Las Vegas Weekly

May 19, 2010 · 2:29 PM

Counter Intelligence: Top Chef Masters, American Fish, Johnny Smalls

By Robin Leach

Chef Rick Moonen.

Photo: TVT

Hot off the grill! Mandalay Bay chefs Susan Feniger and Rick Moonen face a horde of hungry football fans instead of the refined diners in their restaurants here on tonight’s Top Chef Masters on Bravo. Six chefs remain for the challenges, the first of which require undignified kitchen creations rather than grand culinary expertise.

Can a talented top chef appeal to the tailgate crowd who will be the judges? If Susan and Rick succeed, they’ll then try to get a leg up on their competition -- by cooking a leg! Rick decides that he’ll flash fry octopus legs in the 45-minute time he’s allocated. Producers want the chefs to take a leg of an animal for the vote in the Quickfire Challenge that will then send one packing up his or her kitchen knives.

Olympic gold medal swimmer Jason Lezak is a guest judge based on the speed of his legs in the pool, and Bravo has posted a trailer of tonight’s show.

I’ll join Susan for her viewing party tonight at her Border Grill in Mandalay Bay. We’ll tweet the verdict from the show and post a follow-up tomorrow to see if Susan and Rick stay as the finalists to cook down to the fabulous five.

MICHAEL MINA'S AMERICAN FISH

Celebrity chef Michael Mina, one of the top culinary stars on the American dining scene, has gone fishing and turned to rustic cooking methods for his fifth Las Vegas restaurant, American Fish at Aria in MGM’s CityCenter.

Admittedly, he’s applied them with modern finesse to make it as refined as always, but the outcome is sensational. Our hometown tennis champion and educational hero Andre Agassi is his partner again in their newest venture. The Mina Group now has 17 restaurants, which have won Michael Chef of the Year and Restaurateur of the Year, among others.

The four cooking methods are unique in one kitchen, and the glass wall enables diners not only the opportunity of picking which one they want but also then watching it being cooked. Call it all a spin on a campfire cookout, lobster boil or clambake, but you’ve never tasted authentic regional fish such as Copper River salmon and Great Lakes walleye.

Michael will tell you he dreamed of fame and fortune while watching my old Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous shows, vowing to become a headline chef, and he made that promise come true. His four cooking methods are salt baking, wood grilling, cast iron griddling and ocean water poaching. You can taste bite-sized portions of nearly the entire menu at the new nightly Happy Hour that began last week in the 40-seat lounge of the 19th century lodge-looking restaurant. Michael serves more than a dozen pre-Prohibition era cocktails, and don’t miss out on the corn dogs made of spiny lobster or his classic BLT made from smoke-cured salmon with watercress and tomato. The knockout tuna tartare comes with a fried quail egg.

JOHNNY SMALLS IN HRH

It’s the gala opening tonight of Johnny Smalls with chef Scott Minervini located near Vanity in the Hard Rock Hotel. The restaurant is a departure for The Dolce Group, which also runs Rare 120 at the Hard Rock.

Johnny Smalls promises whimsical small plates with big fun from more than 50 dishes on the Spanish tapas menu, including Mexican antojitos, zesty skewers, Mediterranean mezze, Italian antipasto and Asian dim sum. Check out the Three Way Salad, Alligator Bites, Mac and Cheese Daddy Sliders and the Creamy Risotto Smalls Balls. Having done the tasting menu recently, I can tell you that these are some of the most delicious flavors on Earth, and there’s no reservations, no hassles, no entrees and no sequence of service, which means you get it whenever your order is ready in the kitchen.

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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