m resort.

The M Resort is something entirely new for Las Vegas, mainly because it's barely in Las Vegas.

It's on Las Vegas Boulevard at Southern Highlands Parkway, the last exit on your way to L.A. But despite a great view of the lights, the feeling inside M is a world away from the Strip. Anthony Marnell has built the city's first neighborhood casino that doesn't feel like one. Don't get me wrong ... Station Casinos' Red Rock Resort is still my favorite and one of the most beautiful properties on or off the Strip. But you still feel like you're in a Station there; it maintains the vibe, however upscaled, and the familiar amenities (food court, movie theater, bowling alley, standard restaurant lineup) you'll see in the company's sibling resorts. Not the case at M, which looks and feels like a real desert resort, the kind rich people escape to for overpriced bullshit massages, wine tastings and elaborate dinners.

Kind of plain and all blue glass on the outside, the inside is separated into two parts: the casino space and the area surrounding the expansive pool. The casino has all the prerequisites and feels a little smaller than it is. There are restaurants scattered around it: Red Cup Cafe, Marinelli's fancy Italian, the Studio B buffet and culinary showspace (where Top Chef likely was headquartered) and Vig Deli. There's also a traditional casino showroom, something you don't see much of anymore, called Ravello Lounge. The rest of the resort, the part we like because of its relaxing anti-Vegasness, contains the Hostile Grape wine cellar and bar, Baby Cakes bakery, Terzetto seafood and steakhouse, and Veloce Cibo, an upper-floor, all-over-the-place restaurant and nightclub thingy. We'll have to check on this one.

Overlooking the pool, which has its own bar and outdoor amphitheatre, is the hotel's lobby bar, sleek and modern and everything a cool hotel bar should be. It's the epitome of the M because it sits right between the casino space and this extra resort space. Take your pick.

Rich dark wood tones, golds and creams all over the M say simplicity, luxury and comfort. Clearly locals feel cozy at the M; it's been doing pretty well since its opening on March 1 despite the economy. It's a great place, and there's no reason it can't hang on after the newness fades. I just wonder ... the southern tip of Vegas has been hit particularly hard by the housing crisis, and a lot of rich people who were sprawling away from the city have sprawled somewhere else. It's pretty far away. Who is supposed to come here?