Las Vegas Weekly

November 20, 2008 · 6:05 PM

Special Feature: Charlie Trotter’s new cuisine experiment draws Strip’s chefs and raves

By Robin Leach

Robin Leach reaches across the aisle -- we mean, table -- to greet Charlie Trotter.

Photo: Venetian

Legendary kitchen king Charlie Trotter has always been hailed as one of America’s top three chefs -- and a revolutionary who has never stopped experimenting with food. Now, according to stars chefs up and down the Strip, he’s created something so new and extraordinary, even they are raving about the results.

Chances are that you’ll be rubbing shoulders with celebrity chefs if you get a reservation at his unique Bar Charlie. It is styled as a sushi bar without any tables -- although sushi can be served, it’s not on the menu. Charlie wants you to sit up close right there at the open cooking prep area, so you watch the chefs preparing your meal from his 70-course selection!

The new hotspot is right alongside his five-star Palazzo dining emporium, Restaurant Charlie, which even has a chef’s table suspended in the sky looking right down over the kitchen crew at work on your dinner. Charlie was the first chef to introduce a chef’s table concept to America back in 1987.

I’ve known Charlie for years and have been a huge fan ever since working with him on James Beards Events when I was at the Food Network. His restaurant in Chicago is one of the most incredible dining experiences in the world. I asked him to give Vegas DeLuxe a complete food demo of the unique new cuisine experiment and talk candidly about what he’s already achieved:

Robin Leach: These two new cooking processes or food theories -- why are they different and how did you bring them together?

Charlie Trotter: The two forms of cooking meaning Kaisekki and Omakasi, both names have been loosely defined in America over the years, but Kaisekki generally means a type of tasting menu that revolves around a single foodstuff over several and many courses. It could be eggplant, it could be a fish … something that appears in most of the preparations. This one thing is woven through the entire dinner make up. But now people use Kaisekki as a refined tasting menu. Omakasi is a chef’s whim. It is not as formal, or as rigid.

RL: Are you the first person that has married both of those philosophies?

CT: I don’t know that we set out to do that. Nobu does his thing one way. I am a western chef; I have never worked in Asia. I have always been drawn to Asian minimalism. I try to reduce the amount of cream. I have always emphasized raw fish and seafood and vegetables. Our version is 40% authentic and 60% whim. I think that is where Omakasi comes in. I don’t want to get busted by the Japanese Kaisekki police when they come over here. It is about the purity of product, line-caught fish and organic fish. Dishes have to be strung together so that the consumer that has been to great restaurants understands nuances of subtlety, and the very next seat is someone that likes fresh fish. You have to appeal to both. It is like the symphony, I go once in awhile, but the guy over here goes every week for 25 years, he knows much more than I know. This has to work in the same way.

RL: So the orchestra of chefs that you have in there, 70 basic notes?

CT: We have dishes they draw from, once in awhile they can deviate and do something they have never done before, but if they see a guy that has been there every week and wants something new, the lead chef can digress. There is a menu they can pull from; some are even a riff of Restaurant Charlie dishes, which are more traditional, not as avant-garde as Bar Charlie. At Restaurant Charlie, it is a la carte but you could have a tasting menu. At Bar Charlie you could pick anything, but most people don’t want to even see a menu. They say they are in the mood for a seven-course meal, or a 24-course meal with fish, and some want us to pair wine and beverages with each course served.

RL: Do you describe it as experimental?

CT: That has been the difficult thing. Sometimes people walk in and say they just want to order a California roll, and we can make that, or do tuna sashimi, or new sushi, but everyone is ripping off Nobu for that. We will respond to those requests, but we can do things that are more profound. I would never be so presumptuous to say we are educating foodies. We are having fun. If you take a chance, you will be in for one of the most memorable meals of your life. There is nothing else like it. You have Nobu and you have great restaurants in Vegas, and perhaps it has become the restaurant city of the world. You have 20 great chefs here and Michelin three-star chefs coming over here. Imagine at the beginning it was just Wolfgang Puck, Mark Miller, and then we were right after that, but ours was a high-rollers, comp-only restaurant at the MGM.

