention, unlimited wine, beer, hard cider, espresso drinks (and more).
Studio B will be serving up special traditional dishes on Christmas day including: parsnip-leek soup, lobster bisque with parmesan cheese twirls, roasted turkey, Yukon gold mashed potatoes and giblet gravy, wild mushroom and chestnut stuffing, green bean casserole, brussels sprouts, maple-glazed sweet baked yams with cranberries, sliced pit ham with apple raisin sauce, rosemary leg of lamb with lamb au jus or mint jelly, truffled potatoes au gratin and orange-glazed duck breast.
The buffet will also add some new favorites to the traditional Christmas feast including: lobster ravioli with lobster cream sauce and osso buco gremolata.
For those who wish to celebrate at home, we have brought back our popular Christmas Feast To Go package that many enjoyed at Thanksgiving. For the Christmas Holiday we are offering your choice of two different menus.
Soup
Lobster corn chowder
Main Course
Whole roasted tom turkey
Side Dishes
Savory stuffing & giblet gravy
Yukon gold mashed potatoes with sour cream & white cheddar
Maple-gazed sweet potatoes
Cranberry sauce
Asparagus with lemon zest
Honey-dill carrots
Hawaiian sweet rolls and honey butter
Dessert
Chiffon raspberry roulade
Christmas cupcakes
Gingerbread cookies
Soup
Lobster corn chowder
Main Course
Roasted prime rib of beef
Side Dishes
Creamed horseradish & au jus
Yukon gold mashed potatoes with sour cream & white cheddar
Maple-glazed sweet potatoes
Asparagus with lemon zest
Honey-dill carrots
Hawaiian sweet rolls and honey butter
Dessert
Chiffon raspberry roulade
Christmas cupcakes
Gingerbread cookies
Treat yourself to one of our Christmas dining options and leave all the work up to us! You'll have more time to spend with the family and if you make it down to M on Christmas Day you can see our festive display of decorations all throughout our resort.
'Tis the Season to Spa
If you still need to stuff a few stockings this holiday season, you're in luck! Our four-star rated spa and salon, Spa Mio, is making the holidays a breeze by hosting their 12 Days of Christmas Spa Event Tuesday, December 13 through Saturday, December 24. You can take advantage of daily savings on spa treatments, retail products and more for yourself or your loved ones. In case you missed their Black Friday Sale, you'll have a second chance to get discounted gift cards on the last day of the promotion.
Below is a look at the seasonal savings you can expect on each day.
Tuesday, December 13
30% Off All Services*.
*Cannot be combined with any other discounts or specials.
Wednesday, December 14
It’s Better to Give & Receive.
Bring in a new toy with booked service and receive a savings gift.
Thursday, December 15
25% Off All Retail Products!
Friday, December 16
80min Massage + 50 Min Facial For $200*.
*Cannot be combined with Local Discount.
Saturday, December 17
Book any 80 min Massage for just $125*.
*Cannot be combined any other discounts or specials.
Sunday, December 18
50 min Facial for just $85*.
*Cannot be combined any other discounts or specials.
Monday, December 19
Book any 50 min Massage for just $75*.
*Cannot be combined any other discounts or specials.
Tuesday, December 20
35% Off All Services*.
*Cannot be combined any other discounts or specials.
Wednesday, December 21
Shellac Manicure for $45*.
*Cannot be combined with Local Discount.
Thursday, December 22
“B” Ready for the Holidays! Blow Dry for $55* with complimentary product from celebrity stylist Brandon Martinez’ hair care line.
*Cannot be combined any other discounts or specials.
Friday, December 23
35% Off All Retail Products.
Saturday, December 24
Last Minute Gift Idea!
Receive $15 Off any $50 Gift Card Purchase.
Shooting for Forbes Stars
If you're hotel-hopping around Las Vegas during your vacation you may notice that many of the high-end hotels in town boast some sort of star rating including ours!
For the third consecutive year in a row, our resort has been honored with the Forbes Four-Star Award and for the second consecutive year our spa has also been recognized with the Forbes Four-Star Award. The M continues to take its place as one of only 177 hotels and 104 spas in the world to receive the awards. But, what do all those stars mean for our guests?
