While Las Vegas’ own Julian Serrano seemed to be the star of this year’s installment of Vegas Uncork’d by Bon Appétit—the Spanish chef kicked things off with the traditional sabering of a Champagne bottle, and his brand-new Bellagio restaurant Lago wowed during Saturday’s brunch—my pick for Uncork’d MVP goes to Emeril Lagasse.
Emeril Lagasse preps his staff for the New Orleans Fish House Master Series Dinner.
He was everywhere. Along with Bon Appétit magazine’s food editor Alison Roman and up-and-coming winemaker Jenny Wagner, Lagasse hosted a Master Series Dinner Thursday night at his original Vegas restaurant, MGM Grand’s Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House and served up a surprisingly varied, not-so-New-Orleans-ish seafood menu. Standout dishes included English pea soup with Littleneck clams and lemon cream and seared yellowfin tuna treated like a steak, with morel mushrooms and a deep red wine sauce. On Friday, Lagasse joined Gordon Ramsay, Guy Savoy, Francois Payard, Hubert Keller and too many other tremendous chefs to be listed here for the Grand Tasting at Caesars Palace’s Garden of the Gods pool oasis. Then on Saturday, Lagasse served up a deliciously overwhelming seafood spread (a crawfish boil, a raw bar, and grilled Gulf goodies? There’s the New Orleans we were expecting!) at MGM Grand’s pool before battling with Michael Mina in the Chase Sapphire Preferred Grill Challenge. Bon Appétit editors Roman, Adam Rapoport and Andrew Knowlton called the shots and judged the grub as Lagasse teamed with culinary student Elsa Sabellano Jenstad to top Mina and his student chef Krista Burdick, earning a $20,000 scholarship for Jenstad.
Emeril Lagasse works with culinary student Elsa Sabellano Jenstad for the Chase Sapphire Preferred Grill Challenge during Vegas Uncork'd.
Another celeb chef and Vegas dining pioneer popped into an Uncork’d event unexpectedly. Wolfgang Puck was not scheduled to appear at the Lunch Across the Empire at Spago Friday, featuring five fantastic courses from his local chefs Matt Hurley, Eric Klein, Dustin Lewandowski, Jorge Martinez, Michael Tiva, Nicole Erie and Kamel Guechida. Much to diners’ delight, Puck stole the show, cracked jokes about his longtime Las Vegas partners, and moved around the room to visit with just about everyone. Then he took a seat in the corner to enjoy the beautiful dessert of strawberry vacherin with crisp meringue and sign a few cookbooks.
Chef Shawn McClain's lobster ravioli at Bardot Brasserie's French Affair brunch.
Sunday’s French Affair celebrity chef brunch was one of the most anticipated events, and it didn’t disappoint. Mina hosted at his ideal Bardot Brasserie at Aria, and after mimosas and pastries, each course came from a different superstar chef: Julian Serrano opened with tuna belly-stuffed, caviar-topped eggs; Shawn McClain unleashed Maine lobster ravioli with Michigan ramps and spring fava beans; Jean-Georges Vongerichten plated a sublime, za’atar spice-rubbed, char-grilled Wagyu strip with smashed peas and a lovely orange sauce made from nasturtium blossoms; Mina’s Bardot team presented its hyper-indulgent Hunters Waffle topped with duck confit and sauce Maltaise; and Jean Philippe Maury blew everyone away with a trio of unearthly desserts on a somewhat-edible plate with an almost completely edible lamppost decoration. This is the kind of culinary craziness you can only find at Vegas Uncork’d.
