Assante visits LV with show idea

Tough-guy actor Armand Assante, an Emmy Award winner for his 1996 portrayal of mobster John Gotti, was in town this week pitching an entertainment concept.

Assante, 60, brought a creative team with him for meetings with several properties.

Hilton Las Vegas Vice President Ken Ciancimino was spotted Wednesday at the Stirling Club at Turnberry Towers and later dining with Assante and his group at JR's Place Italian Kitchen.

Accompanying Assante was Hollywood executive producer Michael Tadross Jr., writer/director Lance Lane and music composer Robert Sprayberry.

Assante appeared as a mobster in a long line of films. Besides Gotti, he played Bugsy Siegel in Neil Simon's "The Marrying Man," a mobster in "Hoffa" and a crime boss in "American Gangster."

Given the success of Chazz Palminteri's "A Bronx Tale" at Palazzo and the hunger for the mob history of Las Vegas, it wouldn't be a surprise here if Assante is going that direction.

HOPCRAFT ON 'TOP CHEF'

Stephen Hopcraft, executive chef at Michael Mina's Seablue at the MGM Grand, is among the 17 contestants vying in Season 7 of Bravo's "Top Chef."

The first episode from Washington, D.C. airs Wednesday, June 16 at 9 p.m.

Las Vegas has been well-represented in the previous six seasons of "Top Chefs."

In Season 1, Tiffani Faison (Tao at The Venetian) was the runner-up. Other top finishers: Season 2, Marcel Vigneron (Joel Robuchon at MGM Grand), runner-up; Season 3, Hung Huynh (Guy Savoy at Caesars Palace), winner; Season 5, Stefan Richter (Bellagio), co-runner-up.

Season 6 was filmed in Las Vegas at the M Resort.

Making guest appearances will be former astronaut Buzz Aldrin; U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; White House chef Sam Kass; MSNBC's Joe Scarborough; Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill.; Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.; CIA Director Leon Panetta; and NBC White House Correspondent Savannah Guthrie. Celebrity chef Eric Ripert, who operates the Westend Bistro in the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, D.C., will serve as a regular guest judge. There are reports the venues will include a kitchen inside CIA headquarters.

The 40-year-old Hopcraft, who has twin daughters, has worked for Mina since the mid-1990s after they met in the San Francisco area.

Before joining Mina, Hopcraft, a Cleveland native, interned with Charlie Trotter after attending the California Culinary Academy in the Bay Area.

MaY I RECOMMEND ...

Tickets are still available for the Miss USA Pageant on Sunday at the theater at Planet Hollywood Resort. The two-hour live telecast begins at 4 p.m. Doors open at 2:30 p.m. and guests should be in the theater by 3:30 p.m. Tickets: call Ticketmaster 800-745-3000 or go Ticketmaster.com.

SIGHTINGS

Actor Taye Diggs, partying at Blush (Wynn) on Wednesday with Bret Poklar, who identified himself as a grandson of golf legend Arnold Palmer. The party was for Poklar, who is joining the Marines. ... R&B singer-songwriter, Ne-Yo, touring the new Nikki Beach site at Tropicana Las Vegas with Tropicana chairman Alex Yemenidjian, and Nikki Beach founder Jack Penrod, who's heading for the Cannes Film Festival where he's hosting many of the beach-front private parties. ... Assante, with a large group Wednesday that was celebrating Ciancimino's 49th birthday at JR's Place Italian Kitchen. At another table: Meat Loaf's lead guitarist Paul Crook and Patti Russo, who performed lead female vocals on tour with Meat Loaf.

THE PUNCH LINE

"They're also trying to plug the oil leak with shredded tires and old golf balls. It's like the front lawn at Tiger Woods' house." -- David Letterman

Norm Clarke can be reached at (702) 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com.