September 22, 2023 • 31 mins
Not all seafood is its best right off the boat. Using preservation techniques that go back centuries, Chefs Christoper Lee and David Middleton have developed a dry aging program for the Wynn Las Vegas Resort's Lakeside restaurant. In this sponsored episode, we chat about how it works, plus other ways they're looking to make traditions modern.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hello, and welcome to Saber production of iHeartRadio. I'm Annie Reese.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And I'm Lauren Volkbaum, and today we have another interview
for you from the Wind Resort in Las Vegas.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Yes, which we've had a couple. We went and did four, three,
we did a few.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
We did we did we did three with four people.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Oh okay, yeah, hints the confusion. Yes, but yeah, we
we got to interview these really cool people doing really
cool things at the wind Resort and it was really
interesting to hear how collaborative they were. And yeah we
got to use their really fancy studios to do it.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yeah, because this company by the name of Blue Wire
built out a podcast studio in the wind Resort for
people to come you. I understand that I think we
might be the first culinary related podcast to record there.
Speaker 5 (01:08):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I don't want to say super for sure, but I
think it's been mostly sports related podcasts, which which which
which were not?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
No, decidedly we are not.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
These are a very uncoordinated podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Yes, yes, well I'm going to add that as a
little notch in the things we've accomplished with the first
culinary podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Maybe possibly, but but yeah, so so the Wind. The
Wind Resort did sponsor the trip. But as we've said
before in our previous two interviews with Marina and Chef Sarah,
it was so awesome to to go and talk to
these people about the weird, cool things that they're doing,
(01:57):
because Vegas is such a weird, cool town, and so
the entire experience was overwhelming in a fun way.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
It was, indeed, and we were quite frazzled going into
this interview.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I will say that, Oh that.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Was our bad Yeah, all me and Annie and super
producer Andrew all misread the call time and so all
of us were trying to show up half an hour late.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yes, and there was some panic where they were like
where are We're like, what are you talking about? Oh,
let me put on clothes. I'm in my.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
So if I sound panicked at the top of the interview,
I was, that's an accurate reading of the situation. But okay,
so yeah, So this interview is with Chef Christopher Lee,
who is the vice president of culinary operations at the resort,
and Chef David Middleton, who is the executive chef of
(02:58):
a restaurant there called Lake's Side, and they were very
kind about the whole thing. Luckily, Oh my goodness. I
as I've said before, my father was industry and I
just I was so extra panicked that we were talking
to chefs. If I had done this to anyone, I
would have been really upset with myself.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
But I was like, Oh, they're going to murder me.
They're going to murder me with their knives, with their
thought knives. It's going to be terrible. They were very.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yes, yes they were, yeah, And they were also it
was cool to hear. I feel like a lot of
times when we do these interviews there's an easing after
they realized we're nerds. Oh yeah, And I felt that
in this one where they were like, oh, okay, we're
talking about like nerdy food food stuff and we're.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Just talking about fermentation and we can just do that.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Yeah, share exactly.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
And at the end they were both talking about what
they were going off to next. I was just so jealous.
It was like, I'm going to taste like age steaks,
and I was like, oh cool, good.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
So good for you.
Speaker 5 (04:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Honestly, I will say we did get to eat at
Chef David's restaurant Lakeside while we were there, and and
it was.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
It was lovely. Everything there was lovely.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Again this is this is sponsored content, but but it
was so nice, like it just just the food there
was really heck it good.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
It was good. It's a very seafood based restaurant, which
you probably will ascertain from listening to the valu. But
we were next to where you could see all of
like the fresh cuts of seafood and fresh pieces of seafood.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
And it had a vaguely open kitchen and so like
you can see what people were doing in there.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
And they they have a show that people recommend it
to us. That's like a frog that sings.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Not in the kitchen, No, not in the kitchen, but
it's like a whole thing.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
It's like because it's like looking out onto that fountain
of dreams.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I think it's called, Yeah, a big like waterfall fountain
kind of situation, and they project and then they've got puppets.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
It's a whole thing. It's a whole thing.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
It is just like much of Vegas, Yes, a whole thing.
But it was lovely. The food was lovely. And it's
always it sounds so dorky, but it's always nice for
Lauren and Andrew and I just get to have nice
food and enjoy a nice hombi hols.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Like, yeah, a lot of our jobs are like like
like rushing around and folding ourselves into our strange little
podcast cubby holes, like the little podcast gremlins that we are.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
But yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
We got the the boolia ice I remember.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Oh good. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
But right, So, so they wanted to talk about a
couple of specific things that they're working on. You know,
Chris's job is a lot more zoomed out, you know,
because he's he's helping direct the entire culinary experience of
the resort, which is a whole bunch if you listen
to Marina's interview, is a whole bunch of different spots
(06:16):
around the resort. But but yeah, yeah, let's just get
into it. Yeah, but first, I suppose let us take
a quick break for a word from our sponsors, and
we're back.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Thank you sponsors. Let's get into the interview.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Hello, and welcome to the Savor Podcast. We are coming
to you today from the win Las Vegas Blue Wires Studios.
I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, I'm Anny Reese, and we are joined
today by two guests.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Who are you and what do you do here.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
Sure, Christopher Lee, vice president of Cloning Operations DA.
Speaker 6 (07:00):
And on the executive chef at Lakeside here at Wyn And.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Okay, we heard that you guys are starting a dry
aged fish program.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
What got you into those?
Speaker 5 (07:12):
I'll let you take that one. It's all his fault.
Speaker 6 (07:17):
So Chris and I probably about six months ago, we're
having a conversation on where we want to take the
restaurant and what can we do to elevate it and
kind of carve out a niche and we both started
talking about a couple of people around the world that
are doing it very well, and so we started doing
some research. I started doing some R and D, and
(07:39):
so that's kind of how it came about.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
Yeah, I mean it was you know, as we look
at a timeline or lifespan of a restaurant, you know,
the Lakeside's been here for eighteen years and there's always
going to have to be a repositioning going on. So
our goal, as you know, leaders, we're always evaluating our
you know, our properties, our venues and seeing where we
need to go for another five ten years. So we
(08:02):
started this road about I don't know, maybe three months
ago about you know, repositioning Lakeside, and David is our
executive chef there, and he's very super talented and passionate
about the whole seafood world. And as culinarians were always
inspired to look what's going on in the world. And
so this was a program or is a program. Maybe
(08:23):
it's not necessarily new, right so, because dry aging or
aging is a long old process, but you know, it's
it's the fear factor to it. So there's been a
lot of international well a couple main chefs internationally that
started this program, and you know, we admired it, we
started trying in ourselves, and then we implemented it, you know,
(08:44):
into our program.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Could you talk a little bit about like what processes
you've developed and like what happens to the fish as
it ages.
