Xania Woodman
Senior Editor, Dining, Beverage & Nightlife
Contact: 868-4508 • Email
Originally from New York, Woodman is an impassioned nightlife and beverage writer, editor, and blogger; a proud USBG Nevada member and Cornell Hotelie; and an all-around career carouser, causing a stir in Sin City since 2001. She has written for myriad publications including 944 and the LA Times and appears annually in The Unofficial Guide to Las Vegas (Menasha Ridge Press). Woodman has presided over countless mixology competitions as a judge, including Throwdown With Bobby Flay and she approaches each with an open mind, a fresh palate and a ready pen.
Recent Articles
Bloc Party
KGB, as served at Red Square in Mandalay Bay, $17
January 24th, 2013
There’s a Whole lot of glasnost going on at Red Square, which is now under the Light Group’s rule. The focus remains on Russian and Eastern European fare as well as on vodka, which finds itself in all kinds of tantalizing situations at the hands of Red Square mixologist Michael Monrreal, who also did the cocktail menu for Union in Aria before that closed to become Javier’s.
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Insert cocktails, five new flights of fancy (wines) and your big night
January 24th, 2013
Insert Coin(s) has always had a small cocktail menu, but owner Chris LaPorte would like to see a greater cocktail presence at his popular barcade. Along with Vegas Seven nightlife writer Deanna Rilling and emcee Tony Abou-Ganim, I recently helped judge Insert Coin(s)’ first cocktail competition, a showdown between Hennessy Black and Stoli Elit.
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Livio Lauro
Man With a Master Plan
January 24th, 2013
Master Mixologist. It’s a go-to honorarium that has been mightily abused by liquor brands and publicists, as well as, ahem, members of the media wishing to give a beverage professional an instant pedigree. The problem, maintains Southern Wine & Spirits district manager Livio Lauro, is that there is no such thing. Not officially. And yet, they’re apparently everywhere!
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A Parade of Floats
January 17th, 2013
The appeal of Town Square’s Meatball Spot is undeniable—pizza, salads and juicy meatballs any way you like ’em. And while the kiddies and ’tweens may enjoy the close proximity of a movie theater flanked by a candy shop and two fro-yo places, adults might prefer a babysitter and the proximity of Meatball Spot’s bar.
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Social to open at the Palms, Money Plays catches the spirit
January 17th, 2013
Hot on the heels of the late-December opening of Scarlet, the Palms’ micro-bar next to N9NE Steakhouse, the property is poised to welcome Social to the scene. Slated for a January 25 opening, the revamped center bar will focus primarily on whiskey. More than 30 varieties will be available in flights and whiskey-based cocktails, including a barrel-aged cocktail program.
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If You're Going to Park City, Utah...
Be sure to drink this beer, these whiskeys and this cocktail.
January 16th, 2013
The annual Sundance Film Festival kicks off January 17 for two full weeks of mountainside shenanigans, and with that many New Yorkers, Los Angelenos and Las Vegans in one place, you bet your bitters there will be boozing.
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Your Best Bet
January 10th, 2013
The seemingly disparate worlds of poker and mixology have joined forces to wonderful effect at the Ainsworth, the Hard Rock Hotel’s new high-end sports bar and cocktail lounge. Named for a particular variant of poker, Paige Hospitality Group food and beverage director David Heinman’s cocktail, the Blind Stud, is essentially a slightly tipsier Moscow Mule, thanks to the addition of a little absinthe-flavored liqueur.
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The Palms Gets Even More Social
January 9th, 2013
Slated for a January 25 opening, the Palms' revamped center bar will focus primarily on whiskey.
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Cocktail Culture
Bloody Hell
January 3rd, 2013
This is no sweet love hangover. This is the real deal. And it’s bad. Baaad. Inevitably, all that December partying catches up, and suddenly—if not literally—it’s the end of the world as you know it. Now, believe it or not, I’ve been there. More than I’d care to recount, actually. But even in my densest personal brain fog, I’m able to remember that help is just a pint glass away with the perfectly executed Bloody Mary.
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How to Stock Your Own Pop-Up Bloody Mary Bar
January 3rd, 2013
For the second year in a row, my beloved friend Jeff arrived in Las Vegas for a huge eyewear convention with one thing on his mind (other than which pair of his own frames he’ll wear today): pop-up Bloody Mary bar! What guest doesn’t love ’em? The hard work has been done for you, and if your host is anything like Jeff, he’ll set out all kinds of goodies for you to doctor up your personal pint. Whether your Bloody Mary is likely to induce a hangover or cure one, a well-stocked bar lets you take comfort in the knowledge that you’re not alone.
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