December 8, 2023 • 35 mins
Pastry is an edible, architectural art form – creating it at a resort-level scale takes a lot of teamwork. In this sponsored interview, Anney and Lauren chat with Jen Yee, the Executive Pastry Chef at the Wynn Las Vegas, about how she helms the resort’s pastry program and helps facilitate everything from room-service cheesecake to showstopping centerpieces.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello, and welcome to Save for production of iHeart Radio.
I'm Annie Reese and I'm.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Lauren Volga bum and today we have our final final
interview for you from the WIN Las Vegas.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Yes, because if you've listened to our other interviews from
the WIN Las Vegas, they sponsored us to fly out
and to talk to some amazing people and to record
from there a very fancy podcast studios.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yeah, the resort built a podcast studio along with the
folks from Blue Wires Studios and invited us to come
interview a bunch of the humans who run their food
and beverage programs there, which are robust programs.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Yes, they are.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
I mean, if you've been to Vegas, you know what
we're talking about. I imagine if you haven't been to Vegas,
you just like know something about Vegas. You know what
we're talking about. Yeah, resort level all the time, good food.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Yeah. I think that one of the and I think
that we heard from a lot of these people was like,
you know, like it's not there's this idea in Vegas
that's kind of quantity over quality perhaps, but in the
past five to ten years, the new kind of thing
that all of these resorts are trying to what up
each other about is the food and drink and make
(01:31):
it really really cool, like like really interesting fun stuff
that they're doing. They did sponsor the trip out there, right,
They you know, set us up at the resort, gave
us a per diem, so there was a certain amount
of bias there. But we had again, such a fabulous
time we did, and super producer Andrew came with us. Yeah,
and we shared a lot of amazing meals and experiences together.
(01:54):
And truly, like everyone we talked to was really kind
with their time. I'm impressive.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
And also I really appreciated how much they talked up
everyone else that they worked with.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yeah, oh it was so it was so sweet and
so okay, this this interview is going to be with
Chef Jen Yee, who is the executive pastry chef for
the resort, and it was so sweet. We went we
went back to Kasaplia to visit Chef Sarah, who you
heard from if you listened to our previous interview with her,
(02:29):
and once she heard that we had talked to Gen,
she was like, oh, Jenn is the best, Like let
me like nerd out about everything that's going on in
her kitchen.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
I was like, what, this is so sweet.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Yes, and I believe I'm not sure if it's in
the actual interview, but we talked to Chef Jen about
Chef Sarah, and Chef.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Jin was like, oh, she's so kind and she was
already there. We're like good friends.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
And I was like, oh, it's so cute.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, yeah, which is which is terrific, Like, especially in
such a gargantuan undertaking of a system of a network
of kitchens, like to have that kind of camaraderie and
just seeing people work together and enjoying it.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Yeah, and really kind of nerding out not only about
what they're doing, but what other people are doing and
supporting that. It was really Yeah, it was a really
beautiful thing to hear and see.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Oh yeah, oh yeah. A little bit about Jen before
we jump in here. So she's been in the industry
for about twenty years in the pastry industry and worked
in New York City in Atlanta before making her way
to Vegas. She's gathered for James Beard nominations along the way.
In New York in the twenty teens, she worked at
(03:46):
Show and also Lafayette Grand Cafe and bakery here in Atlanta.
She was with the Hopkins and Company Hospitality Group, which
is like some of the most celebrated restaurants here in
a town that really likes their food.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
So that's kind of saying something.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Hopkins ran restaurant Eugene and they're still doing Holman and Finch,
which if you've been with us since our early days,
you may remember from our video episode on Sweetbreads. Yeah,
they invited us over to their kitchen and oh man,
that was a really good play of food.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
That was so good and it's one of my favorite
video things we ever shot when at the time our
video producer, Tyler, just left the camera running and we
were just eating and laughing and sharing this experience with
each other, and we were enjoying the food so much,
and it was just like such a sweet showcase of
kind of coming together and sharing those moments over food.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Absolutely. Yeah, but yeah, so like so like what I'm
saying here, But back to chef Jen is that is
that she has helmed the pastry programs at a lot
of the like it places in the cities where she's lived,
and she's now undertaken this absolute east of a job.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Yes, yes, and if you're listening, Chef Chin, I hope
that you've gotten some rests, because at the time.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
She was very, very big.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
I'm sure she's busy all the time, but she had
a sleepless night and was very tired.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
So I hope you've taken some time for yourself and sleep.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Yes, Oh goodness, okay, and I suppose with that, let's
get into this interview. Hi, this is the Savor Podcast
and we are coming to you live from Blue Wires
Studios at Win, Las Vegas. I'm Lauren Vogelbaum and I'm
Ann Aries, and we are here today with our special guest,
(05:42):
Jen Yee, who is the executive pastry chef here at
Win Las Vegas. Yes, I am hi. Hi, I don't
know right now. How are you doing great?
