Las Vegas Weekly

June 18, 2009 · 3:26 PM

Counter Intelligence Photo Gallery: Old school vs. new school with Todd English

By Robin Leach

Todd English.

Photo: MGM Mirage

Foodies flew from all over America -- one couple traveled from Providence, R.I., on a round-trip, same-day jaunt -- to sit and watch celebrity chef Todd English. Todd taught an intimate and rare cooking lesson in the Tuscany Kitchen at the Bellagio, where his Olives has been a major success story since opening nearly 10 years ago.

Todd owns 21 restaurants coast to coast and will open his new English Pub this fall at MGM’s CityCenter. He was assisted in the kitchen by executive chef Isaac Carter, pint-sized powerhouse dessert darling Robin Swenson and his wine director and master sommelier Jason Smith.

Todd is one of the most decorated, respected and charismatic chefs in the world, and People magazine named him one of the 50 Most Beautiful People. In 1991, he was named National Rising Star Chef, in 1994 Best Chef in the Northeast, and then in 2001, he was presented with the Restaurateur of the Year Award. His first Olives was just a 50-seat storefront in Charlestown, Mass. Today there are Olives in New York, Aspen, Colo., and Washington, D.C., and he partnered with actress Eva Longoria to open their restaurant Beso in Los Angeles.

Todd served, and provided recipes and cooking instruction for, appetizers of a warm duck ragu with carbonated port marinated grapes in a miniature ice cream cone, strawberry and lump crab spedini in a fresh mint gel, and followed with an old-school vs. new school duel of mozzarella. One was a liquid buffalo mozzy in heirloom tomato essence and balsamic gel and the other was fresh pulled mozzy with heirloom tomato salad. In the liquid version, he added calcium lactate vitamin capsules in the blender with the curd! His butter poached fresh Maine lobster was served in a sweet yellow corn waffle with black summer truffle and a fava bean vinaigrette. Peach and white chocolate in a Bellini sorbet with blackberry preserves topped off the magnificent meal. Also served was a strawberry rhubarb daiquiri before all the glorious unknown wines.

Photo: TVT

Celebrity chef Todd English prepares a meal.

It ranks as one of the best luncheons I’ve ever tasted, and the Bellagio/MGM culinary experts host these with their top chefs every month or so. I asked Todd why he chose the menu and the two mozzarella dishes. He told me: “I think the new school vs. old school is very now of what’s going on in the culinary world. I thought it would be fun to show. Also, it’s Italian, and it’s what I do at a very basic level. Mozzarella, even just the pulling of mozzarella, is interesting because a lot of people haven’t really seen that, and also you take it to that next level, which is the liquid mozzarella, which is very bizarre.

“So I thought it would be fun to see both worlds. Whenever you’re choosing what’s going to be a demonstration like this, you’re thinking about what’s entertainment, what’s fun and things people haven’t seen. You know that 90 percent of the people are not going to go home and cook it; they just want to be there for the entertainment aspect of it, so you have to pick things that kind of fit that genre. And those who will be challenged by it will go home and try to pull mozzarella like we talked about. It doesn’t matter if they mess it up. At least you’ll try.

Photo: TVT

A culinary creation by celebrity chef Todd English.

“This class was sold out, so I was really impressed with the turnout and level of enthusiasm. That’s great, and that people will come out and spend an afternoon learning about cooking, and experiencing not only the cooking, but also the wine, the techniques and everything that goes on. Like you were saying earlier, we had a couple that flew in from Rhode Island just for this class. That’s the coolest thing you could ask for.”

I also asked Todd to tell me a little about his new restaurant The English Pub at CityCenter. “The newest will be The English Pub opening Dec. 3. With this economic time, I’m not looking to do anything that’s really high-end. This is down and dirty, food of the people, and especially what I love about it is Crystals is this opulent, architectural dream palace, and I’ve created something for the people. It’s my own burger bar, very much about burgers and food of the people, and what’s really now and enjoying good food at a reasonable price, good beers and good cheers.

“We’ll probably have 20 beers or so on draft, and then maybe more. Beer is picking up in popularity again. The economy goes down, and beer sales go up. It’s like the poor man’s drunk. It will have English pub food and from all over the world. It’s sort of a Castro pub, with some basic stuff, shepherd’s pie and bubble and squeak. I love it when it’s done well. With burgers and all the other comfort food, I think we will be able to sell little sausages sticking out of Yorkshire pudding.”

You can find all of Todd’s recipes and menus in his three best-selling cookbooks!

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter HERE.

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