MALOOF, DAKAKE RECALL TIME WITH KOBE
Chef Barry Dakake and Kobe Bryant at N9NE Steakhouse at the Palms
Two enduring images always come to mind when I flash back to New Year’s Eve 2004, the start of a whirlwind news-making week.
It happened on the cold and crowded observation deck outside the Palms’ ghostbar. A panoramic fireworks display was about to unfold along the length of the Las Vegas Strip.
It was my first New Year’s Eve with my future wife. I wanted to make sure we nailed down a prime viewing spot so we went out on the deck early. We were standing near the square of glass floor at the far end of the deck.
As we shivered, Cara leaned in and whispered, “Britney Spears is dancing on the glass floor right behind you.” I stole a glance and there she was, cigarette in hand, and swaying to the music, maybe two feet away.
The next time I looked in her direction, she was gone but someone else stood out. Maybe 20 feet away was Kobe Bryant and his wife, Vanessa, watching the fireworks. They were making a rare public appearance in the aftermath of rape charges filed against him in Colorado. Two weeks after he was charged, he presented Vanessa with a rare eight-carat purple diamond ring that was reported to be valued at $4 million.
There didn’t seem to be any interaction between them.
Well, Britney provided the big fireworks a couple nights later when she stunned the world by getting married at the Little White Chapel on Las Vegas Boulevard.
Lost in the headlines of that chaotic week was the presence of Bryant and his wife.
I called George Maloof, former owner of the Palms Hotel Casino, this week in the wake of Bryant’s death Sunday in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles.
He had invited the Bryants because of a friendship that began years earlier, when Maloof and his family owned the Sacramento Kings. Maloof had met Bryant when he was a teen phenom, shortly after joining the Lakers. “He was in Sacramento with the Lakers. I saw him eating by himself in a restaurant.” Maloof joined him.
“He asked a lot of questions about the Kings,” Maloof recalled. “I was careful about what I said because I thought he might be looking for information. He was really really serious about the game, even at that age.”
Maloof was a little surprised the Bryants came to Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve because of all the publicity connected to the rape case.
Months earlier, hours after he was charged with sexual assault in Eagle, Colo., Bryant, 24, and Vanessa, 21, appeared at a televised press conference from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Free on $25,000 bond, he told reporters he was innocent, saying “I didn’t force her to do anything against her will.”
Holding Vanessa’s hand, he added, “I sit here in front of you guys, furious at myself, disgusted at myself for making the mistake of adultery. And I love my wife with all my heart.”
A week before, he had presented her with an eight-carat $4 million purple diamond ring.
He turned to Vanessa, and with a tear streaking down his cheek, said, “You’re my backbone. You’re a blessing. You’re a piece of my heart. You’re the air I breathe. And you’re the strongest person I know, and I’m so sorry for having to put you through this and having to put our family through this.”
Bryant added, “I’m innocent. And together my wife and I and our family, we’re going to fight these false accusations.”
After the Bryants had dinner at N9NE Steakhouse at the Palms -- “a back booth with a bodyguard,” said Maloof -- they went upstairs to watch the fireworks.
Shortly after the fireworks show, Bryant approached Maloof. There had been a change of plans.
“She wanted to go home. There was a lot going on personally before the trial,” said Maloof. On the busiest night of the year, Maloof scrambled to line up a plane to fly the Bryants back to California.
Around 3 a.m. Maloof was able to secure a plane.
Bryant never forgot that. On future trips to Las Vegas he wound up at N9NE for dinner.
“He loved N9NE. Ate there everything he came in. He was really close to chef Barry (Dakake),” said Maloof.
Bryant and Dakake became good friends. On occasion, Bryant would enter N9NE through a back door into the kitchen.
“He was always really nice to the guys in the kitchen, shaking hands and taking pictures,” said Dakake.
During his visits, Bryant regularly gave his time to sign basketballs and dining plates for Dakake.
Bryant’s death, said Dakake, “makes me so sad.” Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, was among the nine killed in the crash. “Forget about what he did on the basketball court,” said Dakake. “He was a good family man. He loved life and he loved people. He was always respectful.”
Dakake’s big personality and celebrity connections has paid off. It was announced last week that he is opening Barry’s Downtown Prime steakhouse next year in the new Circa hotel being built downtown by The D’s CEO Derek Stevens and investors.
Dakake helped build N9NE into a celebrity hotspot for more than a decade. When the Fertitta family bought the Palms and replaced N9NE with Scotch 80 Prime, Dakake remained executive chef. He left last March.
He was working on a project in St. Maarten, in the Caribbean, last fall when the opportunity with Stevens transpired.
“It’s the first downtown restaurant built from the ground up in 40 years,” he said. It will be his sixth restaurant opening in 20 years in Las Vegas and his first ownership in one. The restaurant was developed by 980 Restaurant Consulting partners Dakake and Yassine Lyoubi, who merged with Marco Cicione Donnie Rihn to create Make It Happen Hospitality.
They will have a lease arrangement with Stevens. A December opening is planned.