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Is this your first time in Vegas?
Speaker 2 (05:55):
This is, strangely my third time in Vegas, although all
of them have happened this year.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Oh wow, you must really love coming here.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Then, I work has sent me here three times now. Nice,
It's great. It's been lovely every time, increasingly odd, but
in a terrific way, as I imagine that. Probably Being
the executive pastry chef for a resort of this size
is also.
Speaker 5 (06:23):
Yes, especially not coming from a resort background, let alone
a Vegas resort background, it has.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Been quite the learning curve.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
I've been here for about seven months now and it's
been such a wild ride. But I feel so fulfilled
every day. I work with an amazing team and working
at the wind Standard is a challenge and a pleasure
at the same time.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
How that's that's amazing getting to do the fun hard work.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Yeah, very fun, very hard.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Okay, So I don't have a very clear idea of
what your job actually entails. Could you kind of run
through it for us?
Speaker 5 (07:08):
Yes, So I am the executive patry chef of the property.
We have multiple restaurants on property and food and beverage
outlets on property. We do have other pastry chefs on property.
We have Michael Outlaw, who is our pastry chef for
(07:29):
s W and Lakeside, and then we have Meghan Mueller
who's the patry chef at Kasaplia Cool. And then we
have a pastry shop within the hotel that plays support
role for the rest of the restaurants that don't have
their designated pastry chef.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
And not only do we have the other restaurants.
Speaker 5 (07:51):
We have catering in banquets, which is a huge part
of the dining experience on the resort. We have amenities
in room dining within the pastry shop. I have an
amazing crew, the biggest crew I've ever worked with, And
so yeah, I just feel so lucky every day to
be working with such a talented group of people with
(08:15):
such drive and passion and also very nice.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Oh, very nice.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Oh that's really good. Yeah, that's yeah, as opposed to
write our situation, which is very antagonist.
Speaker 6 (08:25):
Oh yeah, that planning murder all the time. We like
play D and D together. Yeah yeah, but no, so
that is a that is a wild amount of different
things that it sounds like y'all get up to. And
I mean and this is like twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week. Yeah, like it's it's the resort
industry here does not sleep, right, Yes, So so do
(08:48):
you like do you is there?
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Like can we can we talk a little bit about
like like like numbers and the kind of volume that
you do.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Yeah, talk about sleep.
Speaker 5 (08:57):
Just coincidentally, I got two hours last night, which is
not normal.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Good.
Speaker 5 (09:03):
For whatever reason, I stopped drinking coffee a few days
ago and then I had my first coffee in a
few days yesterday, and then oh just was up all night. Yeah,
it gave me more time to think about work. So
what was your question?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Oh, just just just just how how many pastries do
you go through? Like?
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Like?
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Like? How many desserts do you do ae night?
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Like?
Speaker 2 (09:26):
How? Because because you there are over twenty restaurants on
property that you provide pastry for. Yes, and in addition
to room service and special events and.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
Yes, okay, so I have not counted exactly how many
desserts go.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Out, but a lot. Uh.
Speaker 5 (09:46):
You know, every restaurant has its own volume level. So
you know, you can have a small like lobby bar
is a is a smaller place they'll do maybe you know,
one hundred two hundred people to the evening and then
you get up to s W Steakhouse and they're doing
up to eight hundred covers a night or and the
(10:08):
buffet serves, you know, thousands of people a day. So
it's easy to lose count for sure.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Sure, what's the size of the team that you're working with?
Speaker 5 (10:19):
So in order for our team to function, we need
to have a team of chefs plus a team of cooks.
And so I have seven chefs pastry chefs with me,
and that includes our cake artists, that includes our chocolate tear,
our restaurant pastry chef, our production pastry chef. We have
(10:43):
a whole banquet team with a banquet chef, so and
then each of the chefs will have their own sub teams.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
So overall it's about fifty ish people. Wow.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
Yeah, the workload is growing all the time. So we're
growing our team. And you know, if anyone and out
there wants to try out a career in pastry, give
me a call.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Yeah time for No.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
No, I'll stick with podcasting. I do. I am the
guy who brings dessert to things, but I'm not that
good at it, certainly not under that much pressure. Uh heck, So,
how how do you how do you go about?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Do do you get to help design dessert venus across
the resort for all of these different venues? How do
how do you work with?
