Sunday, January 9, 2011

Top Chef in Vegas



I was hunting down my event location when I ran into Richard Blais in the lobby of The Cosmopolitan Hotel preparing samples of his take on a grilled cheese. He was there promoting his show Blais Off on the Science Channel.


He started with grilled sourdough bread.


Pimento Cheese


Mustard Caviar




And a Lardo shrink wrap that he torched to melt all over the dish! Lardo is cured pork belly and he sliced it thinly with a deli slicer.





He finished it off with a red wine reduction sauce and micro greens.


My bite was delicious with a perfect balance of crunch, sweet from the wine and salt from the pimento cheese. Watch the video as his team torched the Lardo to melt all over this little bite of Food Heaven!





There was a crowd around his station as I ate my lunch at China Pablano. You can see the Chandelier Bar in the background. This hotel is amazing but more on that soon.

Thanks Chef Blais! It was so nice to meet you and see you so engaging with the crowd of folks that couldn't get enough photos or time with you. Nice to meet someone so genuine and passionate for food. Hope you win Top Chef All Stars!!! Thanks for the recommendation for my lunch at China Poblano. It was fantastic.

4 comments:

Ella said...

Have been looking forward to your Vegas posts and this was a delicious start.

Tiffany from HOLIDAY said...

nelle, how cool that you got to meet him and try his food. i'll have to look out for his show. i don't venture to the science channel often but my husband does.

Maggie said...

Ooh, this looks so delicious! I'm such a Blais fan. Thanks for sharing!

JMW said...

YUM!! Okay, my stomach is growling now...