Category: Chefs

NOBU, Negated

Nothing about this place is as good as its reputation. – Seymour Britchky

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Nobu is the perfect example of what happens when a celebrity chef gives up, sells out and cashes in. It is the gastronomic equivalent of a once-innovative cook deciding to abandon his legacy to the highest bidder and spend his retirement padding around his culinary house in a succulent silk robe and savory slippers.

None of this is surprising. By now, everyone knows Las Vegas is where they all come when it’s time to settle back and rake in the cash, because our captive audience of 40 million yearly visitors are credulous enough to buy the hype and settle for what little substance they get. But, not being rookies to the celeb chef rodeo, Eating Las Vegas‘ savvy readers know that it is those customers who ultimately pay for the luxury that these (former) titans of gastronomy and their retainers enjoy.

Las Vegas is also where our brimming-with-cash casinos are more that willing to throw money at an established chef’s brand in hopes it will save them from the food and beverage disasters they inflict upon themselves when left to their own devices (cf. Wynn Hotel/Switch). The money men behind Nobu know this, so this is where they’ve decided to plant his flag one last time time before he sails into the Peruvian-Japanese sunset.

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Top Chef Casting Call Tomorrow

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I asked Hunter Braun — casting director for the next season of Top Chef — if casting the show was getting harder now that the show has completed ten seasons. Without missing a beat, he immediately said, “Yes and no, people now have a lot of preconceptions about what we are looking for, or think that losing for some silly reason will hurt them in their jobs or reputations. But basically, we always have been about finding the chefs with the best technical merit and creativity. Personality is important, but we’d rather have someone who is bad ass in the kitchen and not so TV ready, rather that the other way around.”

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Breaking: Palazzo Planning Palate-Pleasing Panoply

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ELV has it on good authority (and by “good authority” he means the principals involved), that the Palazzo is about to up its restaurant ante with a cadre of new concepts helmed by some of the biggest names in the business.

Some deals are set and some are in the final stages of negotiation but coming soon you can expect:

– At least 2 new concepts from the Batali/Bastianich group — one involving an Arthur Ave.-like ode to American-Italian food; the other a gastropub that probably will not have an Italian theme (whew!).

– A top-shelf sushi bar from “one of the world’s greatest sushi chefs.” (Jiro? Morimoto? The mind reels.)

– A very, very French bistro/charcuterie/brasserie concept from a very, very famous French chef who may or may not be someone we are sworn not to divulge, but whose initials just might be Daniel Boulud.

Each of these concepts will be taking over existing empty restaurants in the Palazzo and each promises to inject some much-needed life (and some imagination?) into our moribund Strip dining scene. (Sorry Caesars, but trying to revive Nobu’s fading brand doesn’t count.)

Yours truly spoke with Bastianich last night, and he said a lot of smart restaurant people are guessing that Vegas is on the verge of another boom. (And on this point, he would be right.)

Getting Daniel back would be a shot in the arm for our humble burg, and fingers are crossed that he can bring one of his wildly successful New York concepts (Bar Boulud, Boulud Sud…) to one of our top shelf hotels without all of the interference (and dumbing down) that drove him from the Wynn.

As for the sushi idea, it couldn’t happen a moment too soon and is sorely needed to round out Venetian/Palazzo’s restaurant collective.

Don’t be surprised if some of these joints open before summer.

We at ELV are already smacking our lips in anticipation.