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (11:31):
I mean are you working with the chef?
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (11:34):
Yes, you know like this this job cannot be done
alone obviously, and it's a complete collaborative process. So we
move by the seasons, so we'll change our desserts throughout
the restaurants around the seasons, and that's when we get together,
me and my chefs to work on changing up the menus,
(11:57):
coming up with new ideas and doing all the R
and D and testing and using our teams to help
us with that and help execution and understanding what's feasible
for Yes, we have a big team, but we also
have a huge load to carry. So how do we
divvy up the work for everyone?
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Sure? Sure do. And for some of those special events,
like I imagine that there is an absolutely I imagine people
come in with an absolutely wild amount of money and
dream of what something is going to be. Could you
talk a little bit about what you wind up doing
(12:40):
and how how you go through that process.
Speaker 5 (12:43):
Yes, Well, we do a lot of amenities, so we
have a lot of VIPs coming through staying in the
rooms and the villas, or we have special celebrations and
people request amenities or a show piece or something special,
something custom. So that is a big part of the
(13:04):
pastry team is providing that custom experience and those custom pieces.
Every single one is a project, right, so it goes
from concept, It goes from trying to mock up something
into execution and planning it's it's almost like a you know,
an engineering project.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Oh sure, and y'all have sometimes very limited amounts of
time to put these together, right. I think I was
reading online that you only require like five days in
advance for something like that, or may maybe a little
bit more.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Yes, you know, it's a case by case.
Speaker 5 (13:40):
We of course, we tried, and we never know, right,
there will always be that pop up guest, but we
do try to, you know, in order for us to
make the best possible piece, and to make something that's
impressive and something that we can be proud of, we
need that time to sure planning it and make it
(14:01):
and and gather the team around it.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
You actually came to Vegas from from Atlanta, where where
we're coming from.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
Ye?
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Can you talk a little bit about how, like like
what brought you here, like like why did you decide
to make the change to resort? Yes?
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I was happy in Atlanta.
Speaker 5 (14:17):
I was working with the Hopkins Family group of restaurants,
and I got a random late night phone call from
Christopher Lee, who is our VP of restaurants.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
And we had worked together in.
Speaker 5 (14:34):
New York for quite a few years at Guilt and
at Oriole and we had a great relationship back then.
I had always looked up to him. It was a
surprise hearing from him. I had, you know, followed his
career when we parted ways and he moved away from
New York and yeah, he called me out of the
(14:54):
blue and he's like, you want a job in Vegas.
I'm like, I don't know if I want to move
to Vegas. You know, I had only been here once
before before speaking with Chris, and you know, I love it.
It was you know, I went for New Year's Eve,
like nineteen ninety nine or something like.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Okay, yeah, yeah, so.
Speaker 5 (15:16):
It was a really long time ago, just a minute,
so that was my only experience. It just never occurred
to me that I would live in Vegas.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Yeah, but we talked.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
He convinced me to take a flight out and check
out the kitchen, and wow, I was so blown away
by the size of the team, the immaculate kitchen, the
equipment that we're using, the ingredients that we were using,
just the breath of work and scope of work that
(15:51):
was required. Coming from Atlanta, that was extremely daunting. Sure,
but I thought, you know, well, if I'm going to
have this opportunity to maybe nail this job.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
I want to nail this job.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
We still have some more of our interview for you,
but first we have a quick break forward from our sponsor.
We're back, Thank you sponsor, and we'll get back into
the interview.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Speaking about some of that technology that you guys use.
Are there any techniques or technologies that you're really excited
about right now that you're super into using or that
you're looking forward to getting to know better.
Speaker 5 (16:43):
The team and I are planning for next year, and
so with next year, you know, we have certain goals
to do more impressive things, to push the envelope more,
and so we're looking at procuring more equipment, and so
we've been looking at getting a really pro three D
(17:03):
printer to help us with doing a lot of custom amenities,
custom shapes, making custom molds for our desserts, and just
really giving us the flexibility. It's like building this workshop
right of course, this you know, wind has been around
for eighteen years, so we've had professional chefs and a
(17:27):
lot of great equipment come through this building and still
functions and we depend on it. And what I love
about being a win is, yeah, we have some of
the best equipment on the strip. But in order to
really be progressive and push the envelope, we have to
(17:47):
continue finding ways to be more creative or finding ways
to put our vision to life.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Yeah, yeah, is there do you find a little bit
of challenge and balancing? Like are there always going to
be certain desserts that are like mainstays that are traditional
traditional here that you're just like, okay, well that has
to be on the menu. But how do we make it?
