May 3, 2007

US & Canada | US | Las Vegas

Bon Appetit Plays Vegas

By Nicole Cotroneo

Celebrity chefs play by Sin City rules at a four-day culinary convocation.

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Bon Appetit editor-in-chief, Barbara Fairchild, wanted to make one thing clear when she spoke to globorati about her magazine’s upcoming food fiesta in Las Vegas: “This is not a one-night stand.” From May 17 to 20, Bon Appetit’s Culinary & Wine Focus will set out to prove why today’s A-list chefs have found Vegas such an enduring magnet. “People throw caution to the wind and now that extends to dining,” Fairchild explained. “Chefs can play with ingredients and the audience is in a mindset where anything goes.” And with so many celebrity chefs now laying down linen in Vegas, more and more high-rollers are bypassing the craps table for the dinner table.

Bon Appetit’s showcase includes Michelin-star chef Guy Savoy, who’ll play with artichokes and truffles when he hosts dinner at his eponymous Caesars Palace restaurant (recently nominated for a James Beard award). Iron Chef Cat Cora (pictured) will show her mettle alfresco — she’ll be cooking on the floating stage at Lake Las Vegas Resort, and afterwards R&B star John Legend will perform. But the “most ambitious” event is Vine & Dine, a premier wine auction and dinner at Wynn Las Vegas, where the editor predicts record-setting bids. But if the pressure gets too much, you can always slip away for a spot of retail therapy. Fairchild herself blames the purchase of a certain pair of Manolo Blahniks on a recent trip to Vegas: the Wynn houses the only U.S. Manolo Blahnik boutique outside New York.