Chefs of the Bellagio at the Beard House in NYC

[Fat Guy]

My friend John Curtas, the Las Vegas-based food writer and commentator, was in town this week and invited me to a dinner tonight at the James Beard House. Even when, as tonight, I'm able to go for free on a press pass, I'm usually reluctant to go to Beard House dinners. They're boring, they're rarely good. But John was persistent and the theme did look compelling.

The idea was to take the day-to-day chefs of the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas -- the guys whose names you don't hear but who run the kitchens at Le Cirque, Michael Mina, Prime, etc. -- and have each of them do a course. (In the marketing vernacular they are known as "rising stars.") So I got to encounter five journeyman chefs who were heretofore totally unfamiliar to me but whose skills are on par with those of just about anybody in the industry.

The presentation was first class. The Bellagio put a lot of resources behind this and sent plenty of people, including a designer. Everything from the cocktails and hors d'oeuvres to the gift bags distributed at the end was done at a level much higher than what you'd normally see at a Beard House event. It was certainly worth going.

The predictable difficulty with a meal like this is that each chef wants to show off as much as possible, so the meal winds up being a bit of a cacophony. Most every dish had a lot going on. There was nobody bold enough to do a truly minimalist thing like just serve a piece of fish. But I guess the "more is better" aesthetic is representative of Las Vegas anyway.

We started (after an hour of hors d'oeuvres and cocktails) with a trio of foie gras preparations, all of which were terrific, from David Werly of Le Cirque (the Le Cirque at the Bellagio, that is). There was a very correct terrine, a well-made creme brulee, and a fantastic foamy mousse served in a tall shot-glass type thing with fruit on the bottom. The wine pairing was a 2004 Weinbach gewurtztraminer, which was a lovely wine, but I thought an even sweeter wine was called for. The Bellagio's wine guy, who has every wine credential known to humankind, was there, and in response to my position he said, "We don't think sweet is the answer for foie gras." And I agree. But David Werly didn't get that memo. He made a foie gras creme brulee with a caramelized sugar shell on top, and there was sweet fruit in with the mousse preparation. Next to those preparations, the wine didn't hold up. So, credentials aside, it needed an even sweeter wine.

Next, a butter-poached Scottish langoustine sitting atop a pile of black truffle risotto and all surrounded by sea urchin foam, from Anthony Amoroso of Michael Mina Restaurant. So, yeah, again, there was a lot going on. But the dish held together pretty well. The langoustine was a little bit overdone -- just a little bit, which made it more frustrating -- but that sort of technical problem is pretty much unavoidable at the Beard House given the weak kitchen facilities. And again I thought the wine, a 2004 Chassagne-Montrachet from Morey-Coffinet, was a very nice wine standing alone but didn't work with the dish. I got the impression of a lot of new oak from this one, and new oak and langoustine just don't marry well.

Then there was five-spice squab breast with bacon, green chickpeas, cauliflower and an Earl Grey infusion, from Edmund Wong, whose affiliation was listed as "Bellagio" so he must be one of the corporate chefs. My only complaint here was the choice of a somewhat denatured piece of squab breast -- in other words no skin or bone -- which I thought took away from the flavor potential of the dish. I mean, the way the breast was packaged in a little cylinder I'm not sure I'd have guessed it was squab without sitting around and thinking about it for a bit. And again I wasn't crazy about the wine, a 2006 Russian River Valley pinot noir called "George" that was billed as a blend of New World and Old World styles, but not the blend I'd have gone for.

The last savory course was roasted venison with acorn squash puree and apple cider reduction, from Robert Moore of Prime. This was a very well executed dish, albeit a bit sweet. The wine pairing here was spot on, a 2000 Margaux from Chateau D'Issan. I wasn't totally crazy about the wine itself, and I actually think there may have been a problem with the batch, but it worked with the venison.

