The Perils of Chefly Stardom:

[tan319]

Mark Ruhlman, thanks for your thoughts. I'll be curious to hear what Mr. Keller says.

As for this: ouch:

Sorry -- I was unclear about having been there: I've not been to Bouchon; I've been to Vegas. And, I'll fess up, my knowledge is still limited primarily to viewings of CSI. No dogs kicked, no frat boys, no exes (of which I'm aware). I'm sure that the people of Vegas are on the whole fine folks. (Sincerely!)

So, I do think that cdh raises some good points here. I'm particularly convinced by your populist argument about testing out the "gastronomic training wheels." But you get my point wrong. I've never had a beef with anyone going to Vegas, or eating there, or even opening a restaurant there. Bobby Flay can run the tourist center there and I'll congratulate him.

My very specific question did and still pertains only to the matter of someone whom I respect and admire as a thinker about food -- Thomas Keller -- going to work selling the idea of Vegas. I mean, this is the guy who created the French Laundry!

Guilty as charged if that's evidence that I've got negativity about Vegas; I feel it's evidence that I have an investment, perhaps foolishly, in the food world having people of integrity like Thomas Keller around.

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How is Keller compromising his integrity by opening a bistro in Vegas?

IMO, the days of any chef centering around only one operation is drawing to a close.

It has bugged me in the past, thinking someone may lose their grip, their quality, by doing this, but the more I work as a chef myself, the more I see the reasoning behind it.

Look at someone like Jose Andreas in D.C., or Batali in NYC. Charlie Palmer, Todd English, 'Nobu' and others have preceded Keller, Flay and Ducasse in opening places in Vegas, and friends and chefs whose taste I trust have said they've had some of their best meals at these chefs Vegas outposts.

As for this playing card issue, silly as it might seem, I'm not sure that a number of eGulleteers may not like the idea of collecting chef cards.

The PR machine has to be driven carefully, but I'm not bugged anymore by Keller"selling Vegas" then I am by seeing ads featuring him selling "pork. the other white meat" in mags like Food Arts.

When he starts shilling for Burger King, I'll be worried.

I think that maybe there has been a reverse PR machine effect going on that could be just as harmful to someone like Keller, making him out to be some deity on the mount.

He's human, I think he knows what he's capable of pulling off w/o compromising his quality or integrity, and he get's to put some money in the bank to boot.

[Chris Amirault]

I think that maybe there has been a reverse PR machine effect going on that could be just as harmful to someone like Keller, making him out to be some deity on the mount. He's human, I think he knows what he's capable of pulling off w/o compromising his quality or integrity, and he get's to put some money in the bank to boot.

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Yeah, I think that this is a good point. I'd be interested in Michael Ruhlman's perspective on your "deity on the mount" comment -- a representation of Keller that I certainly have fallen for.

[melkor]

Part of the interest in French Laundry was an expectation that the actual man at the helm was personally obsessing over every part of my meal (from the way the building was designed to the source for the sunflower sprouts) and that obsession might lead to something akin to perfection.  Perhaps this is naive but when he had only one location it was easy to think this to be true.

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I haven't been to the LV Bouchon, but my most recent meal at TFL was less than a week ago - the man is without a doubt obsessing over every part of the food being prepared there. The Bouchon in Yountville and the one in LV make no claims to be TFL, they simply serve excellent bistro food. The French Laundry right now is producing better food that I've ever had there, the wine program is spectacular and without a doubt things there are not being sacrificed for the new restaurants in NY or LV.

[jgm]

Well, I was there back in February, right after they opened, and this is what I wrote on eGullet then:

Bouchon - IMO, this will be the hottest and best new restaurant to hit Vegas in a while...all I want to say is thank you, thank you, thank you to T. Keller for opening a beautiful, affordable and delicious restaurant. Excellent service, fairly priced wines, great food - what more can you ask for?

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I would have to agree. I live in middle America. Kansas, to be exact. Never been to Vegas, but I'm far more likely to end up there than in NYC or LA. Ditto with many, many other Americans. I'm not a chef; I'm just a foodie. In the city where I live, we do have some good restaurants, but I'm not sure they're as good as the establishments on the coasts. But for all I know, they may come close; never having eaten the food of anyone famous, I have nothing to compare what I have had, to.

And that's my point. What's wrong with bringing excellent food to "the masses"? (a/k/a me and my husband...and our friends) That's exactly who you'll find in Las Vegas. And who knows... once they taste the good stuff, they may not be willing to go back to KFC. They may start demanding excellent food in their own very ordinary hometowns. And that can only be a good thing, for the people who eat at restaurants, and for the chefs who cook in them.

[russ parsons]

it does seem to me that a critical part of this argument has been side-stepped, and that is the issue of what the intentions of the spinoff restaurants are. using the case of thomas, because he seems to be the one people are talking about most, if he was trying to reproduce TFL all across america, that would inevitably mean a diminishment of standards. that kind of food simply can't be replicated without a staff that is equally highly trained (and obsessed). but in the case of bouchon, which is food that is very replicable, then it seems that the reverse is true: rather than the diminishment of the restaurant, it could mean the raising of the standards for the community by educating the public as to what good food is all about (not necessarily haute cuisine).

[KatieLoeb]

KatieLoeb--I'd love to know the criticisms of Bouchon. Maybe it was food snobbery, but I really haven't seen much of that on this site. Maybe it was when the restaurant first opened and still ironing out kinks? Also, the Vegas Bouchon has an odd role to fill. A lot of people go there thinking only Thomas Keller and expect French Laundry food. Mark was trying to do some FL-style canapes for some tables to bridge the gap, but it threw the kitchen off and he admitted that he's since calmed down.

