Dining Profiles
Chef Profile
The Deaf Chef
UNLV grad Josh Jensen sets out to conquer the culinary world by using his cooking talents and continuing to turn his disability into an advantage
June 2nd, 2011
Josh Jensen is using his hands. We’re at Metro Pizza on East Tropicana Avenue, sharing garlic knots and talking about the 28-year-old’s ascending culinary career, but I don’t want to bug him while he’s eating. Jensen is deaf, and can only communicate through sign language—so I figure that when he’s using his hands to talk, he can’t eat lunch. Almost immediately, he sets me straight. Read more »
Cooking with ...
David Myers
A classic dish shows off Comme Ça’s raw talent
May 5th, 2011
Raised in Ohio, David Myers worked his way up the food ladder by landing a job at Chicago’s Charlie Trotter. Trotter sent him off to work at the legendary Boyer in Reims, France, where Myers fell in love with the local cuisine and developed his passion for the brasserie. “I chose to give you a recipe for steak tartare because a good tartare is indicative of a good brasserie,” Myers says. Comme Ça Las Vegas certainly qualifies. Read more »
Cooking With ...
Brian Massie
Get frying with one audacious appetizer from the Fix kitchen
April 21st, 2011
To deep-fry macaroni and cheese, from a health nut’s perspective, is to add insult to injury. Yet fans of the dish insist it’s worth every finger-licking calorie. Light Group introduced Las Vegas to these delicious diet-busters when Fix opened its doors at Bellagio in 2004. Today, the Very Adult Mac & Cheese is the eatery’s most popular appetizer, with staff serving some 60 to 70 orders on a typical Saturday night. Read more »
Profile
Bringing Community Together
Project Dinner Table founder Gina Gavan is improving her city, one meal at a time
March 24th, 2011
Gina Gavan is not from a wealthy family that uses charity as a side dish. She’s a self-made philanthropist from Indiana who wants nothing more than to bring Las Vegas closer together. And she’s doing it through delicious, mostly locally grown, organic food. Read more »
Cooking With ...
Michael Gillet
Even the pizza is sweet at Sugar Factory American Brasserie
March 3rd, 2011
Michael Gillet may be a newcomer to Las Vegas, but he’s already making his mark in the dessert capital of the world. The French born-and-trained pastry chef arrived last year by way of prestigious properties in L.A. and, before that, New York City and beyond to assume the role of corporate pastry chef at the Sugar Factory American Brasserie, opening March 4 at Paris along with chefs Michael Sellmann and Bryan Ogden (Bradley Ogden’s similarly talented son). Read more »
Cooking With ...
John Schenk
At Strip House, humble side dishes assume center-stage status
January 20th, 2011
Chef John Schenk is master of two things: steak and spinach. As executive chef of Strip House, he oversees six steak houses and holds the recipe for the most sensuous creamed spinach in the city. “It’s kind of my job to taste creamed spinach everywhere I go, and I find very few that even come close to ours,” Schenk says. “I’m a very modest person, but our creamed spinach is the best out there.” Read more »
Profile
Greek to Him
Costas Spiliadis demonstrates the deliciousness of his homeland’s authentic cuisine, this time in Vegas
January 6th, 2011
“Have found wonderful green stone. Come at once.” These were the words Zorba the Greek once cabled to Kazantzakis, summoning him to Crete. Spontaneity is a Greek concept. You’ll get lots of it at Milos, and from the restaurant’s owner, Costas Spiliadis. Read more »
Cooking With ...
Giovanni Mauro
Nora’s passionate, opera-singing chef cooks up a nice piece of fish, Italian-style
December 16th, 2010
For those of us who maintain a connection between fine dining and music, I offer, as an example, Giovanni Mauro. He’s the son of Italian parents who run the locals’ favorite Nora’s Cuisine, 6020 W. Flamingo Road, and he’s one of the most passionate Italian chefs in the city. Read more »
Cooking With ...
Eric Klein
Spago chef takes a rare holiday break to share a favorite seasonal soup
November 25th, 2010
Eric Klein has cooked Thanksgiving meals for thousands of people, but has never celebrated the holiday himself. “To be honest with you, during the 15 or 16 years I’ve been in America, I haven’t had the time off yet to do the Thanksgiving,” Spago’s executive chef says. “My wife gets the end of the stick. I told her already, this year on Thanksgiving, we won’t do Thanksgiving on Thursday—it’d not be fair. We’ll do Thanksgiving on Sunday.” Read more »
Profile
Luciano Pellegrini
The Italian chef shares his secrets for perfecting the all-American dish: turkey
November 18th, 2010
Luciano Pellegrini, executive chef of Valentino at the Venetian, came to the United States in 1985 from his native Italy to work for accomplished restaurateur Piero Selvaggio. A winner of a James Beard Award, he has been at Selvaggio’s Valentino in Las Vegas since 1999. Read more »
