Mix at THEhotel at Mandalay Bay

If Walt Disney had preferred Italian white truffles over Mickey Mouse, chances are he would’ve conjured up an amusement park that resembles the current dining scene in Las Vegas. Top chefs from across the country, and in some cases, the globe (as with the legendary Joël Robuchon), are being lured to open restaurants in hotel casinos along the city’s infamous Strip, where in the span of just over three miles, you can walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, stroll past the Arc de Triomphe, and gaze at an Egyptian pyramid. Perpetuating the fantasy are spots like Daniel Boulud’s eponymous Brasserie, where the outdoor patio offers dazzling views of a man-made lagoon, complete with a running waterfall. Or Alain Ducasse’s Mix, which features a 2 4-foot chandelier whose 15,000 hand-blown glass bubbles, custom made in Murano, Italy creates the sensation of dining in an enormous champagne glass.

It all began back in 1992 when Wolfgang Puck made the controversial decision to open an outpost of Spago in Caesar’s Palace. Other superstar chefs gradually began to follow his lead, transforming Vegas from a town long known for its $7.95 all-you-can-eat prime rib buffets to one with menus touting $32 burgers filled with short ribs and foie gras. With the culinary landscape evolving so spectacularly, what has been the impact on dessert?
 

Christopher Herrin of Bouchon

There has been a similar migration of talent, with pastry chefs from established food hubs like New York City and San Francisco relocating to Vegas. They’re often enticed by the extravagant, no-expenses-spared budgets offered by hotels like the Wynn or Bellagio, but that is not the only draw. Christopher Herrin, who once worked at the Rainbow Room in New York City and now heads up baking at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon in the Venetian, cites the chance to have a family life as his primary motivating factor. Fellow New York City ex-patriot and executive pastry chef at Daniel Boulud Brasserie in the Wynn, Lincoln Carson concurs, describing the 70-80 hour work weeks he put in back East. “It’s hard to hear your child constantly asking where’s daddy,” he elaborates. Award-winning pastry chef Vicki Wells, who remains New York based, but consults for Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill at Caesar’s Palace, declares that “people are just sick of not being able to pay their rents. The people I sent out to Vegas to work are able to rent large apartments or houses with swimming pools on a salary that in New York would force them to live in, and probably share, cramped apartments.” She points out too, the appeal of the great weather.

	Gregory Gourreau of Mix

The current glut of so many gifted chefs presents an opportunity in and of itself. For Herrin, the chance to learn from them helped inspire his move from New York. Moreover, according to Californian, Uyen Nguyen, executive pastry chef at Restaurant Guy Savoy at Caesars Palace, the surplus of so much culinary talent creates competition, and that “forces you to stay on your game.” “It also has attracted a lot of great purveyors,” says Nguyen. This is sure to be a boon for Vegas, which is not known for producing any local ingredients of note.

Gregory Gourreau, who does the desserts at Mix, which sits an astounding 400 feet atop THEhotel at Mandalay Bay, suggests yet another reason for Vegas’ appeal. “I wanted to learn how to run the restaurant business from a corporate perspective,” he explains. The former French paratrooper, who did stints in smaller, independently owned eateries in Bordeaux and New York City, among others, goes on to declare, “One day I would like to be the executive pastry chef at a place like the MGM Grand.” The benefits of working in a corporate environment are more than just professional. Nguyen asserts that since the hotels are unionized, their employees tend to receive more generous wages. “People are taken care of financially,” she emphasizes.

Jean-Philippe Pâtisserie

With so many of Vegas’ pastry chefs arriving from positions in cutting-edge food towns, how does the scene compare? There is a sense among a lot of the city’s rising stars that the innovative spirit in their new hometown matches, or at least comes close to, that of their prior places of work. Both Gourreau and Herrin mention colleague Jean-Philippe Maury as a barometer of just how advanced Vegas has become. Named the “Best Pastry Chef in France,” Maury’s talents eventually caught the attention of François Payard who brought him on to work at his acclaimed bistro in New York City. In 2005, Maury opened a namesake European-style pâtisserie in the Bellagio where generous backing allows him to produce an array of swoon-inducing desserts. (In true Las Vegas style, however, it is the 27-foot fountain, which circulates two tons of melted milk, dark, and white chocolate at a rate of 120 quarts per minute, all day long, that has garnered the most notice). “I have been to pastry shops all over New York and this is the nicest,” declares Herrin.