For dessert, one of the Bellagio pastry chefs, Claude Escamilla, did a seriously impressive display of pineapple desserts. Pina colada chiboust tart, coconut tapioca lime milkshake, cardamom carpaccio, passion cilantro sauce . . . it was a very serious dessert situation. Those big hotels are really able to attract top pastry talent. The dessert was even served on rectangular platters that had been designed especially for this dinner and said Bellagio on them. Served with a nice tokaji.

So what did I learn tonight? Mainly that the talent pool in Las Vegas is deeper than I had considered it might be. It seems obvious in retrospect that all these big-name high-concept restaurants need first-rate chefs-de-cuisine, but this dinner helped put it in perspective.

[David Ross]

I'm glad you took John up on the invitation. If we can sway more folks, especially New Yorker's, to experience the cooking of the chefs from Las Vegas than that is a good thing for the restaurant community in town. I'm not a resident of Las Vegas but an avid cheerleader of the growing restaurant industry in town.

"Celebrity" Chefs bring in the tourists in Las Vegas, but it's the men and women who are in the kitchen, in residence, night after night, that carry out the workload-and insure the quality is up to the standards of the chef/owner. Kudos to them and I am glad you had positive comments about the Beard House dinner.

[foodhunter]

My friend John Curtas, the Las Vegas-based food writer and commentator, was in town this week and invited me to a dinner tonight at the James Beard House. Even when, as tonight, I'm able to go for free on a press pass, I'm usually reluctant to go to Beard House dinners. They're boring, they're rarely good. But John was persistent and the theme did look compelling.

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Why do you say the Beard House dinners are boring and rarely good? I've only been to one, featuring Elizabeth Karmel from Hill Country. I wasn't tremendously impressed, but chalked it up to theme (as pecan pie isn't really meant to be eaten as tartlets, and BBQ on a ceramic plate just looks plain wrong). I've considered attending more of the dinners to see what it's really all about, so I'm curious what you think.

[Fat Guy]

Why do you say the Beard House dinners are boring and rarely good? 

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Much of the problem has to do with the limitations of banquet-style service. When you put 80 or so people in a room and serve all of them the same food at the same time, you run up against a lot of quality limitations. Some of these limitations can be compensated for if you have first-rate banquet facilities with the latest technology and you do this sort of thing all the time, but for guest chefs in a mediocre kitchen like the one at the Beard House it's very difficult to pull off. In addition, the dinners tend to be excruciatingly slow on account of the long breaks between courses. And the Beard House servers are just not particularly good at their jobs. In general, the crowd is pretty dull -- you'd think it would be all these in-the-know gourmets but it's usually a bunch of people who you can't even figure out why they bothered to come. Most every chef I've spoken to on the subject has said he or she would jump at the chance to do these types of dinners in a better venue, but for this sort of promotional event the Beard House is pretty much the only game in town.

[jsmeeker]

I'm glad you were impressed with the Las Vegas crew. I love that town, and I am very excited about the dining scene going on out there. I've dined at Michael Mina and Picasso at Bellagio. I've also had dined at Fix and have sampled what Jean Phillipe Patisserie has to offer.

They really run a great operation there at that hotel. And they aren't the only ones doing it.

[David Ross]

Steven-You didn't mention Martin Heierling, Chef at Sensi at Bellagio. He would have added to the roster of chefs for the Beard House dinner. And he might have satisfied your wish for something simple-as you say, "just serve a piece of fish."

Sensi is often one of the overlooked restaurants at Bellagio. The main dinner crowds tend to go to the more well-known restaurants that border the fountains like Prime, Picasso, Le Cirque and Olives. What a shame.

Sensi is as good as those other dining rooms, albeit with a unique style and layout with the kitchen placed in the center of the dining rooms and encased in glass.

Should anyone go to Sensi, ask for the live Santa Barbara spot prawns if they are in season. It is the definition of a simple grilled piece of shellfish. Sweet meat with a charred shell. And don't miss sucking on the delicious head of the prawn.

I can understand chefs wanting to put on the Ritz when they cook at the Beard House, but if Mr. Beard were alive today-he might agree with you-"I just want a simple piece of fish."