I interviewed Chef Rene Lenger at Switch restaurant in Las Vegas and he demonstrated how to cook a perfect steak. Here’s the video.
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Chef Frank Pabst
Widely recognized for his creative impetus and leadership in responsible seafood practices, Chef Frank Pabst leads Vancouver’s Blue Water Cafe’s brigade of expert chefs in what has been called “one of North America’s finest seafood restaurants.”
With tenures in Michelin-starred restaurants throughout Germany and France, including La Becasse (Aachen), the Hotel Negresco (Cannes) and Restaurant de Bacon (Antibes), Pabst was schooled in the rigorous classical technique that provides the foundation for his diverse cooking style today.
Directing the kitchens at Blue Water Cafe since 2003, Pabst has consistently demonstrated excellence, both in the procurement of impeccably fresh, sustainable seafood—Blue Water Cafe is a founding member of the Vancouver Aquarium’s Ocean Wise program—and in the execution of its cookery, showcasing his trademark “complexity without complication.”
My dad and I visited Blue Water Cafe for a tasting menu and we sat down with Chef Pabst to talk a bit about Blue Water Cafe and his philosophy on food.
Ethel M. Chocolate Head Pastry Chef, Jin Caldwell
On a recent visit to the Ethel M. Chocolate Factory I interviewed Jin Caldwell, who is their head pastry chef. She was nice enough to give me a tour of the factory and picked out some great chocolates that she created.
For Caldwell, the art of creating chocolate confections is the realization of a lifelong culinary passion. as the former chocolatier and pastry chef for Wynn-Las Vegas and the Bellagio Hotel, Chef Jin has worked under the direction of world renowned pastry chefs such as Jean-Phillipe Maury and Frederic Robert. A graduate of Le Cordon Blue Culinary School-Scottsdale, Arizona, Chef Jin has had a life long passion to create great cuisine.
Chef Jins’ culinary skills have earned her numerous awards and worldwide recognition. In 2003, she won the grand championship of the American Culinary Federation Culinary Challenge, with two “gold” and one “silver” medal. She has been featured in numerous national venues, including the Food Network and Rachel Ray programs Chef Jin also represented the United States at the 2006 World Ice Cream Cup in Rimini, Italy, where her chocolate-raspberry ice cream cake was judged to be among the world’s best.
In 2007, Chef Jin was invited to be one of 12 team captains selected for the prestigious national pastry team championships held in Nashville, Tenn. her 3-person “Team Caldwell” was also the first all-female pastry team to ever compete at this high level of culinary expertise, and earned a silver medal overall in the 13-hour competition. Team Caldwell also took first place in the chocolate entremet, frozen entremet & chocolate bon-bon categories.
Chef Jin sat down with me after our tour and talked about what probably is the best job in the world, creating great chocolates!
NASCAR racer Taylor Barton
I recently sat down with NASCAR racer Taylor Barton to chat a bit about poker and race car driving. For over nineteen years the Las Vegas native has been competitively racing in motorsports. He started at age 5 and has competed in over 200 competitions, locally and nationally, and has always placed in the top ten. He currently races in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series and is planning to compete in the 2010 NASCAR Camping World West. Barton also spends a lot of his time volunteering and raising money for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Las Vegas. One of his main sponsors is Full Tilt Poker.net.