Category: Chefs

Tuber Magnatum Magnificence at GUY SAVOY

YOU DON’T KNOW THE TRUFFLES I’VE SEEN

“The most learned men have sought to ascertain the secret, and fancied they discovered the seed. Their promises, however, were vain, and no planting was ever followed by a harvest. This perhaps is all right, for as one of the great values of truffles is their dearness, perhaps they would be less highly esteemed if they were cheaper.” – Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

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Eating Las Vegas knows not what derring-do Urbani Truffles (and local truffle queen Leigh Greenfield) goes through to sneak the very first white truffles of the season all the way from Italy to Restaurant Guy Savoy, but get them there they did last week, making it the first restaurant in America to get a taste of this season’s crop.

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CENTRAL Set to Open Tuesday

ELV update: Now they’re telling us it will open Wednesday, September 7th.

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Why is this Frenchman (and the Frenchmen below) smiling? Because Central (sen-TRAL) is set to open this Tuesday in Caesars Palace — right smack next to the front valet and check-in desks — making it overnight the busiest three-meal-a-day restaurant in town. Correction: It will be the busiest 24-hour-a-day restaurant in town. The plan is for Central never to close, making it the go-to spot for those seeking quality late night bites…instead of the Peppermill/Denny’s-grade food most late night revelers are stuck with.

Hmmm…a chef-driven restaurant that never closes? A first for Las Vegas (or anywhere) to be sure, and one that will be fascinating to watch…and sample…at all hours of the day.

Corporate Executive Chef David Deshaies tells Eating Las Vegas the menu will be substantially similar to the James Beard Award-winning fare of the original Central in Washington (D. C., not Kansas), with a menu expansion of perhaps 20-30% to accommodate the international tastes of the Vegas tourist market.

Michel Richard’s steak frites, cheeseburger, fried chicken, rotisserie chicken and desserts are already legendary, so we’re guessing things are about to get even tastier around Caesars Palace….and al fresco dining — something long and inexplicably ignored by Vegas hotels — is about to get another delicious shot in the arm.

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CENTRAL

In Caesars Palace Hotel and Casino

3570 Las Vegas Blvd. South

Las Vegas, NV 89109

702.650.5921

http://www.centrallv.com/

John Arena Makes a Pizza…and Heats Things Up

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John Arena makes a pizza with the ease of someone tying their shoe. He can teach, talk, toss and transform a few simple ingredients into something other-worldly to eat, in about the time it’s takes you to read these first few paragraphs.

At the drop of a hat, he’ll also tell you all about extended dough fermentation*, and how you can detect quality in the practice of pizza professionals by the bubbles on the cooked crust. (Long fermentation of the sourdough = bubbly crust = crispy/soft/yeasty/tang to the bite.)

He’s also one of our great restaurant philosophers on the theory and practice of successful operations — especially as concerns whether a place needs to grow and change with the times, or stick to doing a few things well. (He is more in the latter camp, while ELV swings both ways, depending on how the economic winds are blowing.) More young whippersnappers should pay attention to his advice and his operation — still going strong for over thirty years.

Arena, like Pizza Bianco’s Chris Bianco (and many others) thinks the type of oven isn’t as important as the care and feeding of what goes into it. Here is a recent essay of his for www.pizzaquest.com on the importance (or not) of your heat source for baking your pies. In his opinion, it all comes down to different strokes for different pizzaiolos:

HEATING THINGS UP

By John Arena

Lately, like many of us across the country I’ve been thinking about heat. Now, I’m no stranger to intense heat. I’ve been working in front of a pizza oven for over 40 years and I live in Las Vegas where one day last week the temperature topped out at 119 degrees. So, let’s just say heat is a big part of my life.

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