Speaker 5 (08:55):
Sure, so right now we are dry.
Speaker 6 (09:01):
We're doing a bonin tuna chop and we're aging it
for eleven days. We've tried less time, we've tried more time.
I think I pushed it to eighteen days and it
just wasn't quite what we were looking for. Basically, the
protein it becomes more tender, but it also has a
nice meaty texture. We're basically extracting water. Right, So when
(09:23):
you remove water from a protein, especially fish who has
a very high water content as opposed to like beef,
you're left with just the meat and the fat. So
that umami is there, the texture is there, it's more
buttery just all around. It's just a much more pleasant experience.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
Yeah, and the big difference between the two. So everyone
knows what dry aging meat is, right, That's a common
thing that you see in most steakhouses, and it builds
this beautiful nutty, musky flavor profile to it. But when
you start aging meat, you're looking for certain mold spores.
Speaker 5 (09:55):
Right. Mold spores are what really gives it that flavor.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
That's not what we're looking for and dry aging fish fish,
you know, if we have that mold introduction, you know,
it's it's it reacts different with the with the protein
since it's a little higher and you know, the protein
itself has higher water content than meat does.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
So that water.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
Content is what really is that bacteria driver. Right, So
that's why you can't go too long. You know, the
higher the water content and something, you know, the moisture
is what's going to breed, like you know on healthy
mold and stuff.
Speaker 5 (10:29):
So it's it's as we go through it.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
If you look at it, you know it's we're really
really looking to like dehydrate the meat, and that dehydration
of it is like if you're looking at for like
beef jerky is a good example where beef jarchy is dry, dry, dry,
instead of having a mold introduced into it or curing
or aging like like a salami or something. Right, So
it's a drying of a process. So it breaks down
(10:53):
the natural sendu with it's in the tuna itself or
at least you know what we discovered in tuna, and
then at the same time just builds as huge or
this great anami flavor profile.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
This I didn't think that I could be hungry after
the amount of food that I've eaten over the past
like forty hours. But but oh heck, I want to
try all of this right.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
Now, Welcome to our life. I have an issue of
going hungry.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Right, we're super nerds for for like the science and
history behind things. Could you talk a little bit or
can you talk a little bit about about like the
history of how of how fish has been treated by
because I feel like in the States there's this really
strong emphasis on freshness, and people probably don't realize that
(11:42):
if they've had good sushimi, it's probably been aged. Can
you speak to the to the history there?
Speaker 5 (11:48):
Sure? So you are correct.
Speaker 6 (11:51):
There is that kind of misconception in this country about
you want the freshest fish when you actually you do
want the freshest fish, but you don't want the fresh
fish right out of the water. You want the freshest
fish you can get, and then you want to treat
it properly. And in this case of dry aging, the
Japanese started this hundreds of years ago, and the reason
they did was because they were actually just looking for preservation.
(12:14):
They had no way of transporting the fish inland without
its spoiling. So what they would do is they would
either use a brine and wash it in like a
salt water solution sake, they would rinse it in, or
they would even wrap it in coombu, which is a
type of seaweed leaf, and that would had salinity into
it and so basically cure while they were traveling. So
that's kind of where it all came from. So yeah,
(12:36):
I mean that's about.
Speaker 5 (12:37):
Which which all those techniques are right.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
So whether it's dry agent curing, salt carrying, comfeeding. It's
all techniques developed before there refrigeration, right. So you know,
so when we say this is this is new to
us and new to the culture, it's not necessarily new
to the culinary seeing you know, if you look at
the kind of like the symbion circle, right, everything comes around,
starts here, goes here, goes here, then always comes back around.
(13:02):
It's not a new technique. But you know, David is
right when it comes down to the knowledge of fish, right.
You know, seafood itself, you know, it's not when you're
buying commercial seafood, you're not.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
Buying it from the water.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
It's probably about fourteen days old actually, which is why
sometimes some seafood is not handled correctly. It doesn't have
a long lifespan in your fridge. But you know, when
you catch a fish, it goes through a rigor mortis
phase which then a lactic acid gets built up, put
into the muscle, gets really sour and it's bent and
it's really tough. But there's a relax period of about
(13:33):
you know, probably three to four days before it comes
out of that, and then you know there's there's another
grace period of whether it's wet aging or dry aging
for another five ten days.
Speaker 5 (13:41):
So it's it's a unique thing.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
But I mean if you look at boats, boats economically
couldn't go out day of day back, right, Yeah, Like
you do that for bluefintuna, some big tennis because you're
getting you know, the twenty three to twenty nine to
thirty dollars a pound, but you know you can't afford
that on a daily basis, right, So you when you're
looking at seafood that's at that lower price point.
Speaker 5 (14:03):
I mean these boats are going out.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
For a week to a month, sure, Yeah, and they're
heart packing things on ice and then bringing it back
to port and then fabricating and getting to the restaurant.
So it's not a bad thing. It's not something to
be afraid of. It's just the acknowledgement of something that's
gone bad. Right, There's things that could last for a
long time in the refrigerator. But once you start seeing
if there's like an introduction of bad bacteria too, you
(14:26):
touch it. Your hands are probably the dirtiest part. Right,
you touch something, it could go to that decay phase
within days, or it could sit there and if you
didn't touch it could sit there for maybe a week.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Sure, sure, No, I mean the entire history of food
is just trying to figure out what's the good way
of letting things spoil and the bad way of letting
things spoil. We talk all the time on the show
about bacteria poop and how exciting it is, how it
like leads to all of our favorite foods. Basically, you
mentioned you mentioned wet aging. Can can you guys talk
(15:01):
a little bit about the differences between wet aging and
dry aging. Are you trying any wet aging in the.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Kitchen or.
Speaker 6 (15:07):
Well, I mean, up until now, that's all we've been doing.
Speaker 5 (15:10):
That's what most people.
Speaker 6 (15:11):
Do on the planet. Everything is pretty much wet age.
When it comes to seafood, you get it packed on ice,
you put it in the walk in the humidity is
very high. You know it's packed on ice still, So
the dry aging is just the reverse of that.
Speaker 5 (15:25):
The minute that we.
Speaker 6 (15:26):
Get the fish, we remove the scales because that's where
a lot of the bacteria grows. And then from there
we want we don't want any water to touch it,
the least amount of fresh water, salt, whatever it is
to touch it, and then go into the dryage lockers.
