Vegas Buzz

BILOXI - The Z file

Name: Z

Hours: 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., Thursday through Saturday.

Cover charge: None, unless a band is performing.

Entertainment: D.J. and Z dancers. Once a month, the club will feature live performances from national rock, pop and hip-hop acts. Tonic performed at Z's opening Friday night; future guests include New Orleans rockers Better Than Ezra on July 30 and St. Louis rapper Chingy on Aug. 27.

Amenities: A bar that serves 20 different martinis and is topped with a layer of ice, two private ultra-lounges that have bartenders, cocktail servers and security guards for each guest. Seats in the ultra-lounges cost $200 a couple.

Drink costs: $3.25 for domestic beer, $3.50 for well drinks, $5.50 for a glass of wine, $7 for ultra premium drinks or a martini. Capacity: 450

Age: Must be 21 or older to enter. Dress code: No baseball caps, athletic jerseys or ripped jeans.

After nearly two months of hiring and training, the 50 new employees of Palace Casino's hot new nightclub, Z, are ready to start working.

"I'm pretty excited. There's nothing in Biloxi like this," said Rod Camp, a bartender at the club's martini bar. Z opened Friday night with a performance from Tonic, the platinum-selling rock band.

Martini bars have been a staple of nightclubs for the past few years. But Z has taken the formula a step further. The bar has a thin layer of ice, which will keep the 20 different signature martinis cool.

"Last week, when the club had a preopening party, there were people trying out the ice bar, sliding drinks down there and writing in the ice with toothpicks," Camp said.

Palace Casino officials took the bar idea from the popular Red Square lounge inside Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas. According to Tom Tandler, Z's manager, there are only two clubs in the U.S. with ice-topped bars.

The Palace has invested $3 million in Z, visiting nightclubs from the Vegas Strip to Miami's South Beach for ideas that will give the club the right atmosphere. The club has been a top priority for the casino's officials, such as Robert Low, who owns the Palace, and Keith Crosby, the casino's general manager, who see it as a way to attract a new crowd.

The attention to detail and interest from top management shows that the Palace is taking Z seriously, Tandler said. And that's helped to bring in people like Camp, who has worked as a bartender at Beau Rivage's Coast Brewing Company for the past five years.

"They've invested so much money in this club, you know the casino won't let it fail," he said.

Amanda Leonard, a cocktail server, was working in the VIP area at Grand Casino Gulfport when she decided to head to Z.

"I figured this would be fun to do and I would have a chance to work in a great club," she said.

The two-month opening process has had some perks for Leonard. "The bartenders have been learning how to make all these different martinis, so we've had to sample the drinks to make sure they're OK," she said.

Nightclubs have come and gone along the Coast in recent years as fickle crowds moved from one to another. But Tandler, a liquor distributor who has run clubs across Biloxi, such as Jazzeppi's, promises Z will be different.

"The 'Wow' factor and the quality of service we will provide will help us down the road," he said.