Like how do you make it fun? How do you
(18:17):
make it yours?
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Right? Yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:18):
When I first was looking at all the restaurant menus,
there was a bit of a theme like there's a
lot of cheesecake.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Sure, yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Know, but people really love cheesecake.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
It's delicious.
Speaker 5 (18:31):
And you know, I thought, gosh, there's a lot of
cheesecake in this hotel right now. But and there was
one there's one outlet that doesn't get cheese, that doesn't
serve cheesecake normally, and the guests are asking for cheesecake.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
It's so funny. Yes, there's a lot of cheesecake.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
There's a lot of chocolate cake requests, and that's something
that you, you know, you want to satisfy the customer cravings.
But you also want to be creative and you want
to give that guest that chocolate dessert but with a
twist or something elevated.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah, you also studied, you studied architecture before you got
into pastry or was that kind of simultaneous.
Speaker 5 (19:16):
No, I have a BFA in interior architecture, Yeah, interior design.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Could you talk a little bit, I mean, does that
influence your work in pastry? Can you talk a little
bit about that?
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Well?
Speaker 5 (19:27):
I think any field in the arts is going to
inform another field in art field, right, which is what
pastry is. So I think it enhanced and it just
it gave my pastry background just a little bit more
humph Yeah. I think yeah, because with you know, going
(19:51):
to school and studying interiors and architecture, you know, some
of those classes and some of those courses are about
planning and design and balance and scale and color and
lighting and how something functions, how something looks, how something feels,
and all of those things matter. And desserts as well,
(20:13):
like how something functions, like you want it to eat well.
You want a dessert to eat well. You don't want
it when you dig your spoon into ooze chocolate all
over the table unless that's what your intention is. Sure,
but things have to be constructed or plated in a
way to make it a pleasure to eat. It's not
just the flavor, and it's not just how it looks,
(20:35):
but it's also how it eats. Yeah, so in a way, there's.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
A lot of parallels with pastry and design.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Yeah, do you do pastry at home? Like do you
cook desserts at home or breads.
Speaker 5 (20:51):
Or There was a time when I would make pastry
all day at work and then go home and make pastry.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
I've cooled down.
Speaker 5 (21:01):
A bit since then, but I still do. I haven't
baked anything at home in Vegas because you know, I
just basically moved here.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
I have hardly.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
Any furniture or a lot of A lot of our
stuff is still in Atlanta. Soh sure, I haven't had
a lot of time to do anything at home. But yes,
I do love home baking, and it is still a
nice relaxing thing to do, just to cook for yourself
or your loved ones. Yeah, it's just a different pleasure
(21:39):
then it's I don't think it's better or worse. I
think it's there's still a pleasure to make pastry professionally
and to make pastry at home.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Yeah right. I would imagine that is two very different highs. Yeah,
like like the difference between like, Okay, I have ninety
eight of these to play right now, versus like I
hope that this bread rises correctly.
Speaker 5 (22:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Yeah. Can I ask what drew you to pastry to
pickin with?
Speaker 3 (22:07):
You know, I've always loved desserts.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
I can't remember a time when I didn't just love
eating desserts. And even as a kid, when we would
go to a restaurant and open a menu, I would
immediately flip the page to the dessert menu. I wouldn't
even be looking at the food.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:27):
And you know, when I would come home from school
as a kid, I would watch the old PBS cooking
shows like public television cooking shows with my uncle. He
would pick me up or my grandmother would pick me up,
and it was just fascinating. And it was at such
a young age. I remember thinking, oh, so, like, you know,
(22:48):
adults can actually make cakes.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
For a living, like that is so awesome.
Speaker 5 (22:55):
And I think one of my first baking memories was,
you know, making apple pie with mom. And at school
we had to bring cupcakes every month for like Hot
Dog Day, and my mom would like, because she was
a single mom at the time and she was really busy,
she would do the box mix. But that was just
such a pleasure to do that with my mom and
(23:16):
decorate cupcakes. And I think it's just always been a
thing that I wanted to do. I didn't know I
wanted to do it for a living, but I knew
it was a thing that I could do. And you know,
making my own birthday cakes growing up was always fun.
