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
Beer—A Girl’s Breast Friend
Barley’s brewmaster Bubba does it all, and on May 26 he’s gonna do it for the ladies …
May 17th, 2012
Beer 4 Boobs. We could just stop there. Is there anything else you need to know to already have decided that, come May 26, there is no place you’d rather be than the patio at Barley’s Casino & Brewing Company?
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Chicken Dinner
Award-winning cocktails, as served at RM Seafood in Mandalay Place, $14
May 17th, 2012
RM Seafood lead barman J.R. Starkus is killing it on the mixology competition circuit. He recently took first place in not one, but two recent competitions in conjunction with the United States Bartenders’ Guild.
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The Skinny on Skinny
The Ragin’ Bull, as served at Wynn & Encore Resort Pools, $15
May 10th, 2012
Maintaining your healthiest weight doesn’t mean that you have to turn in your dance card or eschew adult beverages altogether. It does, however, mean that in addition to watching what you eat, you’ll have to start paying attention to what’s in your glass. Lately, there’s been no shortage of products on the market touting the “skinny” drink lifestyle—Bethenny Frankel’s Skinny Girl line, Funkin cocktail mixers and Tres Agaves’ certified organic margarita mix are just three—and websites such as MyFitnessPal.com can help you track your intake, but you can also do it on your own.
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Unleashing Uncork’d
Tickets are still available for this weekend’s epicurean mega-fest
May 10th, 2012
Vegas Uncork’d by Bon Appetite weekend is a behemoth, and a hungry one at that. The sixth annual event spans four resorts—Caesars, Bellagio, the Cosmopolitan and Mandalay Bay—and represents a level of cross-casino cooperation rarely seen outside of Restaurant Week.
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Water Water Everywhere
East Solstice, As served at Liquid Pool Lounge in Aria and Bare Pool Lounge in The Mirage, $15
May 10th, 2012
Hard-core cocktailians often turn up their nose at summertime pool cocktails as being too simple—just a bunch of sweet, frozen, blended hangovers and brain-freezes in the making. Light Group corporate mixologist Emilio Tiburcio hears your objections, you mustachioed masses, and counters with the East Solstice.
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It’s a Wry Heat
Mexican Samurai, As served at Rice & Company Restaurant & Lounge in Luxor, $10
May 3rd, 2012
Not everything is as it seems … For this, the best Cinco de Mayo cocktail you’re likely to find in a sushi joint, beverage manager Michelle Zornes and the Rice & Company bartenders crafted the Mexican Samurai to deliver a one-two punch of sweet heat.
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Scene Stirs
Seven reasons to lift up a glass
May 3rd, 2012
The UNLV Beverage Management Club (funny—when I was in college we just called ourselves “students”) has teamed with the Hard Rock Hotel for the second annual Brew UNLV beer fest May 11.
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Table for 176?
‘Spoonbender’ Gina Gavan shares her recipe for social change
May 3rd, 2012
Gina Gavan’s e-mail signature reveals her as Project Dinner Table’s founder and “spoonbender.” I always assumed this had something to do with the way that she seems to cast a spell over chefs and local businesses, rallying them behind her annual series of six communal, farm-to-table pop-up dinners held April through November, usually outdoors and always benefiting local charities, so far to the tune of more than $44,000.
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Party Cooper
12-Year Itch, As served at Vesper, Bond, Q, Book & Stage and Level 1.5 of Chandelier in the Cosmopolitan, $4 per ounce
April 26th, 2012
It’s wood to the last drop! Intrepid bartenders are putting entire cocktails into barrels and letting the wood work its wondrous magic, adding nuance and integrating the complementary (or sometimes adversarial) flavors into something composed.
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Julie Anne Hession
This is how the Las Vegas granola queen rolls
April 19th, 2012
If you’re someone who thinks granola is just for heath nuts and livestock, you’re not alone. You’re also in luck. All you vocal locavores, it just so happens that the most delicious granola I’ve ever eaten (and you’re hearing it directly from a huge fan) is made right here in Las Vegas from Utah oats, and it’s bound to change your opinion of the stuff.
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