Now that Andre’s has officially closed, we at ELV thought this might be a good time to post the review I wrote of it for (the now defunct) Las Vegas Life magazine in April, 1999 that resulted in me being thrown out of Alize by the cheesecloth-skinned chef a couple of years later: French Persistence (1.8MB pdf — new window)
Judge for yourself just how “bad” a review it is, and perhaps you’ll see why we now designate all puerile pirouettes of petulance and pique (by chefs) a “FULL ANDRE.”
FYI: We tried to gain admission into Andre’s late last year (through the entreaties of one of its regular customers), but were told to expect a repeat performance — which indicates how much confidence Rochat must have in the quality of his food. (A shame really, since we think Chef Greg Englehardt is a very talented guy.) Perhaps Rochat just doesn’t know what to make of his cuisine, since Englehardt doesn’t cook French food that was outdated twenty years ago.
Wow, If this is as little as it takes to get Chef Rochat’s goat, he needs to invest in some long underwear, or even some chain mail, to cover that thin skin. I can’t believe your “feud” comes from this, widely positive the way I read it and at the very least balanced, review. A chef of any true measure would have used it as a jumping off point to look critically at his own cuisine and see where improvements could be made rather than blaming the critic. Thanks for posting this John.
Thank you, ELV. Your timing is perfect-the right moment to remind your recent critics of the review that you wrote nearly ten years ago that started this silly, bratty rant by Rochat. (The review that most of the detractors had probably never read, but now have the pleasure of doing so).
bwdining so appropriately says above, “A chef of any true measure would have used it, (constructive criticism),……to see where improvements could be made rather than blaming the critic.” As so often is the case, the critic often has the last laugh, and laughs the loudest. Bravo.
Looks like this guy is missing out on the goods at the monte carlo. People are going around saying Andres is the best French Restaurant in Las Vegas.
New to the site and was browsing, this particular article was first stop. Although it is balanced the positives seem forced as if you just called your wife fat and are now back peddling. The opening paragraph is a direct jab and borders on passive aggressive.