You know you’re doing something right when other restaurant and tavern owners are dishing out heaping plates of praises. That was the case at JR’s Place last week, when Ellis Island Brewery and Casino and Village Pub chain owners Gary Ellis and Jaimie Holcombe stopped by to hang with JR’s Executive Chef/Owner Susan Rispoli. If you haven’t hit up JR’s for ita 24-hour gourmet Italian menu, what’s taking you so long? They are located at 215 and Durango. Check them out!

On Wednesday, Feb. 14, Tabú Ultra Lounge is hosting Grammy-winning house music DJ and producer David Morales. This Valentine’s Day, Morales will fulfill the crowd’s desires with his unique style as he brings a little heart and soul to the music at the lounge.

The Palms Casino Resort is offering the ultimate Las Vegas getaway for basketball enthusiasts this NBA All-Star weekend. The chance to experience Las Vegas history includes a three-night stay in the Hugh Hefner Sky Villa and four tickets to the NBA All-Star game on Sunday, Feb. 18, at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center. This once-in-a-lifetime experience is now available on ebay.com for a starting bid of $80,000.

Gold Coast Hotel and Casino continues to reinvent itself with the addition of a high-limit room to its casino floor. The Asian-inspired room includes two high-limit blackjack tables, a traditional baccarat table and 23 high-limit slot machines. “We created the high-limit room to offer our customers even more gaming options,” said Mike Growney, general manager of Gold Coast. “It is just one more step in our process to provide our guests with the best possible casino experience.”

Sheldon Adelson and his Las Vegas Sands Corporation currently is mulling over investing nearly $800 million in a casino resort in the United Kingdom. According to British press reports, the company will only move forward if the deal includes mixed-use facilities like retail and residence condos, with which the company has had success in the past.

A recent report conducted by Dr. Ira Sheskin of the University of Miami concluded that Las Vegas has grown to become the 23rd largest Jewish community in the country – a 21 percen increase in the last decade. Sheskin, however, also noted that the transient nature and the geographical layout of the city has worked against the development of stable Jewish institutions, a factor proven by the minimal 14 percent of the community that belong to a synagogue.

MGM Mirage has announced that it will be closing one of Jean’s two existing casinos, Nevada Landing, for a 166-acre master-planned, mixed use development. The lights will remain on at the neighboring Gold Strike, where a renovation is planned for the property’s 800 rooms.

Rap mogul Suge Knight was spotted hanging out at OPM nightclub over the weekend, smoking on stogies and posing for pictures. One female fan with an inquiring mind asked Knight, “What happened to Biggie?” referring to murdered rap superstar Notorious B.I.G. The music executive, who once allegedly hung Vanilla Ice over a balcony for points in the artist’s career, simply shrugged and continued to puff on his cigar.

Speaking of OPM, we were intrigued to learn that OPM top dawg and owner Mike Goodwin had pulled all flavors of Grey Goose vodka from the club. But then again, Goodwin has always danced to the beat of his own drum and been very successful doing so. Perhaps his customers are done with the over-hyped product and are now choosing to “duck, duck the goose.” Over at our offices, the overwhelming majority still stick to Ketel One Vodka.

It appears as though Microsoft founder Bill Gates is getting into the hospitality business. Cascade Investment, a company owned by Gates and Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, has come to terms in an agreement to purchase the Four Seasons Hotel chain for just under $4 billion. The buyout, which will take the company private, will pay approx. $82 per share, which is a 28 percent premium over the share’s price during its last day on the stock exchange.

How much is it worth to you to have your nightclub, hotel or restaurant featured in an up-coming smash-hit, first-person, role-playing video game? If you think having gamers around the globe searching for clues in your branded virtual venue is worth six figures, then e-mail us here and we can exclusively provide you with more information and a video trailer of the game.

We wanted to end this week’s Eye by wishing our condolences to the family of Anna Nicole Smith. The never-boring, blonde bombshell certainly did it in her own way, which is why her legions are still in mourning. Our favorite Vegas memory of the former Guess model is still her appearance at Beacher’s Madhouse, where heavyweight comic Jeffrey Beacher and host Brian Callan  surprised Smith by bringing her on stage to show off her newly slimmed figure and rewarded her with a diamond-decked necklace.