So I mean wet age is just the opposite of that.
You still, like Chef Chris has spoken about you, you
don't want to eat the fish right after catching it,
(15:48):
so you want it to relax, let the rigamortis take effect,
go through that process, and so wet aging is just
basically the fish that's sitting in your walking for a
couple of days prior to you serving it or deciding
to serve it.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Is there anything I mean, this this is all super fascinating.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Is there anything else that you guys are.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Doing right now that you just are bursting to speak about? Uh?
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Yeah, I mean there's there's nothing. Stages that we're going
through here. This is one of the programs we're introducing.
We're also trying to create something if we if we
do if it, if it turns out, we'll have a
pretty interesting new hot, new look for a hot shellfish plateau,
which you know is a big thing in a lot
of seafood restaurants, steakhouses. So we're working on a very
(16:37):
unique with a fabricator in town to design kind of
a five element, different heat source element hot shellfish plateau. Uh.
It's it's in the very very beginning stages. Of course,
we're very positive about it, so we think we're gonna
do it, but there's well we'll see, we're gonna go
(16:57):
through we got we actually got this device made it.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
It's really heavy, but it's beautiful and and we'll go
through a testing in the next couple of weeks, so
hopefully well we'll have that to launch as well. I mean,
the restaurant's going through a little look and feel in
the in the dining room change, some rugs, channeliers, some
color schemes, and new tabletops. So it's it's not going
to be a super brand new relauncher, redevelopment of a concept.
Speaker 5 (17:24):
It's just kind of repositioning.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
So we're just freshening up something that's been there for
a very long time, very successful and the men you'll
have a whole little different look and feel. But the
dry aging process is really what we're going to showcase.
And you know, we started with tuna, but we're heading
into other elements of it as well.
Speaker 5 (17:43):
So we're heading.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
Into you know, trying to trying to figure out that
balance of like is it better to dry age something
that's super high in fact content, or is it better
to dry age something that's low, right, you know, with
these new techniques come out, there's you know, you could
say the same thing I'm about. When it came out, right,
everyone had their own opinion about it, which is what
we do as chefs. So we take something like, Okay,
(18:05):
well that's an interesting theory, but I don't agree with
this point of this theory.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
Let me try it my way.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
And so we're trying to figure out what age is
better fish that's lean or a fish that's that's heavy
in fact content. So that's going to be our next challenge.
So we're looking at you know, items like salmon, mackerel.
David wants to go, you know, with haliban and some
other shellfish items that we're going to just go and
and that's that's the fun process of discovery and what
(18:32):
we do. You know, we we understand as culinarians. You know,
if we have ten ideas, three of them might be great,
seven of them might not be great. So we have
to find that balance. Failure is a part of our progression.
You know, I tell these chefs all the time, you know,
I want you guys to be innovators and creators.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
But you know, don't be afraid of failure.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
You know, if you're if you're afraid of failure, then
you'll never be an innovator.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
Right.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
And if you're not failing, then I'm going to say
you're not pushing hard enough.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
Right.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
So that's that's kind of the take I'm taking because
you know, I'm pruly new to the team, but I'm not.
If you look at the wind the win is is
an amazing place, an amazing resort, and I'm looking at well,
what's today, and what's five years, what's ten years down
the line. I'm not trying to there's nothing to fix here, right,
(19:20):
It's really about okay, so there's something. It's just looking
towards that future aspect. So you know, that's what we're doing.
We're trying to introduce new techniques here, get these chefs
having fun with food again, because Vegas is, in my opinion,
it's turned It's evolved to be more than a gaming town.
Speaker 5 (19:36):
This is an ultimate entertainment town and food is entertainment.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Yeah, keep keeping it, keeping it fresh or keeping it
carefully aged.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
We have some more of our interview, but first we
have one more group break for work from our sponsors.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
And we're back. Thank you sponsors, and back to the interview.
I've been hogging the microphone this entire time. Annie, Do
you have anything to.
Speaker 6 (20:15):
No?
Speaker 1 (20:15):
I would just say we last night we went to
lakeside and it was delicious and it was so hard
to choose jeers from everything.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Yeah, we were only three humans, but we did what
we could.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
We did what we could. Delicious.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
It was Yes, thank you, Thank you so much. Is
there anything that we didn't ask that we should have?
Is there is there anything that you would that you
would like to speak to? Sorry, that's really big, that's like, yeah,
I mean like, how's your dog doing?
Speaker 5 (20:43):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Know if anyone has a dog?
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Three?
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Uh, you just said the the win is a large place.
You have a lot of jobs to do.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
How many venues do you have in here?
Speaker 5 (21:01):
M hmm, that's interesting.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
I think it's around twenty seven. Yeah, last time I checked,
it was twenty eight total F and B. But not
all of them serve food.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Okay, so some of them are just cocktails under uh Marina.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
Yeah, some one or two or third party relationships, but
other than that, they're it's primary. We look at about
eighteen as a primary number of the venue side before
you get into cater ring, banquets, and et cetera. So
there's a really great balance of casual and fine dining
restaurants here. Every restaurant has an executive chef. So, you know,
(21:38):
I have eighteen of David's.
Speaker 5 (21:42):
There's only one of me. Of course he only wants
one of me.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
So and it's you know, they're all uniquely talented, you know,
and that's the beauty about you know, this this hotel
over others, right, I mean, I'm not I don't want
to talk down to it, but we primarily have our
chefs here on property on the twenty four our well,
let's say every every day, right, but you know what
(22:10):
you're getting, right, So if you come here, you go
to Lakeside, you go to sw you go to Delilah's,
you know the chef is going to be there at
least five days a week.
Speaker 5 (22:17):
You know.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
Some of the relationships in this town are rented relationships
we like to call and they might be there once
a year, once a quarter. But uniquely different for the
win is if you really truly love a restaurant here,
that chef is here running the restaurant, you know, creating
and consistent control, which is you know, the secret to
our success, for anyone's success is the consistency of greatness.
(22:40):
So that's that's that's the best part, right, That's here
we have all this amazing talent that's by far could
challenge the Michelin ratings, the Beard you know, Woinden Beard Awards,
and and that's you know, that's our mission, right, My
mission is to get get the world and to know
our chefs. So we're we're definitely pushing forward on marketing plans,
(23:03):
pr plans to really get these guys known and then
build more recognition here.