With a reputation for defining the extraordinary, Forbes Travel Guide conducts regular inspections of hotels, restaurants and spas across the nation and issues an annual guidebook listing the destinations on a ratings scale of One to Five Stars. The ratings reflect specific, strict standards regarding the facilities themselves and more importantly the service that the rated resorts, eateries and spas offer to their guests.
Forbes inspectors spend two nights and three days assessing each hotel in numerous different categories. They visit hotel properties unannounced and rate them as One, Two of Three Star hotels. If the inspector believes the hotel is a potential candidate for a Four or Five Star rating, another Forbes inspector is sent back to the hotel undercover to evaluate the hotel's service with a checklist of over 500 items.
Properties must score in the 80th percentile on the Forbes' ratings scale to earnFour-Stars. The score itself is weightedheavily on service. A portion of the rating is measured by the experience that the inspector has while the facility itself is also factored into the score. Forbes rates about 8,000 of the approximately 50,000 hotels in North America. Of the 8,000 that they do rate, only a few earn a coveted Four and Five Star Ratings.
- Assistant Executive Pastry Chef, Don Ango crafted celebratory cakes for our Team Members in recognition of the Forbes Four-Star Award.
Some of the 2012 Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star resorts in Nevada include: Aria Resort & Casino, Bellagio Las Vegas, The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and Wynn Las Vegas. We feel very proud to be among such elite hotels in Las Vegas.
The 2012 Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star spas in Nevada include: Canyon Ranch SpaClub at The Venetian & The Palazzo, Spa Bellagio at Bellagio, The Spa at Aria and The Spa at Trump.
Our resort and spa have been able to take their guest service to the next level thanks to our Team Members. We're proud of their strong commitment to delivering memorable service experiences to our guests.
Putting the Sparkle in the Holiday Season
Las Vegas may be known for its lights year-round but during the Holiday season we like to kick it up another notch. We're decking our halls, trimming our trees and transforming our resort with our annual display of Holiday d?cor. Tis' the season to fill M with holiday cheer from top to bottom and we're able to do so with a little help from Ralph Jones Display Company.
Decorating a resort our size definitely doesn't happen overnight. It takes a team of 12 people over two and a half days to adorn our property for the Holiday season. They use lifts, ladders, lights, garland and more to festoon M for holiday festivities in hues of champagnes, reds and browns.
Think you've got a tall tree? Our holiday display includes two 14-foot trees with oversized custom glass ornaments. From the ceiling of our lobby we have 15-20 foot garland drops, also embellished with oversized glass ornaments.
Hanging above the entrance of our porte-cochere, inside and out are giant wreathes, wrapped in lights, ribbons and ornaments. On the lobby floor you 
can see a full sleigh on display, filled with presents and complete with reindeer.
We invite you to stop by M to see our holiday decorations in person. They will be on display until Jan
uary 1. For more holiday happenings at M, join us on December 20, for our Menorah Lighting Ceremony. We'll mark the first night of Hanukkah in our lobby with a giant menorah lighting. Watch the ceremony and enjoy hot chocolate and sugar cookies.
We wish you the happiest of holiday seasons and hope to see you at the M soon!
Lounging in Style
The VIP Lounge is a casino staple in Las Vegas. Having access to ours is just one of the many perks that come with an iMagine Rewards Card (a Platinum and M Card to be specific). Our Platinum Lounge is your gateway to private check-in, faster host services and even more perks.
Located near M's Casino Cage, the Platinum Lounge is tucked away behind sleek tinted glass doors. When first walking past you might not even notice what luxury awaits once you enter. The rich color palette and progressive architectural style seen throughout M continues in the space.
Plush couches and other places to relax in this VIP Lounge is the private sanctuary for some of M's biggest players. Players who can hang in the Platinum Lounge are able to immediately see a casino host and can also check into their room from here. That means no waiting in lines at the front desk. Another perk included in our lounge is access to water, soda and other beverages.
Think you've got what it takes to lounge in true VIP style? All you have to do is earn at least a Platinum iMagine Rewards Card which means racking up an average of 100,000 points in 90 days. Our VIP Lounge is open from 9am-7pm Monday-Thursday, 9am-10pm Friday-Saturday and 8am-7pm on Sunday.
