First Cooking Principles in Sin City

About author / Amy Powell

World traveler; gourmet 30 minute meals; lover of exotic ingredients; winner on FoodTV's Chefs vs City; graduate French Culinary Institute. Her recipes will tantalize your taste buds.

Las Vegas: city of sin and, more recently, culinary playground for celebrated chefs from around the world. I recently spent a week working, eating, and playing in this unlikely food mecca. It was perhaps the last city I expected to cause me to ponder the cooking principles that I live by. I witnessed food crimes at slick, trendy restaurants and found reassurance in the form of old school, off-the-strip restaurants with career waiters and food an Italian grandmother would approve of. Ultimately, I came out of that week surer than ever of the elements it takes to concoct a great dining experience. I was ultimately inspired to bring some of these ideas back to my own kitchen.

In a restaurant, service can make or break a meal. Service sets the tone of your dining experience, and bad service, as with the first meal of my week in Vegas, can ruin perfectly prepared food. It was at the Italian venture of a popular chef that our food appeared before our utensils (we eventually stole forks off neighboring tables). And it wasn’t until I was about halfway through eating a plate of pasta that a waiter sheepishly asked if I would like Parmesan cheese on my dish. Our waiters may have been overwhelmed because of the big convention in town or annoyed because they were missing the big college football playoff game.

Even in your own home, the host sets the tone for a meal. Cooking and entertaining should be a relaxed and enjoyable experience. If you are happy and proud of the food you serve, the rest will fall into place and the food will ultimately taste as good as you feel about it, for you and your guests.

Unfortunately I was dining with a good friend, a fellow foodie and resident Las Vegas wine rep, when I doomed a dish I ordered before it even got to the table. We were dining at a trendy steakhouse and I wanted the sea bass. But knew even when I ordered it that the risotto it was coming on would be less than desirable. I was perfectly aware of that classic restaurant trick of adding too much cream to finish pre-cooked risotto that has gone dull and flavorless. So I wasn’t surprised by the outcome.

Worse was my friend’s pork chop: a thick cut grilled piece of meat that was about a third fat. Risotto is a simple rice dish, but it really should be cooked to order. Pork and beef, although requiring some fat, should be trimmed of most of it because there is nothing worse than a mouthful of meatless fat. Simple food, especially at a steakhouse, should be prepared simply and with the highest quality ingredients and you really can’t go wrong.

I knew I was back on the right track at Bootleggers, this off-the-strip Italian joint frequented by politicians and lawyers. When I ordered the chicken parm the 50-something year-old waiter assured me it was his favorite and he’d been eating this chicken parmesan at this very restaurant since he was eight years old. It could have been the chicken breast, pounded thin, breaded, fried and topped with mozzarella and marinara. Or it could have been my waiter’s sincerity, as he assured me that he would have steered me away from less desirable dishes. But I felt strangely at home in the old-guard hospitality at Bootleggers, no small feat in a city like Las Vegas.

But the crowning achievement of a week of eating was the last night’s dinner at SW Steakhouse. Service was impeccable as a waiter magically appeared with forks before I knew I needed one, suggested sides for our meat that could not have paired better, and, with the help of a sommelier with a gorgeous Southern drawl, chose wines that almost outshone our food.

Then there was the food, the kind of cooking that makes you want to thank the chef for renewing your faith in fine dining. Our server assured us that their truffled risotto was being prepared to order that evening by a poor line cook whose only job was to stand over a pot of rice and stir. The truffled creamed corn was one of those dishes that makes one's knees buckle and makes one grateful for the deep cushions of the chairs. Dinner here was deceptively simple but worth every penny, if just to remind me that great ingredients in the hands of a thoughtful chef with a light touch make for the most memorable of meals.

In the land of Cirque de Soleil, Celine Dion, and slot machines, I reacquainted myself with the meaning of a great meal. A welcoming environment, gracious hospitality, and simply prepared food from the best ingredients make for simply the best meal. I couldn’t wait to leave Las Vegas, get back into my own kitchen, and start bringing those elements together myself.

Serves/Makes: 4

***Filet***

• 1 1/2 pound filet mignon
• salt and pepper
• olive oil

***Red Wine Sauce***

• 1/4 cup minced shallots
• 1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
• 2 sprigs thyme
• 2 cups red wine
• 2 cups beef stock
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 tablespoon softened butter
• salt

***Truffled Creamed Corn***

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 shallots
• 1 pound frozen corn
• 3 sprigs thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup heavy cream
• salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons white truffle oil

***Cider Braised Brussels Sprouts***

• 1 pound Brussels sprouts
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup apple cider
• 1 tablespoon orange zest