Speaker 5 (23:08):
Yeah, more draw to come to the wind.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Right yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
No. And it is like, like genuinely I need to
emphasize that, like some of the meals that we've had
over this this whirlwind of a visit have just been
like we've had these moments where we've just been like
sitting at a dinner table and like have that bite
of food and have that moment where we're just like, oh,
like this is what food can be. Like this is
(23:35):
and especially like during the pandemic, like I feel like
we haven't had the opportunity to have that kind of
meal that often.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
So it's it's really nice.
Speaker 5 (23:44):
Well, you can come back anytime, thank you.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
I think we're contractually obligated too, so we probably will.
That's that's wild and like and like right, Like, I
feel like it's hard to if you're not in the industry,
it's hard to understand what volume is for a restaurant,
for a normal mom and pop down the street, you know,
let alone, Like, do you have some of those numbers
in your head? Like can you speak to the ridiculous
(24:10):
volume that you guys do?
Speaker 4 (24:12):
Yes, the volume is is pretty it's ever growing. Right,
So if you look back eighteen years ago when the
wind was you know, built and created, and you know,
I think it was four or five years after Encore
was added to it. But you're looking at you know
what the founding fathers of this hotel, of this resort,
they never thought they would be doing the numbers were
(24:34):
doing today. So you know, a lot of our kitchens
are built around you know, doing two hundred and three
hundred covers and I think most of our restaurants are
pushing six seven, eight hundred covers now. So you can
see from a cover count standpoint, how it's grown over
the eighteen years. You know, it's it's remarkable that a
brand could be almost timeless, right, And that's what when
(24:57):
you look at the wind, you see it, you know
around the world. Well, it's just like a timeless place
and it could just keep growing and growing. And you know,
the operators struggle with it, like any operator would who's
you know, would come in doing three hundred covers and
then all of a sudden pushing doing you know, five
to six.
Speaker 5 (25:11):
It's not an easy thing.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
But you know, I always look at take right side
out of it, because I understand how hard it is
to run restaurant's been there. But you know, the right
side is you're popular, right, you know. I mean it's
better to be in a busy restaurant.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Than a slow It's a good problem to have.
Speaker 6 (25:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
So one thing last night when we were at the
restaurant at Lake Side, one thing we ran into that
we have loved is that passion from a chef came
up and was like, oh my gosh, do you like this?
Let me tell you the story behind it. And it
was just it's just so wonderful to see people doing
something that they like and feeling proud of it. And
(25:51):
then before this I heard I overheard you two talking
about Instagram and like finding this like donut sandwich and
stuff like that. Do you like for you, how does
that manifest that like passion and like planning of your
menu and what you decide to put on there.
Speaker 6 (26:10):
So for me, I mean it's an evolution for sure.
I mean I've been doing this for twenty five years
and I think that I've drawn inspiration from all over
and I think as I'm getting older as a chef
and a little bit more experience, I'm looking for new
avenues to get inspired. Yes, Instagram is obviously a great tool.
It's not just a social platform, but also you can
(26:31):
do research. You know how things are being plated, what
are the trends going on, things like that, So I
definitely do draw from that. For me, it's more about
an ingredient. If I see an ingredient in a grocery
store or at a farmer's market, that's really where I
try and take that and say, hey, how can I
manipulate this either the least amount possible and make it
amazing or do something really cool with it. So for me,
(26:55):
it's more about the ingredients. I think that really get
me to challenge myself and do something I haven't done before.
So yeah, that is I'm more ingredient driven, and I
think Chef pushes me. It pushes my boundaries for sure,
because he's got his fingertips on, you know, everything going on,
and he's like, hey, what do you think about this?
(27:16):
Hey what do you think about this? Hey what have
you tried to do this? Or you know, hey that's
not good enough? You know, which is his job totally.
So yeah, I think I get inspiration from from him
and then obviously the ingredients that that I'm able to get.
Speaker 5 (27:30):
You know.
Speaker 4 (27:30):
It's interesting thing about and I'm not sure, Well it's
for chefs, but maybe for you know, a lot of
the public. You know, chef will go through an entire
career and they might have an one, maybe two aha moments,
right where a moment is basically you just created a profile,
you created a technique, you did something that no one's
ever done. It's very very very hard in our industry
(27:54):
to sit there and say, well, you're just a complete
innovating and come up all these great amazing things. Right,
it doesn't work that way. You know what David is correct.
You know, our passion needs to be around ingredients right,
and the technique and the excellent technique and the consistency.
Speaker 5 (28:10):
So will you come into a restaurant.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
Our job is the source, you know, whether it's the
best seafood, the best steaks, and then cook them perfectly
and season them perfectly. That's the challenge, that's the consistency
side of it. But to be that true like aha moment,
it doesn't happen on a regular basis. And like I said,
if you're lucky, if you get one in your career
or two in your career. So, you know, just being
(28:32):
inspired by the you know, the global culinary community.
Speaker 5 (28:36):
Is what we need to do, right, and we all
inspire each other.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
And if someone is let's say, arrogant or not secure
enough to sit there and say, oh yeah, you took
my idea whatever, I could prove the fact that idea
has been around for years. Right, It's not about that.
It's just about enjoying what you're doing. You know, you
mentioned passion, and you mentioned you know that's what drives us,
that's what drives you to come to work every day.
Speaker 5 (29:00):
Right. Without that passion, this industry will just eat you up.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Oh yeah, thank.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
You, thank you so much, thank you, And this brings
us to the end of our first round of Las
Vegas interviews.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
We are going back hypothetically in October to hypothetically interview
a bunch more people.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
Yes, so, uh look looking forward to all of that.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Yes, and we're also going this week. We're going to
the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas. We're going to
be recording some live podcasts there. Lauren is joining me
for stuff whe never told you. I really appreciate it.
We're going to talk about the X Files. Great, We're
going to do an episode for Saver. Lauren's going to
(29:51):
do some brain stuff.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
So if you're around, yes, if you happen to be
in Las Vegas for right the iHeartRadio Music festiv It
is a September twenty second and twenty third. That's a
Friday and Saturday this year. Fingers crossed. You're hearing this
not after the fact, but who knows. I don't have
any control over when you listen to podcasts. But yeah,
(30:12):
if you're going to be there, you you should come say. Hey,
we're gonna be recording on Saturday. It's gonna be real weird,
and I think it's going to be great.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Yes, I think it will be I think and again,
if you happen to hear this, you probably won't. But
if you happen to hear it before we go and
you have any recommendations, let us know.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Oh always, yeah, always.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
But we hope you enjoyed this. There will be more
in the meantime. We would love to hear from you.
You can email us at hello at saverrpod dot com.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
We are also on social media.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at
safer pod and we do hope to hear from you.
