A Feast of Possibilities

A closer look at a meeting of discriminating diners in Las Vegas reveals the behind-the-scenes battles that planners and suppliers must win to stage a spectacular event.

By Beth Ellyn Rosenthal

The catering managers of three of Las Vegas’ most famous hotels know that feeling well. From June 4-8, the Confrerie des la Chaîne des Rotisseurs—the world’s most discriminating international gastronomic society—descended on Las Vegas for its annual international meeting, the weeklong Grand Chapitre. The Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino, Caesars Palace and the Bellagio hosted the food society’s three glamorous dinners.

“It’s like cooking for 300 food critics. That notches things up a bit,” said James A. Perillo, executive chef at Caesars Palace, who was responsible for the $200 per person “Toga Party” dinner.

The catering departments at the three participating hotels realized from the start that they were not feeding their typical out-of-town group. The Chaîne was born in 1248 in France and has been an elite food society ever since. Today’s members, who hail from more than 100 countries, are knowledgeable and demanding. They are willing to pay big bucks for a gala meal, but they expect creativity and quality for that princely sum, even when the kitchen is serving 320 people.

“It was critical to perform well beyond what is normally expected,” said Gary McCreary, CMP, director of conference management at the Venetian.
Sean DiCicco, executive sous chef at the Venetian, added, “I do this every day, but I knew this one was going to be very intense.”

The hotels and their chefs weren’t the only ones feeling the pressure. So was the Las Vegas Bailliage, or local chapter, the event’s meeting planner.

“The local committee was under pressure to prove to the international membership that Las Vegas is a magical food town,” McCreary said. “They were determined to overcome the stereotype that Las Vegas offers bland and boring
buffets.”

To ensure the event’s success, Tom Cook, director of catering at the Bellagio, attended the Chaîne’s 2001 national meeting in Washington, D.C.

“I wanted to watch what they did and get the feel of the week,” he said.

First Course: The Venetian
The Venetian hosted the first meal, the Mondial dinner that featured the event’s finest wines. The Venetian has 10 restaurants on the property, all owned by well-known chefs.

Michael Severino, the local chapter’s vice conseiller gastronomique and the man responsible for the food events, invited four of these famous chefs to participate in the dinner. Joachim Splichal’s Pinot Brasserie was responsible for the colossal crab appetizer and the salad of cress and frizee; Lutece prepared the fish course, a Dover sole; Wolfgang Puck’s Postrio roasted a duck breast; and Piero Selvaggio’s Valentino served veal medallions with black truffles. The Venetian’s executive pastry chef, Peter Wimmler, prepared dessert—a banana and nut rice pudding in a caramelized feuille de brick served with mango and mint chutney.

DiCicco says his role was to organize these star chefs who had to prepare their food in his kitchen.

“Executing a dinner of this caliber is hard enough for a normal kitchen,” he said. “But we had four famous chefs contributing to a single meal. In our environment, each chef had to share the spotlight with his fellow chefs.”

Each star had to submit a menu to DiCicco. It was his job to make sure there were no repeat ingredients. In addition, Severino’s team requested multiple tastings to approve the food and its presentation.

“The Chaîne group was very honest even if it meant being critical,” McCreary said. “They wanted the food just right because they had people to impress.”

Timing for the event was critical since a different team prepared each course. DiCicco organized the teams and coordinated their efforts to create a seamless kitchen production line. McCreary watched over the front of the house and was in constant communication with DiCicco regarding timing and course progression.

Second Course: Caesars Palace
Perillo of Caesars faced different challenges. Caesars Palace is known for its over-the-top toga parties at poolside. During the Rat Pack years of the 1960s, the venue’s toga parties were the invitation in town. The Chaîne wanted to recreate those famed al fresco Bacchanalian feasts.

While the current catering department has done many elaborate buffet-style meals by its elegant pools, it had never done a plated dinner in the Garden of the Gods. Before the event, Perillo said he relished the challenge.

“An assignment like this helps us grow and implement new menus. Our serving staff gets to see new items and learn how to do things in new ways.”

And a challenge it was. June temperatures in Las Vegas are already sending the mercury into triple digits. The chef was worried that the Kentucky limestone lettuce leaves and the blue goat cheese that formed the core of his salad would wilt and melt in the heat. The only air-conditioned area in the Garden of the Gods is the chapel building. Racks of chilled salad plates sat before the altar on the night of the feast.

The hotel engineers brought the automatic plating machine to poolside so the kitchen staff could assemble the plates by hand just steps from the guests.

Perillo worked the line to make sure the New Zealand venison, cast iron seared beef tenderloin and game hens rubbed with sage and brushed with Kaffir lime juice looked just right on each plate.

“We definitely put more emphasis on the Chaîne event,” said Jeff Walter, banquet chef at Caesars. “We worked hard to pull out all the stops.” For example, the hotel added extra wait staff—95 people to serve the Chaîne’s 300 guests.

