Updated 01/22/2010

Martini Time with Chef Tina Martini (CLOSED)

By Chuck Rounds

Martini Time with Chef Tina Martini is playing in "Studio B" at the M Resort. It is a live cooking show that mixes cooking with nutrition, fitness, and wellness into a delightful and entertaining show which is topped off by a visit to the M Resort's buffet. Anyone that enjoys food will certainly be sated by this program.

It is very similar to a traditional network television show...it is fun, entertaining, and educational. There are helpful tips on how to prepare food, and video screens help to show close up views of the process...and of course, Chef Tina is a delight.

The audience gets to watch in the preparation of a wonderful dish. The recipes are changed on a weekly basis, in order to encourage return visits, and the audience gets to taste the results. Additionally, the audience members receive several handouts with includes the recipe, nutritional value, hints, and tips. The show covers a variety of topics which center on areas of healthy living---nutrition, fitness, and the body.

Tina Martini is an internationally recognized naturopathic chef and wellness consultant. With more than 25 years of experience, Tina has assisted celebrities, professional athletes and over-scheduled executives to achieve radiant health naturally. She has presented team-building workshops and has developed wellness strategies for large corporations. In a partnership with Macy's, Tina performed hundreds of live cooking shows for Macy's School of Cooking in San Diego, Calif. focusing not only on nutrition but on overall wellness, fitness and mind/body. She has been an educational chef with Whole Foods Market and has acted as a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women campaign.

After the sixty-minute production, the audience then gets to eat at the buffet in the M Resort. It was great to walk into the buffet with a greater appreciation for food itself...and the buffet there is beautiful, open, and fully stocked with everything that you could hope for.

Everything about the evening was terrific. I had not been out to the M Resort before, and I feel that it is going to quickly become one of my favorite casinos to visit. It felt as if they took the time to really make everything right. It is both luxurious and comfortable, and I'm looking forward to returning, not only to the casino, but also to go back and watch Chef Tina prepare another dish.

The only oddity of the entire evening was the name of the show along with the follow-through...It's called: Martini Time. There are martini glasses on every table. There are pitchers ready to mix and pour a batch of drinks. There is the desire to toast...and yet, there are no martinis... Odd. It would at least be nice to have the option.

The show and Chef Tina, however, are both delights, and I look forward to returning.