RL: So many great things have happened since -- Michael Mina’s arrival for example -- and, in my opinion, we have become a great culinary contender in the world, but in came a sameness about all-star food. You are far more courageous.

CT: We are pushing the envelope. We are having fun. The menu in Chicago changes every day. We have formulated our vision of a sushi bar with Kaisekki and Omakasi. We are feeding all the chefs in town. They love it. We don’t even have this in Chicago yet, but we’re thinking about opening it there now as a result of Vegas. We’ve always tried to be different and unique. As early as late fall in 1997, we opened a vegetarian restaurant. Back then if you ordered vegetarian, the chef would take off the salmon and add more potatoes, maybe more vegetables. We approach vegetables in a different way, celebrating flavors. Now restaurants open with usually a vegetable tasting menu and serious vegetarian options. The food has always been light and clean.

RL: Has the new Bar Charlie here turned out to be what you wanted it to be?

CT: It is experimenting. We want the dishes to make sense. We are not trying to reinvent the wheel. The most number of courses we’ll serve there at one sitting is 24; they are all one-bite courses. Everything is a derivative of what you see in Chicago and my other Vegas restaurant here but with a little Asian flair. It is whimsical and fun. Chefs love it the most as they appreciate that we are pushing the envelope. Sushi Samba and Nobu are great places, but a little more traditional. We are pushing it a little further. Chefs always want to see what is next. We have people that walk in and say, “Oh, this is a sushi bar, can I get a California roll and miso soup?” We can do that, but we would rather they surrender and let us cook.

RL: Your chef’s table here in the main restaurant gives a birds-eye view of the cooking!

CT: I had to reinvent the wheel and ours is in the middle in Chicago. I have to thank the French for this. I love traveling, and whether I went to cafes or high-end restaurants, I would always ask to see the kitchen. They always told me that is not possible. It is too busy. I thought if the French won’t let us see the kitchen, I would put a table in the middle of the kitchen and give tours. We are so proud of how we conduct ourselves, the cleanliness that not only are we going to give you a tour, you can sit and have the meal here in the middle. Now you can understand why a meal like this costs $300, because there are 25 people back here working on the food preparation.

People love it. We have a lot of celebrities that come up there. They come up through the back door and sit up there. We get a lot of rock ’n’ rollers up there. They love it. Whether they get it or not, they like it. Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger are major foodies. These guys love food, and they know their wine. We are a wine-focused restaurant, as well; we will adjust the menu to fit the wine. Wine is fixed: Once you open the wine and it is in the glass, it is fixed, but the dish can change in so many ways. You can have codfish and wild mushroom, and we can make it go in any direction. The food can change, but once you figure out the wine program, it is not changing. I have worked with chefs before that have said you change the wine to go with my food. They expect the sommelier to jump through hoops to get the right wine with the dish. You tell me the wine, and I will make the dish to go with it. If you need more richness or meat stock, you can take any dish and make it go in any direction.

RL: How does a chef of your caliber still get excited to create dishes? You are not by rote or formula -- you are by emotion and by feel?

CT: Our objective has never changed. We are trying to climb Mount Everest. It has taken 21 years to get 97% of the mountain. It will take another 20 years to get 2% more. The gains are less notable. It is easier to mark the gains in the early days. We will be the best in Chicago; we will be the best in Vegas’ we will be the best in America, and then the world. Jerry Garcia was once asked if he wanted to be the best, and he said he used to want to be the best, but he said he wants to be original and be the only one that does what he did. That was very enlightening and what I want. I am a huge fan of the Grateful Dead. They used to come to the restaurant in the ’80s and ’90s because we were the only vegetarian restaurants. I still pinch myself and say I can’t believe I do what I do for a living. It is the greatest job in the world.

— From Vegas Deluxe

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