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Kerry Simon, 1955-2015: Saying goodbye to the quintessential Vegas chef

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Chef and restaurateur Kerry Simon died early Friday morning at just 60 years old after fighting Multiple System Atrophy for several years. A lot has been said and written about his impact on Las Vegas since he went public with his disease almost two years ago, so much so that it’s difficult now to describe his tremendous contributions. Simon was the quintessential Vegas chef, charismatic and talented, famous and fun, but he was much more than that.

The fantastic dining landscape of today’s Las Vegas was really born when Simon arrived, because his first gig here was helping to build the dynamic restaurants at Bellagio. When he opened his own eponymous restaurant at the Hard Rock Hotel 13 years ago, it immediately became the hottest place in Vegas. That’s because Simon knew what we wanted to eat and what kind of experience we wanted to have, because it’s what he wanted, too. His food was delicious and fun, especially at that restaurant: crab cakes with papaya slaw, the greatest and most memorable mac and cheese, twice-baked banana bread with tempura bananas, pristine ahi tuna with fresh wasabi, that incredible meatloaf. It’s always been described as comfort food remade with Simon’s own twists, but he believed food can always be comforting, as much as he believed in the balance between indulgence and moderation. That’s why you could always find the perfect burger, the one that won him fame on Iron Chef, on his menu, alongside the perfect roasted organic chicken.

Simon’s interest in the food biz was sparked by a summer job at a Chicago-area Little Caesars pizza restaurant, a gig he grabbed as a teen to save money to buy an electric guitar. (Rolling Stone would later nickname him the Rock ’n’ Roll Chef.) He attended the Culinary Institute of America, graduated and moved to New York City, where he found work in some legendary kitchens. He met his mentor, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, when he started working as pastry and sous chef at the Lafayette Restaurant in the Drake Hotel, and became the youngest executive chef at the Edwardian Room at the Plaza, which he helped transform into a celebrity hot spot. After leaving that position to travel throughout Europe and the Far East, Simon returned to open Blue Star in Miami, where he began to develop his signature style—playing with familiar comfort-food favorites with added freshness. He also opened Starfish, Max’s and Mercury in the Miami area during that time.

Simon graduated into the role for which he’s best known, as a chef and developer of restaurants. Returning to work with Vongerichten to open venues in New York, Hong Kong, London and Chicago, Simon landed in Las Vegas to launch Bellagio’s iconic Prime Steakhouse. Recognizing the potential of Vegas’ culinary future, Simon decided to make the city his home. He partnered with Elizabeth Blau to open Simon Kitchen and Bar at the Hard Rock Hotel in 2002. The new endeavor expanded with Simon LA at Hollywood’s Sofitel Hotel, and in 2008 the Las Vegas restaurant relocated to Palms Place, where the infamous pajama brunch became a Sunday dining institution.

Simon continued to open new restaurants in LA, Atlantic City, Chicago and Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, and in June 2014 he pioneered new ground once again with the opening of Carson Kitchen, a collaboration with new partners and Tony Hsieh’s Downtown Project. Simon’s presence Downtown brought instant industry legitimacy to the burgeoning restaurant and bar scene in the original Vegas neighborhood, another electric spark jolting the area’s revitalization.

In December 2013, Simon went public with his battle against Multiple System Atrophy, a rare degenerative neurological illness characterized by symptoms of autonomic nervous system failure. There is no cure for MSA. Simon had been affected by the disease since 2010 and wasn’t sure what he was up against until he was diagnosed by the Cleveland Clinic and began treatments at the clinic’s local Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health.

Even as he dealt with terrible illness and failing physicality, Simon refused to slow his plans to continue working and doing what he loved. “If you think I’d let something like this keep me from helping the community and enjoying the things I love about Las Vegas, you better think again. I’m staying involved and active. It’s the only way I know how to be,” he told Robin Leach in 2013.

Las Vegas is all about hospitality, and I can’t think of anyone who embodied that spirit as uniquely as Kerry Simon. A conversation with him about food was never just about food; it was about art and ideas and people and places, all the things he’s seen and done that were woven into something as simple as that meatloaf. He never planned to open a restaurant or create a dish that would fit into a specific trend or serve a premeditated dining demographic. It was more like, Wouldn’t it be cool to do this? And he’d do it, and it would be cool. That’s what we want Vegas hospitality to be—something new and interesting that’s exactly what you wanted, before you knew you wanted it. Thank you, chef.

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Brock Radke

Brock Radke is an award-winning writer and columnist who currently occupies the role of managing editor at Las Vegas Weekly ...

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