Las Vegas Weekly

July 8, 2010 · 2:19 PM

Counter Intelligence: Thomas Keller, Charlie Palmer and Rick Moonen

By Robin Leach

Thomas Keller.

Photo: Erik Kabik/Retna/www.erikkabikphoto.com

Hot off the grill! I’ve been fortunate this past month to sit down to very memorable meals with our Las Vegas chefs -- albeit two of them were out of town up in California wine country (my report from Social House with executive chef Joe Elevado and Iron Chef Kerry Simon’s KGB in Harrah’s was posted yesterday.

With our desert temperatures now a 100-degree constant, a lot of Las Vegas residents travel to the cooler Southern California beach climes. I recently went to the delightful villages of Yountville and Healdsburg in California’s Napa and Sonoma Valley wine countries.

The trip started in Yountville with a 16-course tasting menu -- yes, 16, and not a typo -- at Thomas Keller’s famed French Laundry. The star chef from Bouchon here at The Venetian is hailed as America’s true culinary genius, and he didn’t disappoint with executive chef Timothy Hollingsworth serving up everything from oysters with white sturgeon caviar to hen egg custard with Perigord truffles to Peking duck with foie gras.

This may well be the best dining experience in all of America, and if you have never been, it’s got to go on your bucket list. And, in case you are wondering, I paid for the exquisite meal on my AmEx. There aren’t sufficient superlatives to describe this experience, except to say that I will remember it for the rest of my life. Thomas now has three properties in Yountville, including his more casual dining restaurant Ad Hoc, the basis of his newest book.

Photo: TVT

Charlie Palmer with Robin Leach.

CHARLIE PALMER IN WINE COUNTRY

Forty miles away in Healdsburg , one of the most charming wine country villages, star chef Charlie Palmer from our Mandalay Bay and Four Seasons here, held court at the bar of his Dry Creek Kitchen in Hotel Healdsburg. Once again, another meal off the hook!

Charlie’s hotel is a gem, and it was full when I tried to make reservations, so I stayed at the Mars Hotel around the corner. That’s another fabulous find for elegant and luxurious service, and just 16 bedrooms all with four-poster beds. Take your wallet because it’s expensive -- much more costly than the best rooms on our Strip right now. It has the fabulous Cyrus, named Best New Bay Area Restaurant of the Decade and one of America’s Top 50. By wonderful coincidence, I knew the chef from New York when I once partnered in a restaurant there 20 years ago and he worked for us! Now he’s become a two-star Michelin chef and is on his way to becoming the next superstar chef.

Dinner with Charlie was a stunning and satisfying experience and because you’re sitting right in the heart of wine country, it’s a wonderful education in local favorite winners. Charlie told me the Northern Sonoma Valley has become his permanent home, and he’s opened another hotel and restaurant right up the street in Healdsburg, the new h2hotel and its Spoonbar all from reclaimed and recycled materials. The praise is unanimous that Charlie has another winner.

RICK MOONEN AND MARCUS SAMUELSSON

I won’t forget the teaming of Top Chef Masters Season 2 winner and runner-up Marcus Samuelsson and Rick Moonen from RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay at a Three Square food bank fundraiser at Rick’s restaurant. It was a complete success, from the cooking demonstration by Marcus to both men signing cookbooks (New American Table by Marcus and Fish Without a Doubt by Rick) and the dinner itself for a sold-out crowd of 110 guests.

“We could have sold this twice over,” a thrilled Rick told me. “We raised enough to provide 45,000 meals for the hungry adults and children in Southern Nevada.” Three Square President Julie Murray presented the chefs with Gold Star Awards.

The tremendously talented twosome amazed guests with a five-course menu paired with wine and beer and delectable dishes of Burrata Mozzarella and Chilled Maine Lobster Salad, Marcus’ TV show-winning Foie Gras Ganache, Homemade Orecchiette and Rabbit Confit and Rick’s Smoked Arctic Char.

The five-star meal was topped off with a scrumptious Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Bar with Dippin Dots. I helped auction food and restaurant packages, but the most incredible moment was when every single guest volunteered to be back next year for a repeat dinner with Rick and Marcus at double the price.

FRANK SINATRA DINNER

To honor Frank Sinatra’s legacy and his love for great food and wine, Steve Wynn teamed with the Sinatra family to host a celebratory launch of Sinatra wines. I joined Tina Sinatra at the dinner in Sinatra at Encore, with chef Theo Schoenegger, who cooked for Ol’ Blue Eyes in Manhattan.

Frank’s granddaughter Amanda Erlinger and Danielle Price, Wynn wine director, served Come Fly With Me cabernet sauvignon 2007 and the much-anticipated La Voce, a 2008 Sangiovese from the Sinatra Family Estates in Tuscany. Only 250 cases of La Voce will be made available at the end of the summer, and three were flown over from Italy for the dinner, with Danielle labeling them hours before the sit-down. “Really right from the vineyard to the table,” she told me.

Theo prepared Santa Barbara Prawns and Cannelloni Beans -- a favorite of Frank’s -- to go with the Bugia White, Ricotta and Summer Truffles to go with La Voce and a Beef Tenderloin Filet with Porcini Mushrooms in Red Wine Braised Onions to go with the cabernet.

Steve told the guests that he’s still such a fan of Sinatra’s that he plays his hits “New York New York” and “Come Blow Your Horn” every time he works out in the gym. Tina told me that Frank loved nothing more than cooking family-style Sunday nights in the kitchen and would start the pasta sauce early morning and add a pork chop for its eight hours of simmering on the stove! “That was his secret,” she told me. “It really made a difference, and everybody wanted to know how he made it taste so good. Now you know!”

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 at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

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Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

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