Last night Star photographer Michelle Pemberton and I headed out to Shelbyville with Indy.com’s Leslie Bailey and Jesika Gunter to check out the grand opening of Indiana Live! casino’s new permanent facility. We’re putting together a big package for Indy.com the Magazine in a few weeks but here is our quick and dirty post-mortem of the event.

- The ribbon cutting was quick and anti-climactic. By the time we waded through the crowd to the media area to shoot the event they’d already snipped it and sent people down the escalator to the casino floor. No sign of Justin TImberlake and Jessica Biel, whose attendance at the ribbon cutting was implied by press releases earlier that day.

- We rocked a V.I.P. party at Mosaic, the dance club inside Indiana Live!, in part because J-Tim was said to be attending. The bar is cool, generally winning praise from nightlife aficionados Bailey and Gunter, but there were some snags like the mixer guns weren’t working and there was no olive juice for martinis. Still no celebrity sightings.

- We attempted to grab dinner at Maker’s Mark Lounge but it was reservations only (wish I knew). Next stop was the NASCAR Sports Grille but it was reservations only (wish I knew). We ended up eating at Live! Market, which I call Turbo Food Court. It has stations for steak, pizza, stir fry, salads, sandwiches and smoothies and it was surprisingly good. Entrees range from $6-$18 and there is a really good selection of regional craft beer.

- The casino allows smoking anywhere food is not served, so non-smokers should visit soon before the place reeks like an ashtray.

- We wrapped up our night with short visits to Angel Rock Bar, which could stand to lose the out-of-place gaming tables, the Gold and Platinum player clubs, and the Center Bar before blowing a few bucks on video roulette. All in all the experience was interesting and entertaining though not entirely in the ways I was expecting. My immediate reaction is that it’s worth checking out at least once. Mosaic bar has the potential for greatness and the restaurants could hold their own in Indy for sure.

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