Las Vegas Weekly

May 28, 2009 · 12:22 PM

Exclusive: Pierre Gagnaire is first culinary king at Mandarin Oriental

By Robin Leach

Pierre Gagnaire.

Photo: Courtesy

Another one of the world’s best chefs is headed to Las Vegas. Vegas DeLuxe has exclusively learned that French culinary king Pierre Gagnaire has landed his own 75-seat restaurant atop the Mandarin Oriental Hotel scheduled to open early December at MGM’s CityCenter. Pierre will join an impressive roster of Parisian chefs already here: Joel Robuchon at MGM Grand, Guy Savoy at Caesars Palace and Alain Ducasse at Mandalay Bay. “Vegas now has the top four chefs from France and maybe the world. This is an incredible coup!” one food expert told me.

Pierre, 58, is a multiple Michelin star winner. He won at the start of his career in St. Etienne and more recently at his self-named Paris restaurant, considered one of the finest in the world specializing in modern French cuisine of juxtapositions of flavors, tastes, textures and ingredients. The restaurant, along with his Sketch in London, were ranked in the world’s Top 20 by Restaurant. For two consecutive years, Restaurant also named Pierre the No. 3 chef in the world.

The news of Pierre’s appointment will probably not be made until after Labor Day! But you can bet that his deal is all locked up and that food magazines will be salivating over him before the big Dec. 5 opening! A food expert source believes he will operate a modern grill brasserie showcasing meals and presentations never before seen in Las Vegas.

Photo: Kai Regan/Bene

Mario Batali.

Mario Batali’s Palazzo farmers market

For the first time in Las Vegas history, a farmers market will be set up inside a Strip resort hotel. Celebrity chef Mario Batali, the Iron Chef favorite from The Food Network now on PBS, has decreed that Molto Vegas must go green!

For six hours next Wednesday, local farmers will offer fresh produce to sample and purchase. Seven farmers are joining the star chef throughout the Palazzo’s waterfall atrium to sell everything from chicken and duck eggs, homegrown golden tomatoes, local desert honey, local quail, herbs, fresh juices from a local orchard along with lettuce, asparagus, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, white peaches and breads.

Tourists will be stunned by the display of produce and amazed that any of it could be grown in the 100-degree days of our desert kingdom. But they promise everything there will come from in and around the Las Vegas valley.

Mario, who is thrilled his three Palazzo and Venetian restaurants have received full green status in the first LEED building on the Strip, said: “I hope this will be just the beginning for all of our friends in Las Vegas to help preserve our planet for the generations to come and to participate in long-term, goal-oriented decision-making in all of our businesses.”

His restaurant partner and winemaker Joe Bastianich will present his biodynamic wines as further proof that delicious sustainable products are possible. The Green Restaurant Association will make a late afternoon presentation to Mario recognizing his Carnevino at the Palazzo and the B&B Ristorante and Enoteca San Marco in the adjoining Venetian as an environmentally responsible restaurant group on the Strip.

Taste of the Nation

More than 30 of our city’s finest chefs and restaurants will take part in Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation next Thursday. The kitchen kings and queens along with mixologists will lead the 17th annual fundraiser to end childhood hunger here and across the nation. Chef Carlos Guia of SW Steakhouse at the Wynn, who is Taste of the Nation chairman, has lined up Andre’s at the Monte Carlo, Kerry Simon, Rosemary’s Restaurant, Rare 120, The Capital Grille and many others for the VIP event, which also will feature a live auction hosted by local radio and TV personality Nate Tannenbaum.

Since 1988, Taste of the Nation has raised more than $70 million for organizations in the United States, Canada and abroad, including nearly $1 million in Las Vegas alone. Tickets for Taste of the Nation Las Vegas are $75 for general admission and $100 for VIP and can be purchased at 877-26-TASTE or TasteoftheNation.org.

Alex Stratta’s Tuscany bike tour

Celebrity chef Alex Stratta from Steve Wynn’s Encore and Wynn will host a series of weeklong culinary adventures in Tuscany for the luxury travel Bike Riders Co. in October. Alex takes 16 bike riders through Italy’s wine country for fabulous food and wondrous wines. It will be his fifth trip as tour guide, having previously biked through Burgundy and Provence in France and Umbria and Tuscany in Italy. Chef Rick Moonen of RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay is another of the chef guides.

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.

Share This