Friday evening from 7-10PM, we attended the Grand Tasting event, poolside at Caesar's Palace.
It seemed like almost every famous chef was there. For the price of your ticket, you could taste signature dishes from an amazing list of top restaurants. As you grazed and drank wine, you ran into a long list of foodie celebrities. Of course, I was more interested in getting photos of the food and people than in eating! It was very crowded during the first hour, but then the lines at each station were much shorter.
Each restaurant had a "booth" or "set" from which to serve their plate.
If you are a foodie, or watch the Food Network, you will recognize some of these names.
RESTAURANTS
Aureole Las Vegas, Vincent Pouessel
B&B Ristorante, Zach Allen
Beijing Noodle No. 9, Yu Li & Zheng Jin
BLT Burger, Laurent Tourondel & Greg Cook
BOA Steakhouse, Jose Aleman
Border Grill, Mary Sue Milliken & Michael Minor
Botero, Mark LoRusso & Renieri Caceres
Bradley Ogden, Bradley Ogden & Todd Williams
Craftsteak Las Vegas, Matt Seeber
David Burke Modern American Cuisine Las Vegas, Dan Rossi & Marisa Scarpulla
Diego Mexican Cuisine, Noel Santos
Dos Caminos Las Vegas, Scott Linquist & Roberto Hernandez
Eiffel Tower Restaurant, Jean Joho & Joung Sohn
FiAMMA Trattoria & Bar, Carlos Buscaglia
Fleur de Lys, Hubert Keller & Steven Wolf and Burger Bar, Hubert Keller & Laurent Pillard
Isla Mexican Kitchen & Tequila Bar, Richard Sandoval
Joël Robuchon Restaurant, Claude Le Tohic and L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, Steve Benjamin
Mesa Grill Caesars Palace, Bobby Flay & Paul Del Favero
Mix in Las Vegas, Bruno Davaillon
Nero’s Steakhouse, Daniel Waked
Nobhill Tavern by Michael Mina, Sven Mede
Okada, Masa Ishizawa
Payard Pâtisserie & Bistro, François Payard & Gregory Gourreau
Rao's Caesars Palace, Carla Pellegrino & Nicole Grimes
Restaurant Guy Savoy, Guy Savoy & Eric Bost
Rick Moonen’s RM Seafood, Rick Moonen & Adam Sobel
Sea Harbour, Tony Ho & John Deng
SEABLUE, Stephen Hopcraft
Shibuya, Stephane Chevet
Simon at Palms Place, Kerry Simon
Sinatra, Theo Schoenegger
Social House, Joseph Elevado
Society Café Encore, Kim Canteenwalla
Southern Wine & Spirits of Nevada, Nick Lorenz
Strip House, John Schenk
SushiSamba Strip, José Mendín
Table 10 (an Emeril Lagasse restaurant), Diana Davey
TAO Asian Bistro, Mark Andelbradt and LAVO Restaurant, Ralph Scamardella
The Country Club, A New American Steakhouse, Rene Lenger
Valentino, Luciano Pellegrini
Wazuzu, Jet Tila
Wing Lei, Richard Chen
Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill, Dustin Lewandowski
WINES & SPIRITS
Beer
Unibroue / Unibrew USA
Sparkling Wine
Chandon
Spirits
Banzai Beverage Corporation
The Patrón Spirits Company
Harbrew Imports LTD. / Danny DeVito's
Limoncello
Mystique Brands, LLC / Barsol Pisco
Preiss Imports
Private Brands, Inc.
Ty·Ku
Wineries
Charles Krug Winery
Chateau Montelena Winery
Click Wine Group
Dreyfus, Ashby & Co.
Enomatic Wine Serving Systems
Foster’s Wine America
Icon Estates
Kautz Family Vineyards / Ironstone Vineyards
Laetitia Vineyard & Winery
Prestige Wine Imports
Rémy Cointreau USA, Inc.
Rodney Strong Vineyards
Ste. Michelle Wine Estates
Sort This Out Cellars
Southern Wine & Spirits of Nevada
Terlato Wines International
Trapiche
W.J. Deutsch & Sons, Ltd.
Hungry? Check out these tasty bites.
Many chefs are cookbook authors. They were happy to sign their books.
Here are a few familiar faces:
Cat Cora and Bobby Flay
Barbara Fairchild (Editor-in- Chief of Bon Appetit)was VERY friendly and gracious.
The highlight of my evening, however was the several minutes I was able to chat with Tom Colecchio!
Comments (9)
Looks like a fantastic time! I have wanted to go to this for years! Last year I think it was in Miami.
Posted by Deb R | May 13, 2009 7:20 AM
Posted on May 13, 2009 07:20
I love your blouse! Glad you had such a goodtime.
Posted by Kendall | May 13, 2009 7:26 AM
Posted on May 13, 2009 07:26
I cannot believe that you got your picture taken with Tom Colicchio-you go girl!
Posted by janie | May 13, 2009 7:37 AM
Posted on May 13, 2009 07:37
You leave me at a loss for words. Wow...the food, the chefs, etc.
Posted by Cindy Ruth | May 13, 2009 11:07 AM
Posted on May 13, 2009 11:07
What a colorful outfit!
The food and personalities all sound wonderful!
What a great birthday celebration!
Posted by nancyhol | May 13, 2009 11:24 AM
Posted on May 13, 2009 11:24
You fit right in! Both you and Brad look absolutely FABULOUS in the red outfits. (I love your blouse!) And of course reading about all the food opportunities, glamourous chefs and tastings. Sounded
like a wonderful fun experience. Your birthday celebrations must have been perfection.
Posted by Barb Cabot | May 13, 2009 12:05 PM
Posted on May 13, 2009 12:05
Think I'm just going to echo Cindy right about now - wow.
Posted by Marcia | May 13, 2009 2:23 PM
Posted on May 13, 2009 14:23
What an incredible night! The food looks fantastic. What fun to meet some of the chefs!
Posted by girasoli | May 16, 2009 4:13 PM
Posted on May 16, 2009 16:13
How fun it was to find your website and realize I sat next to you and your husband at Fiamma and joined him at the wine tasting. What a beautiful site! And such wonderful trips. If you would like pictures of Jason Smith I would be happy to share the few I have from the tasting. I so enjoyed Vegas Uncork'd too.
Mary Ellen Campbell
Posted by Mary Ellen Campbell | May 30, 2009 1:38 PM
Posted on May 30, 2009 13:38