Save is production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from my
Heart Radio, you can visit the iHeart video app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Thanks as
always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard.
Thanks to you for listening, and we hope that lots
more good things are coming your way.
Hello, and welcome to Saber production of iHeartRadio. I'm Annie Reese.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And I'm Lauren Volkbaum, and today we have another interview
for you from the Wind Resort in Las Vegas.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Yes, which we've had a couple. We went and did four, three,
we did a few.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
We did we did we did three with four people.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Oh okay, yeah, hints the confusion. Yes, but yeah, we
we got to interview these really cool people doing really
cool things at the wind Resort and it was really
interesting to hear how collaborative they were. And yeah we
got to use their really fancy studios to do it.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yeah, because this company by the name of Blue Wire
built out a podcast studio in the wind Resort for
people to come you. I understand that I think we
might be the first culinary related podcast to record there.
Speaker 5 (01:08):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I don't want to say super for sure, but I
think it's been mostly sports related podcasts, which which which
which were not?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
No, decidedly we are not.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
These are a very uncoordinated podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Yes, yes, well I'm going to add that as a
little notch in the things we've accomplished with the first
culinary podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Maybe possibly, but but yeah, so so the Wind. The
Wind Resort did sponsor the trip. But as we've said
before in our previous two interviews with Marina and Chef Sarah,
it was so awesome to to go and talk to
these people about the weird, cool things that they're doing,
(01:57):
because Vegas is such a weird, cool town, and so
the entire experience was overwhelming in a fun way.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
It was, indeed, and we were quite frazzled going into
this interview.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I will say that, Oh that.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Was our bad Yeah, all me and Annie and super
producer Andrew all misread the call time and so all
of us were trying to show up half an hour late.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yes, and there was some panic where they were like
where are We're like, what are you talking about? Oh,
let me put on clothes. I'm in my.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
So if I sound panicked at the top of the interview,
I was, that's an accurate reading of the situation. But okay,
so yeah, So this interview is with Chef Christopher Lee,
who is the vice president of culinary operations at the resort,
and Chef David Middleton, who is the executive chef of
(02:58):
a restaurant there called Lake's Side, and they were very
kind about the whole thing. Luckily, Oh my goodness. I
as I've said before, my father was industry and I
just I was so extra panicked that we were talking
to chefs. If I had done this to anyone, I
would have been really upset with myself.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
But I was like, Oh, they're going to murder me.
They're going to murder me with their knives, with their
thought knives. It's going to be terrible. They were very.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yes, yes they were, yeah, And they were also it
was cool to hear. I feel like a lot of
times when we do these interviews there's an easing after
they realized we're nerds. Oh yeah, And I felt that
in this one where they were like, oh, okay, we're
talking about like nerdy food food stuff and we're.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Just talking about fermentation and we can just do that.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Yeah, share exactly.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
And at the end they were both talking about what
they were going off to next. I was just so jealous.
It was like, I'm going to taste like age steaks,
and I was like, oh cool, good.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
So good for you.
Speaker 5 (04:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Honestly, I will say we did get to eat at
Chef David's restaurant Lakeside while we were there, and and
it was.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
It was lovely. Everything there was lovely.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Again this is this is sponsored content, but but it
was so nice, like it just just the food there
was really heck it good.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
It was good. It's a very seafood based restaurant, which
you probably will ascertain from listening to the valu. But
we were next to where you could see all of
like the fresh cuts of seafood and fresh pieces of seafood.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
And it had a vaguely open kitchen and so like
you can see what people were doing in there.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
And they they have a show that people recommend it
to us. That's like a frog that sings.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Not in the kitchen, No, not in the kitchen, but
it's like a whole thing.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
It's like because it's like looking out onto that fountain
of dreams.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I think it's called, Yeah, a big like waterfall fountain
kind of situation, and they project and then they've got puppets.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
It's a whole thing. It's a whole thing.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
It is just like much of Vegas, Yes, a whole thing.
But it was lovely. The food was lovely. And it's
always it sounds so dorky, but it's always nice for
Lauren and Andrew and I just get to have nice
food and enjoy a nice hombi hols.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Like, yeah, a lot of our jobs are like like
like rushing around and folding ourselves into our strange little
podcast cubby holes, like the little podcast gremlins that we are.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
But yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
We got the the boolia ice I remember.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Oh good. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
But right, So, so they wanted to talk about a
couple of specific things that they're working on. You know,
Chris's job is a lot more zoomed out, you know,
because he's he's helping direct the entire culinary experience of
the resort, which is a whole bunch if you listen
to Marina's interview, is a whole bunch of different spots
(06:16):
around the resort. But but yeah, yeah, let's just get
into it. Yeah, but first, I suppose let us take
a quick break for a word from our sponsors, and
we're back.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Thank you sponsors. Let's get into the interview.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Hello, and welcome to the Savor Podcast. We are coming
to you today from the win Las Vegas Blue Wires Studios.
I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, I'm Anny Reese, and we are joined
today by two guests.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Who are you and what do you do here.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
Sure, Christopher Lee, vice president of Cloning Operations DA.
Speaker 6 (07:00):
And on the executive chef at Lakeside here at Wyn And.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Okay, we heard that you guys are starting a dry
aged fish program.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
What got you into those?
Speaker 5 (07:12):
I'll let you take that one. It's all his fault.
Speaker 6 (07:17):
So Chris and I probably about six months ago, we're
having a conversation on where we want to take the
restaurant and what can we do to elevate it and
kind of carve out a niche and we both started
talking about a couple of people around the world that
are doing it very well, and so we started doing
some research. I started doing some R and D, and
(07:39):
so that's kind of how it came about.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
Yeah, I mean it was you know, as we look
at a timeline or lifespan of a restaurant, you know,
the Lakeside's been here for eighteen years and there's always
going to have to be a repositioning going on. So
our goal, as you know, leaders, we're always evaluating our
you know, our properties, our venues and seeing where we
need to go for another five ten years. So we
(08:02):
started this road about I don't know, maybe three months
ago about you know, repositioning Lakeside, and David is our
executive chef there, and he's very super talented and passionate
about the whole seafood world. And as culinarians were always
inspired to look what's going on in the world. And
so this was a program or is a program. Maybe
(08:23):
it's not necessarily new, right so, because dry aging or
aging is a long old process, but you know, it's
it's the fear factor to it. So there's been a
lot of international well a couple main chefs internationally that
started this program, and you know, we admired it, we
started trying in ourselves, and then we implemented it, you know,
(08:44):
into our program.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Could you talk a little bit about like what processes
you've developed and like what happens to the fish as
it ages.