Nguyen, who calls the current pastry scene in Vegas “explosive,” predicts that it will be on a par with New York in a couple years. Barbara Dellich, who has worked in Vegas since right after Puck’s pioneering restaurant opening, oversees desserts for Rick Moonen’s RM Seafood at Mandalay Place, and is similarly inclined. “It won’t be long before the current celebrity chef craze ends and there will be a need for something new to focus on. That will be pastry,” she proclaims.

There are those who are less enthusiastic about pastry’s development in Vegas versus other cities. Carson calls the comparison “unfair.” “Vegas is a destination dining spot,” he explains. “People don’t dine out here on a regular basis.” He, too, points out the difference in Vegas’ “restaurant culture.” “It doesn’t extend into the city, like New York,” he says. Beyond the confines of the Strip, with a few exceptions, Vegas is like one long stretch of interstate, with dining options that lean more towards Denny’s than Le Cirque. Wells adds that Vegas restaurant goers tend to eat dinner on their way to doing other things. “The main course portions are sort of Midwest huge and the turnover during the evening is big, so I think not a lot of emphasis is being placed on dessert, especially as people are running off to a show or whatever.” She likens it to having one long pre-theater crowd, and in New York, contends Wells, this group is not a big consumer of desserts.

Vicky Wells, consulting pastry chef for Mesa Grill

With Maury’s chocolate fountain, considered the tallest in the world, epitomizing Vegas decadence, are there any other trends unique to the Strip? Vegas is a convention town, with a summer and a winter season that attract very different clientele. During the summer, a lot of families, according to Nguyen, visit Vegas. “For them, I prepare simple, clean desserts like crème brûlée,” she says. The dessert’s popularity is brought up again by Wells, who maintains that “if you’re someone who normally doesn’t go out to eat very often, of course you’re going to order say, something like crème brûlée because that’s what you associate fancy restaurants with.” The winter months, according to Nguyen, draw a lot of high rollers, often from all over the world, who tend to be more open-minded when it comes to dining. For them, she experiments with elaborate concepts like combining traditional sweet flavors with savory hints such as basil or cardamom.

Herrin sees a “trickle-down effect,” with pastry trends in Vegas mimicking those of other more acknowledged food cities. “A lot of chefs are taking desserts people are familiar with, like the pop tart, and putting their own spin on them,” he says. Gorreau concurs, noting his own take on the candy bar, available on Mix’s menu, that combines caramel with hazelnut sponge, to “lure Americans,” as he puts it. At Joël Robuchon at the Mansion, renowned Swiss chocolatier and pastry chef, Kamel Guechida, exemplifies this trend with a whimsical “strawberry margarita,” broken down into its basic components, strawberries in lime syrup with tequila sorbet. He creates a similar play on a peppermint patty with a crunchy layer of chocolate and peppermint ice cream.

	Joël Robuchon at the Mansion

At Bouchon, Herrin has stuck to the formula that has worked so well at its parent restaurant in Napa Valley. “We stick to classic desserts like the profiterole, but ours uses housemade ice cream, Valhrona chocolate sauce, and hot puffs. A crème caramel is made all over the world. What makes Bouchon special is that we follow the same steps as a team in making the product, use a really nice oven, and bake in plastic cups that allow for easy unmolding. For the life of this restaurant, this dish will be the same everyday. It is not cutting-edge as they say, but it is an example of history and giving the proper respect to the technique it takes to make a perfect custard.” Since so many Vegas pastry chefs work at outposts of already established eateries, there is a tendency, to a certain degree, to stay true to their restaurant’s original concept.

Perhaps Wells may have the last word. “I don’t know if I can really identify any trends because I’ve seen so many different things. From the sophisticated, yet colorful and creative desserts at Atelier to the carnival stuff at Simon (cotton candy was one of the desserts I ate there)—I’d say people certainly aren’t copying each other. It really is great to be able to go out there and try so many different styles of restaurants from so many different places. There are tons of talented people out there.”