Chef Talk

[Chef Talk]

DB Brasserie chef Vincent Pouessel talks brunch and working with legends

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Vincent Pouessel recently took the helm of Daniel Boulud’s DB Brasserie at Venetian.
Edison Graff

Vincent Pouessel might not be a famous name, but he is one of the chefs who has made Las Vegas a delicious place to be for 15 years. Before he cooked at MGM Grand’s mansion, he worked at the restaurant in the Eiffel Tower—the real one, in Paris. For the past 12 years the native of Brittany has been executive chef at Charlie Palmer’s Aureole at Mandalay Bay, a position he recently departed to take the helm at Daniel Boulud’s DB Brasserie at Venetian.

On his new gig: I’ve been in Las Vegas for 15 years, and you kind of know what’s going to work and what’s not and the certain way to run the restaurant. We also have some similar clientele, a lot of convention [traffic] at both hotels. Here [at DB], though, is more toward my roots. These are things I haven’t done in a while, classic dishes, and that’s very exciting. I can’t wait for fall and wintertime, to do the braises and soups, wild mushroom tarts.

On the opportunities of brunch: I’m very excited for brunch, and we are going to implement some new things. And I really enjoy brunch, taking my kids and my wife and going to a place where everyone at the table will find something they’ll enjoy. We started playing last week with a ginger and potato waffle with smoked salmon and we’ll most likely put that [on the menu]. I can see a seared foie and waffle for brunch as well.

On working with legends: People use the word mentor. I worked for 13 years with Charlie [Palmer], and clearly he influenced how I do things. I’ve had five conversations so far with Daniel and each of them is like going to a convention and listening to people talk for days about how to run the business. He just opens eyes, opens new doors and brings new ideas in. You really realize at this point why those guys are where they are. They are visionaries. They see things not all of us can see.

Tags: Dining, Food
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Brock Radke

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

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