Speaker 5 (08:55):
Sure, so right now we are dry.
Speaker 6 (09:01):
We're doing a bonin tuna chop and we're aging it
for eleven days. We've tried less time, we've tried more time.
I think I pushed it to eighteen days and it
just wasn't quite what we were looking for. Basically, the
protein it becomes more tender, but it also has a
nice meaty texture. We're basically extracting water. Right, So when
(09:23):
you remove water from a protein, especially fish who has
a very high water content as opposed to like beef,
you're left with just the meat and the fat. So
that umami is there, the texture is there, it's more
buttery just all around. It's just a much more pleasant experience.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
Yeah, and the big difference between the two. So everyone
knows what dry aging meat is, right, That's a common
thing that you see in most steakhouses, and it builds
this beautiful nutty, musky flavor profile to it. But when
you start aging meat, you're looking for certain mold spores.
Speaker 5 (09:55):
Right. Mold spores are what really gives it that flavor.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
That's not what we're looking for and dry aging fish fish,
you know, if we have that mold introduction, you know,
it's it's it reacts different with the with the protein
since it's a little higher and you know, the protein
itself has higher water content than meat does.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
So that water.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
Content is what really is that bacteria driver. Right, So
that's why you can't go too long. You know, the
higher the water content and something, you know, the moisture
is what's going to breed, like you know on healthy
mold and stuff.
Speaker 5 (10:29):
So it's it's as we go through it.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
If you look at it, you know it's we're really
really looking to like dehydrate the meat, and that dehydration
of it is like if you're looking at for like
beef jerky is a good example where beef jarchy is dry, dry, dry,
instead of having a mold introduced into it or curing
or aging like like a salami or something. Right, So
it's a drying of a process. So it breaks down
(10:53):
the natural sendu with it's in the tuna itself or
at least you know what we discovered in tuna, and
then at the same time just builds as huge or
this great anami flavor profile.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
This I didn't think that I could be hungry after
the amount of food that I've eaten over the past
like forty hours. But but oh heck, I want to
try all of this right.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
Now, Welcome to our life. I have an issue of
going hungry.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Right, we're super nerds for for like the science and
history behind things. Could you talk a little bit or
can you talk a little bit about about like the
history of how of how fish has been treated by
because I feel like in the States there's this really
strong emphasis on freshness, and people probably don't realize that
(11:42):
if they've had good sushimi, it's probably been aged. Can
you speak to the to the history there?
Speaker 5 (11:48):
Sure? So you are correct.
Speaker 6 (11:51):
There is that kind of misconception in this country about
you want the freshest fish when you actually you do
want the freshest fish, but you don't want the fresh
fish right out of the water. You want the freshest
fish you can get, and then you want to treat
it properly. And in this case of dry aging, the
Japanese started this hundreds of years ago, and the reason
they did was because they were actually just looking for preservation.
(12:14):
They had no way of transporting the fish inland without
its spoiling. So what they would do is they would
either use a brine and wash it in like a
salt water solution sake, they would rinse it in, or
they would even wrap it in coombu, which is a
type of seaweed leaf, and that would had salinity into
it and so basically cure while they were traveling. So
that's kind of where it all came from. So yeah,
(12:36):
I mean that's about.
Speaker 5 (12:37):
Which which all those techniques are right.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
So whether it's dry agent curing, salt carrying, comfeeding. It's
all techniques developed before there refrigeration, right. So you know,
so when we say this is this is new to
us and new to the culture, it's not necessarily new
to the culinary seeing you know, if you look at
the kind of like the symbion circle, right, everything comes around,
starts here, goes here, goes here, then always comes back around.
(13:02):
It's not a new technique. But you know, David is
right when it comes down to the knowledge of fish, right.
You know, seafood itself, you know, it's not when you're
buying commercial seafood, you're not.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
Buying it from the water.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
It's probably about fourteen days old actually, which is why
sometimes some seafood is not handled correctly. It doesn't have
a long lifespan in your fridge. But you know, when
you catch a fish, it goes through a rigor mortis
phase which then a lactic acid gets built up, put
into the muscle, gets really sour and it's bent and
it's really tough. But there's a relax period of about
(13:33):
you know, probably three to four days before it comes
out of that, and then you know there's there's another
grace period of whether it's wet aging or dry aging
for another five ten days.
Speaker 5 (13:41):
So it's it's a unique thing.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
But I mean if you look at boats, boats economically
couldn't go out day of day back, right, Yeah, Like
you do that for bluefintuna, some big tennis because you're
getting you know, the twenty three to twenty nine to
thirty dollars a pound, but you know you can't afford
that on a daily basis, right, So you when you're
looking at seafood that's at that lower price point.
Speaker 5 (14:03):
I mean these boats are going out.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
For a week to a month, sure, Yeah, and they're
heart packing things on ice and then bringing it back
to port and then fabricating and getting to the restaurant.
So it's not a bad thing. It's not something to
be afraid of. It's just the acknowledgement of something that's
gone bad. Right, There's things that could last for a
long time in the refrigerator. But once you start seeing
if there's like an introduction of bad bacteria too, you
(14:26):
touch it. Your hands are probably the dirtiest part. Right,
you touch something, it could go to that decay phase
within days, or it could sit there and if you
didn't touch it could sit there for maybe a week.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Sure, sure, No, I mean the entire history of food
is just trying to figure out what's the good way
of letting things spoil and the bad way of letting
things spoil. We talk all the time on the show
about bacteria poop and how exciting it is, how it
like leads to all of our favorite foods. Basically, you
mentioned you mentioned wet aging. Can can you guys talk
(15:01):
a little bit about the differences between wet aging and
dry aging. Are you trying any wet aging in the.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Kitchen or.
Speaker 6 (15:07):
Well, I mean, up until now, that's all we've been doing.
Speaker 5 (15:10):
That's what most people.
Speaker 6 (15:11):
Do on the planet. Everything is pretty much wet age.
When it comes to seafood, you get it packed on ice,
you put it in the walk in the humidity is
very high. You know it's packed on ice still, So
the dry aging is just the reverse of that.
Speaker 5 (15:25):
The minute that we.
Speaker 6 (15:26):
Get the fish, we remove the scales because that's where
a lot of the bacteria grows. And then from there
we want we don't want any water to touch it,
the least amount of fresh water, salt, whatever it is
to touch it, and then go into the dryage lockers.
So I mean wet age is just the opposite of that.
