By Judy Thorburn
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Owner/Editor in Chief/writer - Las Vegas Round The Clock
Owner/Editor in Chief/writer - The Flick Chicks
Director of Communications - Nevada Film Alliance
www.theflickchicks.com
World’s Greatest Chefs Gather for Food & Wine’s All-Star Weekend
The inaugural FOOD & WINE All-Star Weekend kicked off Friday night, November 5 at Vdara Hotel and Spa. The event featured Bravo’s Top Chef: Just Desserts host Gail Simmons as an array of culinary all-stars gathered at CityCenter.
The evening started off with a red carpet event led by Gail Simmons, recently named one of the top 25 most fashionable New Yorkers by US Weekly, who wore a glamorous purple dress and gray stilettos. FOOD & WINE writer Anthony Giglio and FOOD & WINE’s Best New Chef of 2009 Vinny Dotolo soon joined her. The trio posed for pictures while talking about, you guessed it, food.
Top Chef Masters contestants Hubert Keller and Rick Moonen were joined by Top Chef contestants Stephen Hopcraft, Hosea Rosenberg, Fabio Viviani, Carla Hall and Jennifer Carroll.
Top Chefs
Photo Credit: Denise Truscello/Getty Images
Top Chef and Top Chef Masters, judge and cheftestants
Photo Credit: Denise Truscello/Getty Images
The last group to hit the carpet was the prestigious chefs of CityCenter and Bellagio, including Masa Takayama, Shawn McClain, Julian Serrano, Jean-Philippe Maury, Martin Heierling, and Brian Massie, among others. The group, clad in their chef’s whites (or chef’s grays, in the case of Heierling), were a lineup of the who’s-who of culinary stars as they posed alongside each other for pictures.
Fabio Vivaini and Jennifer Carrol
Photo Credit: Denise Truscello/Getty Images
Gail Simmons, Jennifer Carroll and Fabio Vivaini
Photo Credit: Denise Truscello/Getty Images
Chefs Masa Takayama, Shawn McClain and Julian_Serrano
Photo Credit: Denise Truscello/Getty Images
Rick Moonen, Gail Simmons and Hosea Rosenberg
Photo Credit: Denise Truscello/Getty Images
Rick Moonen, Gail Simmons and Hubert Keller
Photo Credit: Denise Truscello/Getty Images
After the carpet ended, the party began as the chefs and celebrities made their way into Bar Vdara, the chic new indoor/outdoor lounge. Once inside, the chefs mingled with the excited guests and posed for pictures with fans. Heierling went to work as he prepared the food and beverages for the evening’s festivities while Gail Simmons took to the microphone to say a few words, thanking both CityCenter and FOOD & WINE for the great event.
The night at Vdara Hotel & Spa came to an end as many of the chefs left to participate in Deuce After Dark, an event where the chefs competed in blackjack tournaments with eager guests.