My friend that had the bad experience at Bouchon has posted his experience HERE

One of the waitresses I work with was there with her mom a couple of months ago and said the service was great but the food was solidly ordinary.

I don't believe either of these folks expected French Laundry, but expected a bistro menu as envisioned/carried out by Thomas Keller. They were both disappointed that there seemed to be a lack of creativity and flavor in the food.

In the other hand, I had one of the singular best meals of my entire life at FL, so I'm not knocking Chef Keller for no reason. I think he's brilliant and a maniacal perfectionist and has raised the bar on cuisine in the USA by a considerable amount. Unfortunately, Bouchon Las Vegas doesn't seem to be the best of it's genre though, and I don't think that was an unrealistic expectation.

[Mulcahy]

it does seem to me that a critical part of this argument has been side-stepped, and that is the issue of what the intentions of the spinoff restaurants are. using the case of thomas, because he seems to be the one people are talking about most, if he was trying to reproduce TFL all across america, that would inevitably mean a diminishment of standards. that kind of food simply can't be replicated without a staff that is equally highly trained (and obsessed). but in the case of bouchon, which is food that is very replicable, then it seems that the reverse is true: rather than the diminishment of the restaurant, it could mean the raising of the standards for the community by educating the public as to what good food is all about (not necessarily haute cuisine).

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I think this is an excellent point. I liken Vegas to a sort of Disneyland for adults. If Keller, and others, are raising the level of what were fairly crappy food options at this Disneyland, and, as jgm said, teaching many Americans who would not otherwise have access to these types of restaurants about good food, then bravo.

[tan319]

Just wanted to mention that I saw the Gourmet Issue with the playing cards....Pretty innocent stuff.

As someone stated, Keller seemed to use his to to honestly state what was asked on them (not that the others weren't honest) about his brothers, etc.

He's in pretty good company. IMO.

Nice issue and articles in that Gourmet ish also.

[Ore]

Rocco is still in...his show...The Restaurant, premiers tonight on Sky...the Gambero Rosso chanel here in Italy!

So, out of the US but still making the $$$$!!!!

Ciao,

Ore

[Michael Ruhlman]

I think that maybe there has been a reverse PR machine effect going on that could be just as harmful to someone like Keller, making him out to be some deity on the mount.

He's human, I think he knows what he's capable of pulling off w/o compromising his quality or integrity, and he get's to put some money in the bank to boot.

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Very true. He's mortified by people wanting to make more out of him than is actually there. All too human? Ask him to show you his knees.

[Michael Ruhlman]

the issue of what the intentions of the spinoff restaurants are

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Would like to reiterate Russ's typically on-the-money remark. I don't think you can replicate a french laundry or a restaurant with comparable ambitions. but you can increase the availability of exceptional restaurants if the style of food is replicable, as french bistro is.

[Michael Ruhlman]

And KatieLoeb, I read your friend's Boochon review, sounds a little strident to me. Though a 40 minute wait will do that.

I still think it has to do with people's perceptions and expectations. French Bistro food is some of the most ordinary food on earth. At Bouchon and at other great French Bistros, this ordinary food is perfectly prepared. But again, even perfect onion soup doesn't taste so good after 40 minutes.

[KatieLoeb]

And KatieLoeb, I read your friend's Boochon review, sounds a little strident to me.  Though a 40 minute wait will do that.

I still think it has to do with people's perceptions and expectations.  French Bistro food is some of the most ordinary food on earth.  At Bouchon and at other great French Bistros, this ordinary food is perfectly prepared.  But again, even perfect onion soup doesn't taste so good after 40 minutes.

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Especially a forty minute wait while you're staring at the empty table they eventually seated you at, and lied right to your face and stated they were "saving it for a larger party" when it's a two-top!! Anyone would be pissed off to be kept waiting and then have their intelligence insulted to boot.

I know my friend well enough to say that although he might be strident, he can perfectly well separate a bad wait from bad food. And again, he's not the only person I've heard this from. Bistro food is "simple", but in the hands of one of the best chefs in America, could be (should be?) transcendant "simple" food. It wasn't. It was merely ordinary by several accounts. Hence the disappointment. Please note these criticisms only apply to Bouchon Las Vegas. I've heard excellent reports on the Yountville incarnation from other people.

[TrishCT]

If talented, hard working chefs want to open in Vegas, I wish them the best. I just hope they also continue to open venues in other parts of our country.

This is the only issue I have. What happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas.

I have not been to Vegas, but on occasion I enjoy No Limit Texas Hold'Em Poker at Foxwoods, the largest casino on earth. Casinos are like adult Disneyworlds with the lights, glitz and glamour, yet they are far from the happiest places on earth. Casinos aren't especially welcoming to families (Vegas tried to make itself more family friendly a few years ago and that concept flopped). Casinos prey on people's weaknesses -- gambling, drinking, prostitution. (In CT a tax collector embezzled hundreds of thousands of taxpayers' dollars to support her Foxwoods gambling habit.) The showgirls, Cirque du Soleil, Celine Dion, and the restaurants are just window dressing to lure and keep the gamblers spending. I guess that's why it is indeed surprising to see special restaurateurs open there.

To paraphrase Andy W... In the 21st century, every renowned chef will be famous for 15 minutes... in Vegas.