You still, like Chef Chris has spoken about you, you
don't want to eat the fish right after catching it,
(15:48):
so you want it to relax, let the rigamortis take effect,
go through that process, and so wet aging is just
basically the fish that's sitting in your walking for a
couple of days prior to you serving it or deciding
to serve it.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Is there anything I mean, this this is all super fascinating.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Is there anything else that you guys are.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Doing right now that you just are bursting to speak about? Uh?
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Yeah, I mean there's there's nothing. Stages that we're going
through here. This is one of the programs we're introducing.
We're also trying to create something if we if we
do if it, if it turns out, we'll have a
pretty interesting new hot, new look for a hot shellfish plateau,
which you know is a big thing in a lot
of seafood restaurants, steakhouses. So we're working on a very
(16:37):
unique with a fabricator in town to design kind of
a five element, different heat source element hot shellfish plateau. Uh.
It's it's in the very very beginning stages. Of course,
we're very positive about it, so we think we're gonna
do it, but there's well we'll see, we're gonna go
(16:57):
through we got we actually got this device made it.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
It's really heavy, but it's beautiful and and we'll go
through a testing in the next couple of weeks, so
hopefully well we'll have that to launch as well. I mean,
the restaurant's going through a little look and feel in
the in the dining room change, some rugs, channeliers, some
color schemes, and new tabletops. So it's it's not going
to be a super brand new relauncher, redevelopment of a concept.
Speaker 5 (17:24):
It's just kind of repositioning.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
So we're just freshening up something that's been there for
a very long time, very successful and the men you'll
have a whole little different look and feel. But the
dry aging process is really what we're going to showcase.
And you know, we started with tuna, but we're heading
into other elements of it as well.
Speaker 5 (17:43):
So we're heading.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
Into you know, trying to trying to figure out that
balance of like is it better to dry age something
that's super high in fact content, or is it better
to dry age something that's low, right, you know, with
these new techniques come out, there's you know, you could
say the same thing I'm about. When it came out, right,
everyone had their own opinion about it, which is what
we do as chefs. So we take something like, Okay,
(18:05):
well that's an interesting theory, but I don't agree with
this point of this theory.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
Let me try it my way.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
And so we're trying to figure out what age is
better fish that's lean or a fish that's that's heavy
in fact content. So that's going to be our next challenge.
So we're looking at you know, items like salmon, mackerel.
David wants to go, you know, with haliban and some
other shellfish items that we're going to just go and
and that's that's the fun process of discovery and what
(18:32):
we do. You know, we we understand as culinarians. You know,
if we have ten ideas, three of them might be great,
seven of them might not be great. So we have
to find that balance. Failure is a part of our progression.
You know, I tell these chefs all the time, you know,
I want you guys to be innovators and creators.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
But you know, don't be afraid of failure.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
You know, if you're if you're afraid of failure, then
you'll never be an innovator.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
Right.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
And if you're not failing, then I'm going to say
you're not pushing hard enough.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
Right.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
So that's that's kind of the take I'm taking because
you know, I'm pruly new to the team, but I'm not.
If you look at the wind the win is is
an amazing place, an amazing resort, and I'm looking at well,
what's today, and what's five years, what's ten years down
the line. I'm not trying to there's nothing to fix here, right,
(19:20):
It's really about okay, so there's something. It's just looking
towards that future aspect. So you know, that's what we're doing.
We're trying to introduce new techniques here, get these chefs
having fun with food again, because Vegas is, in my opinion,
it's turned It's evolved to be more than a gaming town.
Speaker 5 (19:36):
This is an ultimate entertainment town and food is entertainment.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Yeah, keep keeping it, keeping it fresh or keeping it
carefully aged.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
We have some more of our interview, but first we
have one more group break for work from our sponsors.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
And we're back. Thank you sponsors, and back to the interview.
I've been hogging the microphone this entire time. Annie, Do
you have anything to.
Speaker 6 (20:15):
No?
Speaker 1 (20:15):
I would just say we last night we went to
lakeside and it was delicious and it was so hard
to choose jeers from everything.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Yeah, we were only three humans, but we did what
we could.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
We did what we could. Delicious.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
It was Yes, thank you, Thank you so much. Is
there anything that we didn't ask that we should have?
Is there is there anything that you would that you
would like to speak to? Sorry, that's really big, that's like, yeah,
I mean like, how's your dog doing?
Speaker 5 (20:43):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Know if anyone has a dog?
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Three?
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Uh, you just said the the win is a large place.
You have a lot of jobs to do.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
How many venues do you have in here?
Speaker 5 (21:01):
M hmm, that's interesting.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
I think it's around twenty seven. Yeah, last time I checked,
it was twenty eight total F and B. But not
all of them serve food.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Okay, so some of them are just cocktails under uh Marina.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
Yeah, some one or two or third party relationships, but
other than that, they're it's primary. We look at about
eighteen as a primary number of the venue side before
you get into cater ring, banquets, and et cetera. So
there's a really great balance of casual and fine dining
restaurants here. Every restaurant has an executive chef. So, you know,
(21:38):
I have eighteen of David's.
Speaker 5 (21:42):
There's only one of me. Of course he only wants
one of me.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
So and it's you know, they're all uniquely talented, you know,
and that's the beauty about you know, this this hotel
over others, right, I mean, I'm not I don't want
to talk down to it, but we primarily have our
chefs here on property on the twenty four our well,
let's say every every day, right, but you know what
(22:10):
you're getting, right, So if you come here, you go
to Lakeside, you go to sw you go to Delilah's,
you know the chef is going to be there at
least five days a week.
Speaker 5 (22:17):
You know.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
Some of the relationships in this town are rented relationships
we like to call and they might be there once
a year, once a quarter. But uniquely different for the
win is if you really truly love a restaurant here,
that chef is here running the restaurant, you know, creating
and consistent control, which is you know, the secret to
our success, for anyone's success is the consistency of greatness.
(22:40):
So that's that's that's the best part, right, That's here
we have all this amazing talent that's by far could
challenge the Michelin ratings, the Beard you know, Woinden Beard Awards,
and and that's you know, that's our mission, right, My
mission is to get get the world and to know
our chefs. So we're we're definitely pushing forward on marketing plans,
(23:03):
pr plans to really get these guys known and then
build more recognition here.
Speaker 5 (23:08):
Yeah, more draw to come to the wind.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Right yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
No. And it is like, like genuinely I need to
emphasize that, like some of the meals that we've had
over this this whirlwind of a visit have just been
like we've had these moments where we've just been like
sitting at a dinner table and like have that bite
of food and have that moment where we're just like, oh,
like this is what food can be. Like this is
(23:35):
and especially like during the pandemic, like I feel like
we haven't had the opportunity to have that kind of
meal that often.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
So it's it's really nice.
