Visitors to Las Vegas often encounter billboards with faces of chefs they've watched on television for decades. Throughout Strip resorts, mouth-watering images of carefully prepared plates in the outstretched hands of an instantly recognizable chef beckon. Celebrity chefs often have the most prestigious locations for their restaurants. But what can diners expect when they make a reservation and walk in?
They know they are unlikely to see Gordon Ramsay swearing at the line cooks at his restaurants. It's unlikely Emeril Lagasse will be yelling "Bam!" after he seasons a plate before sending it to their table. And they certainly aren't delusional enough to think Wolfgang Puck will be sharing stories of his childhood in Austria as he slides his signature smoked salmon pizza into the oven.
Among the many other famous chefs with a presence in Las Vegas: Jose Andres (multiple locations), Tom Colicchio (multiple locations), Pierre Gagnaire (Waldorf Astoria), Giada de Laurentiis (multiple locations), Guy Fieri (the Linq), Michel Mina (multiple locations), Guy Savoy (Caesars Palace) and Buddy Valastro (Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian).
Deals between chefs made famous through television and resorts vary widely, said Al Mancini, a longtime Las Vegas restaurant critic who writes for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "They certainly are going to have had a say over the hiring and the menu design. They are going to have signed off on the dishes and the image they want, [sometimes] down to the uniforms," Mancini said.
Some simply involve licensing agreements, and the chefs take their fee, sign off after a cursory glance of various menu items and make a few appearances a year. Others take it much more seriously and spend a surprising amount of time in their restaurants, Mancini said. They'll taste new items before they're approved, preview seasonal menus and walk through the kitchen to meet workers at every station.
It's important to remember many chefs lead big corporations, Mancini said. Wolfgang Puck, who has many employees who have been with him for decades, takes pride in nurturing and advancing talent in his organization. He encourages those experienced hands to innovate.
"In those instances, you're only going to get a couple of signature dishes, maybe if you're lucky, from the real chef. Some give a lot of freedom to their local executive chefs. Their local guys really run the show and help develop concepts and help create things. [The celebrity] trusts these people and just signs off."
The level of merchandising found in these restaurants is related to the price point and the level of television fame achieved, Mancini said. "You're [often] going to see a gift area in a Gordon Ramsay restaurant like Hell's Kitchen [Caesars Palace] because that's a television-based restaurant. The entire building was designed to replicate [the set of the Fox TV show]," Mancini said.
But you're not going to see too much clothing or too many cookbooks, clothing, mugs or hot sauces for sale at fine dining restaurants. "A chef who has a Michelin star doesn't want to dilute his brand at the highest level by hawking T-shirts," Mancini said.
Diners can expect to pay more for their celebrity-blessed food, but Mancini said that premium is certainly not as significant as other factors that go into menu prices on the Las Vegas Strip; the resort's overall prestige, the location of the venue and the view, the sourcing of ingredients and labor costs all result in more markups than you'd see in other parts of Las Vegas and the country.
So what personalities best represent the burgeoning celebrity chef culture in Las Vegas?
Wolfgang Puck's Spago overlooks the Fountains of the Bellagio. The restaurant started the whole celebrity chef scene in Vegas back in 1992 when it opened at the Forum Shops at Caesars.
Puck, who started it all with Spago in the Forum Shops at Caesars in 1992, continues to lead the way, Mancini said. Spago moved to Bellagio in 2018, and diners can also expect consistency and excellence at Cut steakhouse (Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian) and Lupo (Mandalay Bay), among his other offerings. "He's got a huge international presence, but he has a great team," Mancini said. "He really makes sure that things are done right for the most part."
Emeril Lagasse, at the height of his TV fame, followed Puck as an early celebrity chef in Las Vegas with his New Orleans Fish House (MGM Grand). He also runs the upscale Delmonico Steakhouse (Venetian) and the sporty Lagasse's Stadium (Palazzo). "His restaurants are just solid, especially when you go up to the fine dining level. You feel a touch of Emeril in his restaurants, even though you don't see him around Las Vegas often. But he has trained people who have been with him for years and years."
Gordon Ramsay is the No. 1 draw in Las Vegas, Mancini said, with five venues: the recently renovated Gordon Ramsay Steak (Paris Las Vegas), Gordon Ramsay Burger (Planet Hollywood), Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips (the Linq) and Hell's Kitchen and Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill (Caesars Palace). "The key to going to a Gordon Ramsay restaurant is deciding what experience you want," Mancini said. Ramsay has something for every level of fan, so diners should do their homework to find the atmosphere and price point that's right for them.
Bobby Flay "learned some new tricks, and he's bringing them to us" at the Palms' Shark, which opened earlier this year, Mancini said. His Mesa Grill (Caesars Palace) has plated his classic Southwest cuisine since 2004, but Flay reaches farther south, into South America, to keep the spicy heat for which he's known on seafood at Shark.
Nobu in the Nobu Hotel in Caesars Palace entices diners who appreciate Japanese food and its widespread adoption in the U.S., Mancini said. Nobuyuki "Nobu" Matsuhisa was "responsible for creating certain dishes and certain things that have become commonplace. Go to any Japanese restaurant and you're going to see yellowtail with hot pepper and ponzu sauce. That was created by Nobu. You don't realize how exciting they are because you've become used to seeing them everywhere. But it's nice to see them being made by the guys who created them when they were groundbreaking."