From Las Vegas
The Top
Restaurant Town in the World
Why Not?
By
Alain Gayot with reporting by Charlette
Krane
We are not here
to chronicle the history of Las Vegas, but now
that Sin City has become a major tourist and
business destination and leading metropolis,
having weathered wars, recessions, depressions,
anti-gambling crusades, the Prohibition, greedy
gangsters, Howard Hughes, Mike Tyson, killer
heat waves, floods and nuclear tests, we would
like to remind you of a few items on its
culinary timeline.
When
Mormon leader Brigham Young passed through in
1858, he abandoned plans to colonize the valley
for lack of basic resources. In 1931, when the
Hoover Dam project kicked in, it would have
been difficult to find much more than beans and
whiskey at the casinos erected in a jiffy to
cater to the mostly male workforce, or fried
chicken at the Green Shack. We know that when
Bugsy Siegel opened the Flamingo in 1946,
patrons did not spend their dollars on
gastronomic adventures; there simply were no
options. In time, casinos took the hassle out
of the eating experience and set up the
all-too-notorious $1.99 all-you-can-eat
buffets.
About
fifty years ago, the Venetian, an Italian
restaurant owned by Larry Ruvo’s family, jumped
on the bandwagon, closing two years ago, a few
years after patriarch Lou Ruvo passed away.
Larry Ruvo, along with partner Steve Wynn,
founded the Best Brands liquor distributor in
1970. Several years later that business was
sold to Southern Wine and Spirits, now Nevada’s
largest wine and liquor distributor, for which
Larry is Senior Managing Director. Among
restaurants that followed the Venetian were the
late-great Candlelight Room at the Flamingo,
Luigi’s, Villa d’Este and the Palace Court,
which started decent service at
Caesars Palace in 1975, closing in April
2000 to make way for the resort’s high-roller
villas. Two fine-dining restaurants from the
70’s that remain are
Andre's French Restaurant and
Michael's, which is reminiscent of the
Candlelight Room.
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The
culinary revolution started in 1992 with the
arrival of Wolfgang Puck, followed several
years later by Charlie Trotter, Emeril Lagasse
and Todd English. But not everything was a
success then. After serious losses,
high-rollers would be ushered into dining rooms
to be comforted. They demanded thick steaks
rather than roast squab, right in the middle of
service, therefore posing a great challenge to
a gastronomic temple. In the case of Charlie at
the
MGM, the frustrated perfectionist chef
departed… to return later. That room is now
none other than the posh and successful
Nobhill restaurant, operated by gifted
chef-turned-entrepreneur Michael Mina. Our
first print coverage of these developments
started as a chapter in our 1995
Los Angeles Restaurants
guide where Top Toques of 14/20 were awarded to
Andre's French Restaurant (closed in 2009),
Isis,
Pamplemousse,
Spago and
Tillerman.
At the
turn of the millennium, Las Vegas had spun some
serious dining rooms, which were awarded in our
now stand-alone book,
The Best of Las Vegas, where the top
level suddenly was raised to 18/20 for
Picasso; 17/20 for Aqua (now
Michael Mina Bellagio); 16/20 for
Le Cirque,
Lutèce,
Nobu, Renoir and
Valentino.
Today
we are proud to award a 19/20 to
Joël Robuchon at the Mansion, putting Las
Vegas on the same rating level as New York (now
joined by fellow countryman, über chef
Guy Savoy). Not Chicago nor Los Angeles,
Paris or San Francisco can brag about such
ratings from GAYOT.com today.
Alessandro Stratta at
Alex, currently with 18/20, is not far
behind. Mathematically, if we were to project
this growth, there is no doubt that Las Vegas
will become Top Restaurant Capital of the
World. Top, because there will be
more great places than anywhere else. Sure, you
won’t have the plethora of bang-for-the buck
eateries that Southern California offers or the
ethnic diversity that other top towns
have.
Top
artisans are coming from everywhere to practice
their art and science. The major difference
between the first two waves and today is that
the big-name chefs are now actually living in
the desert, lured by huge contracts and
opportunities.
Julian Serrano and
Luciano Pellegrini, to name a few, did it
then. But now
Rick Moonen decamped from New York,
Takashi Yagihashi left Farmington Hills,
Paul Bartolotta escaped his native Europe
and
Eric Klein turned his back on Los Angeles.
The competition is intensifying, all due to
visionary extraordinaire Steve Wynn. He
demanded (with one exception in the case of
Daniel Boulud Brasserie) that each chef be
there at his celebrated,
eponymous, just-opened behemoth of a casino
complete with Ferrari showroom.
You do
or you don’t like Las Vegas and what it stands
for, but if you consider yourself a devoted
foodie, no matter where you come from in the
world, Sin City University might be the best
school you could ever attend.
Bon
appétit (once again) but Vegas-size this time.
Especially if you're planning on appearing at
one of the
buffets, which to this day are among the
most searched pages on our site!
Note:
The city of Las Vegas has the highest
concentration of Master Sommeliers, actually more
than San Francisco and New York combined
alone.
(Date
published: 10/26/05)
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