Third Course: The Bellagio
The Bellagio, which was the host hotel, was the site of the closing gala dinner. Sirio Maccioni, founder of New York’s Le Cirque, was being inducted into the Chaîne as a new member, so the Bellagio invited the Las Vegas Le Cirque operation—located at the hotel—to showcase its talents and prepare the food for this meal. Le Cirque flew in many of its New York culinary staff to help the local crew prepare the food in the Bellagio’s kitchen.

“The local Chaîne chapter told us to put together a menu,” Cook said. All they said was, ‘it better be spectacular and it better be good.’”

That meal included Australian spring lobster salad in black truffle vinaigrette, grilled John Dory and “Sweets and Cheeks,” braised veal cheek in Merlot and pistachio and crusted sweetbreads in mousseline potatoes. After dinner, waiters walked through the crowd handing out homemade chocolate lollipops and miniature ice cream cones.

Le Cirque wanted synchronized serving, meaning everyone at the table got their food at the same time.

“We rarely do that,” said Kathleen Thema, one of the Bellagio’s tuxedoed servers on duty that night.

According to Thema, at most Bellagio banquets, one waiter handles 10 guests, but that night she was responsible for only five. In addition, she said most banquet servers also pour the wine for guests. At this dinner only the Bellagio’s master sommelier and his staff touched the libations to assure the aged Pinot Noirs and Barolos were poured properly.

Cook devised a detailed timeline for this two-and-half-hour, seven-course meal.

“We were never more than three minutes off,” he said.

To prepare a spectacular meal, the Bellagio wanted to charge $265 a person. Historically, Chaîne dinners cost about $150.

“I told them a $150 dinner would be an embarrassment,” Cook said. “Their meeting planner said, ‘You can’t charge that [$265]!’”

However, the local chapter decided to defer to Cook’s instincts. The Bellagio dinner had 70 more guests than any Chapitre gala in Chaîne history.

Dessert: Sweet Endings
Of course, things do go wrong in an operation of this magnitude. The highlight of the toga party was a topless model covered in Godiva chocolate who was carried on a plank by four muscular male models. She was supposed to arrive immediately after the dessert of Concord grape and cassis Bavarian was served. Unfortunately, she took longer than expected to get dressed, so her grand entrance was late. Of course, the catering department was not responsible for this chocolate confection.

Joe Romano, executive chef at Aureole, hosted a dinner for 50 Chaîne guests during the “Dine Around” event that showcases the talents of five local restaurateurs. His fish dish—a pan-seared halibut—required pickled ramps, a small spring onion. On the day before the dinner—long after the menus had been printed—the ramps didn’t arrive. So Romano called a woman who grows micro greens in her garden in Pahrump, Nev.—a country town 45 minutes by car from Las Vegas.

Romano drove to Pahrump to personally pick the ramps he cooked for his dinner.

Then, the morning of the dinner, he discovered his pastry chef had totally revamped the dessert lineup. Be he couldn’t be too mad—the pastry chef is his wife.

So, were these ultimate foodies impressed? Was the Chaîne meeting a success? Severino says the national organization wants to hold its 2006 Chapitre in Las Vegas at the Bellagio. That would break another record: It will be the first time the Chaîne has ever repeated a host city in any five-year period. TMP

BETH ELLYN ROSENTHAL is host of Night Out Las Vegas, a restaurant and entertainment radio talk show in Las Vegas. She has been a member of the Chaîne since 1981.

The Host with the Most
When the Confrerie de la Chaîne des Rotisseurs comes to town for its annual meeting, the Grand Chapitre, it usually selects the swankiest hotel. Typically, these are smaller properties. If the hotel has 200 rooms, the Chaîne can book the entire property.

The group is used to having everything in the hotel devoted to its meetings for the weeklong stay.

But things had to be different when the group arrived at the 3,000-room Bellagio in Las Vegas.

“Not taking over the whole hotel was a concern for them,” said Tom Cook, director of catering for the Bellagio who was part of the meeting contract negotiations.

So the hotel went out of its way to make the Chaîne members feel special. It assigned a clerk who was dedicated to expediting the group’s check-in. Then it held a welcome reception in the Fontana Lounge, an entertainment showroom that overlooks the Bellagio’s dancing fountains, one of the major attractions of the Las Vegas Strip. When the water show, which is carefully choreographed to music, begins, it can stop eight lanes of traffic on Las Vegas Boulevard.

Instead of being wowed by the showroom entertainers, Jimmy Hopper and Dian Diaz, the Bellagio introduced the engineers who run the fountain show.

Members were shown the master songbook and allowed to select the water show of their choice. There was a new show every two minutes, the time needed for the water pressure to build up. The show is usually staged every 30 minutes.