Since Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City opened its new expanded high-rise hoteI, spa, theater space and dining additions last January, one of the most talked about highlights still drawing attention is the Las Vegas themed restaurant It's Vegas Baby! which highlights the history and classic headliners of Sin City.

After I attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony in January launching the new $130 million, 22-story, 300-room hotel tower and latest entertainment space, I was impressed by the history and design It's Vegas Baby! shares with guests as part of the dining experience.

In addition to a stage for live entertainment, It's Vegas Baby! also features a large screen highlighting favorite landmark moments of the rise of the desert gambling oasis, including spotlighting everyone from billionaire recluse turned 1970s casino mogul Howard Hughes to current Las Vegas casino king Steve Wynn.

And of course, there's also a screen salute to Bill Boyd, executive chairman and founder of Boyd Gaming, parent company for Blue Chip Casino.

For decades, Boyd enjoyed plenty of prosperity as the owner of the legendary Stardust Casino and Hotel on the famed Las Vegas strip.

After 48 years in operation, the entire entertainment complex, including the 32-story hotel, closed on Nov. 1, 2006, and was imploded on March 13, 2007, so construction could begin on a bigger and better Boyd gaming property to be called Echelon Place.

While William B's Steakhouse continues to be one of the dining highlights at Blue Chip, along with a new sports bar called The Game, the new "It's Vegas Baby" restaurant, with memorabilia such as an autographed Elvis Presley guitar and antique slot machines, has a prized menu created by sous chef Jeremy Wood.

The top-notch cuisine ranges from gourmet flat bread pizzas and mini burgers to blue martinis, warm artichoke and crab dip and extra large coconut shrimp. Some of the other specialties include honey mustard salmon, a double bone pork chop and a nine ounce lobster tail.

Best of all, guests enjoy a "trip down memory lane" with rare footage shown as guest dine sharing the best moments of the past six decades of Las Vegas, with clips of everyone from Judy Garland, Rose Marie, Liberace and Jerry Lewis to The McGuire Sisters, Jimmy Durante and Bob Hope.

One film segment even showcases some of the famous marriages of Hollywood couples who were hitched in Las Vegas, like Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward (Hotel El Rancho 1958), Joan Crawford and Pepsi Cola mogul Alfred Steele (Flamingo Hotel 1955) and Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow (The Sands Hotel 1966).

There's even movie moments from the past six decades with all of the films starring Las Vegas as the famed setting, from "Rain Man" (1988) and "Viva Las Vegas" (1964) to "Vegas Vacation" (1997).

For more information, menu and hours of operation, visit bluechipcasino.com.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at philip.potempa@nwi.com or 219.852.4327.

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