Speaker 5 (23:44):
Well, you can come back anytime, thank you.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
I think we're contractually obligated too, so we probably will.
That's that's wild and like and like right, Like, I
feel like it's hard to if you're not in the industry,
it's hard to understand what volume is for a restaurant,
for a normal mom and pop down the street, you know,
let alone, Like, do you have some of those numbers
in your head? Like can you speak to the ridiculous
(24:10):
volume that you guys do?
Speaker 4 (24:12):
Yes, the volume is is pretty it's ever growing. Right,
So if you look back eighteen years ago when the
wind was you know, built and created, and you know,
I think it was four or five years after Encore
was added to it. But you're looking at you know
what the founding fathers of this hotel, of this resort,
they never thought they would be doing the numbers were
(24:34):
doing today. So you know, a lot of our kitchens
are built around you know, doing two hundred and three
hundred covers and I think most of our restaurants are
pushing six seven, eight hundred covers now. So you can
see from a cover count standpoint, how it's grown over
the eighteen years. You know, it's it's remarkable that a
brand could be almost timeless, right, And that's what when
(24:57):
you look at the wind, you see it, you know
around the world. Well, it's just like a timeless place
and it could just keep growing and growing. And you know,
the operators struggle with it, like any operator would who's
you know, would come in doing three hundred covers and
then all of a sudden pushing doing you know, five
to six.
Speaker 5 (25:11):
It's not an easy thing.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
But you know, I always look at take right side
out of it, because I understand how hard it is
to run restaurant's been there. But you know, the right
side is you're popular, right, you know. I mean it's
better to be in a busy restaurant.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Than a slow It's a good problem to have.
Speaker 6 (25:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
So one thing last night when we were at the
restaurant at Lake Side, one thing we ran into that
we have loved is that passion from a chef came
up and was like, oh my gosh, do you like this?
Let me tell you the story behind it. And it
was just it's just so wonderful to see people doing
something that they like and feeling proud of it. And
(25:51):
then before this I heard I overheard you two talking
about Instagram and like finding this like donut sandwich and
stuff like that. Do you like for you, how does
that manifest that like passion and like planning of your
menu and what you decide to put on there.
Speaker 6 (26:10):
So for me, I mean it's an evolution for sure.
I mean I've been doing this for twenty five years
and I think that I've drawn inspiration from all over
and I think as I'm getting older as a chef
and a little bit more experience, I'm looking for new
avenues to get inspired. Yes, Instagram is obviously a great tool.
It's not just a social platform, but also you can
(26:31):
do research. You know how things are being plated, what
are the trends going on, things like that, So I
definitely do draw from that. For me, it's more about
an ingredient. If I see an ingredient in a grocery
store or at a farmer's market, that's really where I
try and take that and say, hey, how can I
manipulate this either the least amount possible and make it
amazing or do something really cool with it. So for me,
(26:55):
it's more about the ingredients. I think that really get
me to challenge myself and do something I haven't done before.
So yeah, that is I'm more ingredient driven, and I
think Chef pushes me. It pushes my boundaries for sure,
because he's got his fingertips on, you know, everything going on,
and he's like, hey, what do you think about this?
(27:16):
Hey what do you think about this? Hey what have
you tried to do this? Or you know, hey that's
not good enough? You know, which is his job totally.
So yeah, I think I get inspiration from from him
and then obviously the ingredients that that I'm able to get.
Speaker 5 (27:30):
You know.
Speaker 4 (27:30):
It's interesting thing about and I'm not sure, Well it's
for chefs, but maybe for you know, a lot of
the public. You know, chef will go through an entire
career and they might have an one, maybe two aha moments,
right where a moment is basically you just created a profile,
you created a technique, you did something that no one's
ever done. It's very very very hard in our industry
(27:54):
to sit there and say, well, you're just a complete
innovating and come up all these great amazing things. Right,
it doesn't work that way. You know what David is correct.
You know, our passion needs to be around ingredients right,
and the technique and the excellent technique and the consistency.
Speaker 5 (28:10):
So will you come into a restaurant.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
Our job is the source, you know, whether it's the
best seafood, the best steaks, and then cook them perfectly
and season them perfectly. That's the challenge, that's the consistency
side of it. But to be that true like aha moment,
it doesn't happen on a regular basis. And like I said,
if you're lucky, if you get one in your career
or two in your career. So, you know, just being
(28:32):
inspired by the you know, the global culinary community.
Speaker 5 (28:36):
Is what we need to do, right, and we all
inspire each other.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
And if someone is let's say, arrogant or not secure
enough to sit there and say, oh yeah, you took
my idea whatever, I could prove the fact that idea
has been around for years. Right, It's not about that.
It's just about enjoying what you're doing. You know, you
mentioned passion, and you mentioned you know that's what drives us,
that's what drives you to come to work every day.
Speaker 5 (29:00):
Right. Without that passion, this industry will just eat you up.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Oh yeah, thank.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
You, thank you so much, thank you, And this brings
us to the end of our first round of Las
Vegas interviews.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
We are going back hypothetically in October to hypothetically interview
a bunch more people.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
Yes, so, uh look looking forward to all of that.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Yes, and we're also going this week. We're going to
the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas. We're going to
be recording some live podcasts there. Lauren is joining me
for stuff whe never told you. I really appreciate it.
We're going to talk about the X Files. Great, We're
going to do an episode for Saver. Lauren's going to
(29:51):
do some brain stuff.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
So if you're around, yes, if you happen to be
in Las Vegas for right the iHeartRadio Music festiv It
is a September twenty second and twenty third. That's a
Friday and Saturday this year. Fingers crossed. You're hearing this
not after the fact, but who knows. I don't have
any control over when you listen to podcasts. But yeah,
(30:12):
if you're going to be there, you you should come say. Hey,
we're gonna be recording on Saturday. It's gonna be real weird,
and I think it's going to be great.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Yes, I think it will be I think and again,
if you happen to hear this, you probably won't. But
if you happen to hear it before we go and
you have any recommendations, let us know.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Oh always, yeah, always.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
But we hope you enjoyed this. There will be more
in the meantime. We would love to hear from you.
You can email us at hello at saverrpod dot com.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
We are also on social media.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at
safer pod and we do hope to hear from you.
Save is production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from my
Heart Radio, you can visit the iHeart video app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Thanks as
always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard.
Thanks to you for listening, and we hope that lots
more good things are coming your way.
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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