Category: Chefs

Bryan Ogden Is Tired Of Making His Father Money

One of the worst kept secrets in the Las Vegas restaurant world over the past four years was the…er….uh….frosty relationship between Bryan Ogden and pere Bradley. One of the reasons Bryan pulled up stakes and headed to the land of big egos and bad manners (after helming Bradley Ogden in Caesars Palace to great success) was to carve out his own name among the food cognescenti of LaLa Land, and to distance himself from B.O. and his B.O. legacy. Now in an interview in this week’s Nation’s Restaurant News (www.NRN.com) he explains his menu (at Apple in West Hollywood, www.dimentia.com/clients/apple/), and that: “My dad is not involved. We have different food, and it’s time to break away on my own. I’m tired of making him money.” Ouch!

Read the rest of the interview here.

Louis’ Fish Camp closes…

…but thankfully, not Louis’ — the more formal, bastion of superior South Carolina Low Country cuisine across the hall. The Fish Camp was the larger, more casual Louis Osteen operation that sported Zelda’s Bourbon Bar, Dixieland Jazz Sundays, truly awesome crawfish etouffe and shrimp jambalaya….not to mention crazy-good crab cakes, superb po-boys, and great gumbo. It seems the folks frequenting the Town Square Mall preferred the straight-from-Sysco offerings of Blue Martini, or (God help us) whatever the Tommy Bahama Cafe is dishing up, to the real thing. We haven’t been able to reach Osteen for a comment, but wish him and his crew all the success as they soldier on, against all odds, cooking authentic, creative food for a crowd who keeps looking for the food court.

L’ATELIER DE JOEL ROBUCHON 3rd Anniversary Menu

L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon celebrated its third anniversary in Las Vegas on September 15. It bears remembering that we got our L’Atelier before New York got theirs, and ELV will stack the food of Steve Benjamin and Kamel Guechida up against anything the Big Apple can throw at us. Here is a sample of the Third Anniversary Special Tasting Menu — available throughout the month for $148.00 for eight courses of the food that made Robuchon famous — and that put Las Vegas in the cross-hairs of every gastronome in the world.