Las Vegas Weekly

Three Vegas chefs named for ‘Top Chef: Just Desserts’

Craig Poirier says his favorite dessert is his own hot chocolate creme brulee with toasted marshmallow. Yum.

BravoTV

Just when you thought you could take a break from watching Vegas chefs duke it out on Bravo culinary shows, we get a big announcement: The second season of pastry-focused Top Chef-spinoff Just Desserts premieres August 24 at 10 p.m., and three of the 14 chefs competing for $100,000 and a feature in Food & Wine are from Las Vegas.

Representing for Southern Nevada will be Craig Poirier, newly of Holsteins at the Cosmopolitan, Chris Hanmer, owner of the School of Pastry Design, and Carlos Enriquez, the corporate pastry chef at Block16 Hospitality, which owns Holsteins. The trio will be going up against flaky-crust savants from places like Mandarin Oriental Boston, New York Lebanese favorite ilili and WP24, a Wolfgang Puck joint at the Ritz Carlton in LA. This season’s challenges —presided over by judges Johnny Iuzzini of Restaurant Jean George, chef Hubert Keller and Dannielle Kyrillos, a contributing editor at Food Republic—will include creating edible room décor and fashioning gingerbread houses that go way beyond kid stuff.

If you’re looking for some baking inspiration, this is where you’ll find it. And if you’re looking to taste the talents of the local competitors, well, now you know where to find them, too.