Bon Appétit editor-in-chief Adam Rapoport has been coming to Las Vegas for Vegas Uncork’d, our ultimate food festival, since 2011. But back then, he had just started out at the culinary magazine and Rapoport and the BA team were not fully involved in Uncork’d programming.

Now, coming up with creative ideas for memorable dining events and matching those ideas with the right Vegas chefs and restaurants is practically a full-time gig. “It’s not easy at all, but nothing worthwhile in life is easy,” Rapoport says. “The biggest challenge is you’re dealing with four or five different resort properties on the Strip. When you get on a planning call, it’s kind of insane.”

And yet here we are, back for more insanity. Vegas Uncork’d starts earlier this year, April 23-26 at multiple venues within Aria, Bellagio, Caesars Palace and MGM Grand. We caught up with Rapoport recently beneath the High Roller observation wheel at the Linq to talk Uncork’d logistics and exposure for Vegas restaurants.

Helping organize Vegas Uncork’d is a huge undertaking each year, but there must be an upside. Definitely. The flipside is there is so much amazing talent here to draw from, so many great chefs from all over the country and the world, and so many cool properties where you can host events. My whole thing from day one was we knew we had this talent, but if we’re going to do these events we want to make sure and get the chefs as involved as possible. When we’re hosting dinners and demonstrations, I want my editors there to bring the chefs out, ask them questions, get the audience asking questions, and create as much interaction as possible. It should feel like something special you might never experience again. It’s our job to be as creative as we can in coming up with the concepts of these events and which ones suit which chefs best.

The people that attend Uncork’d events always seem totally wowed by the experience. They just can’t believe they’re seeing so many famous chefs at an event like the Grand Tasting, for example. That one is such an impressive feat, and Uncork’d has been using the Grand Tasting as a leaping-off point the last few years to do some other larger-scale nighttime events. But yeah … last year I stayed at the Nobu Tower [at Caesars Palace] overlooking the pool, and the pool was open until 2 p.m. All of a sudden it closes and just watching the speed with which they set up for [the Grand Tasting] is fascinating. It’s something you only see in Vegas, events at that scale done so professionally and efficiently, like bam!

You’ve been coming to Vegas regularly even before working on Uncork’d, right? I worked at GQ for seven years as style editor, writing about fashion, so I came out every winter and summer for MAGIC for seven years. And then there was a bachelor party, or two or five or ten, in there somewhere, too. I still remember coming out when Bellagio first opened to check out this fancy new casino, and that was the first of its kind. It really set the table for all this and it’s been amazing to see how it’s taken off. Now every casino has to have that to matter, but today you’ve also got stuff like Shake Shack and all this here [at the Linq], the high and the low. If you want to have that traditional, multi-course dinner, you can have one, but if you just want to come and eat and have fun, you can do that, too.

Some people think Vegas restaurants don’t get their share of the national spotlight. What do you think about that? The challenge for Vegas restaurants is that they’re often seen as offshoots of other restaurants, that these chefs have their marquee restaurants in New York or Chicago and then come here to open a second one. Even though you might have a chef de cuisine here doing a great job, people still think of the Jean-Georges [Vongerichten] or the Daniel [Boulud] as the one getting the accolades. It’s not really fair to the chefs who are here working their tails off and putting out really good food.

Is it hard to keep Las Vegas on your restaurant radar for coverage in Bon Appétit? Kind of. Vegas kind of gets the best and the worst because it doesn’t get recognition the same way these national destinations do for their original restaurants, but by the same token, everyone comes to Vegas. More people come here than anywhere, or it least it seems that way. We always know when something is opening in Vegas and we always hear about stuff and check it out when we’re in town.

You guys have mentioned a few of our off-Strip gems in recent years, places like Kabuto and Chada Thai & Wine. We try. It’s tough. When we’re here doing Uncork’d, our business and our partners are on the Strip, so you’re trying to please this person and that person and it’s a challenge. Last time I was here we went Downtown to Le Thai and sat out in the backyard. Right now I’m excited about going to Bazaar Meat. There are so many places now. I’ve got a lot of work to do.