Maybe not fun for everybody else, but it was fun
for me. Made a bit of a mess.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
It was your birthday. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, you're fun is
what counts there.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Make a mess if you wants.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Yeah, we have a little bit more of this interview
left for you, but first we've got one more quick
break for a word from our sponsors, and we're back.
(24:04):
Thank you sponsors, and back to the interview.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
I feel like you moved to Las Vegas at a
very busy time, and I'm curious if you have anything
in the future that you're looking forward to other than
this three D printing thing that I'm very curious about.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
That so exciting.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
Yeah, you know, I arrived in February, and I thought
that would give me enough time to get ready for
the holidays and that are coming up like very quickly.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
But you know, just I knew that this first year
was going to be.
Speaker 5 (24:46):
A huge learning experience. I wanted to get to know
my team and learn the systems.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
That have been put in place already.
Speaker 5 (24:53):
I wanted to get to know the different properties and
the styles and just understand stand the entire breath of
what we do and what we can improve. And you know,
it's been really observational for me and learning just what
(25:13):
we do and even just learning how to get from
one place.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
To another in.
Speaker 5 (25:19):
This massive resort, and getting to know all of the
chefs from the different restaurants and understanding their styles, understanding
their needs, understanding their clients. You know, I had big
ambitions to do a lot of changes right away and
like really put my mark on stuff right away. But
that's not I wanted to do things deliberately. I didn't
(25:42):
want to rush through anything. So this was my chance
to like really try to understand before we started changing.
But that being said, Chris, the VP, dropped a lot
of different projects on me right away, so you know,
the learning and doing has been kind of simultaneous anyway. Yeah,
(26:06):
we just launched a brand new amenity menu. We are
getting ready for F one for the first time. I've
had to learn a lot quicker than I thought.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Yeah, I mean, I think, I know we talked about
it earlier, but I'm just really interested in the fact
that you have to do like restaurant pastries, and then
pastries for the buffet that serves thousands of people, and
then pastries for.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
The amenities and like in room amenities. That's a lot.
Speaker 5 (26:36):
Yes, well, that's what I rely on my team for.
And everyone on the team has their specialty. Everyone on
the team knows what part of the game they're playing.
And then we also collaborate all together for a lot
of other things. It's not like very very delineated, but
(26:58):
you know, everybody does have their projects to do, and
then we collaborate on other things that we have to do,
like F one. F one is a is a whole
team thing.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Oh I'm sure. Yeah, that's most of what we've been
hearing about from everybody since we got here. Like literally
off like off the plane into an uber. It was
it was like F one is coming, what is happening? Yes,
are there any special pastries for F one?
Speaker 5 (27:26):
We're doing some some beautiful custom amenities for a whole
host of guests, so that we are feverishly working.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
It's howard finishing.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
We have a lot of obligations, and you know, along
with F one, there are other events within F one, so.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Everyone's via p right. So yeah, we're making a little
something special for everyone.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
And I'm excited for all of our guests to try
our restaurant desserts. I think they're delicious and I can't
wait to do more. Yeah, and Mizumi is going to
be opening very soon, so we're excited about that too.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Awesome.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
You might have to make a return trip. I was
so bulked.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
H Yeah, we'll just have to go to other excellent places.
Is there anything that we have not asked you that
you really want to talk about?
Speaker 3 (28:31):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (28:32):
I did want to just celebrate my team really. You know,
we have a wonderful cake artist, Flora. She's actually, you know,
been the cake artist here for several years and she's
now our executive assistant pastry chef, and she really is
an artist and the talent among our team, which includes Flora,
(28:58):
is just so vat and I just I'm blown away
every day by what this team puts out and I
cannot take even a fraction of the credit for the
work that they do. Jonathan, he's our chocolatesier. He and
his team they put out the Stanley Cup when the
Bolden Knights won the Stanley Cup. We were tasked to
(29:21):
make a life size Stanley Cup in like three or
four days, and they did it.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Does chocolate even temper and then set that fast like okay.
Speaker 5 (29:32):
Yeah, I mean there are ways to do it. They
Like I said, there is a lot of engineering involved
here at Win Pastry so and it's amazing, Like, yeah,
I helped, but it was really them.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
And then you know.
Speaker 5 (29:47):
The organization it takes to run a program like this.
Not only is it organization, it's like the drive, the
passion that we have on this team is so beyond
And that's what really drove me to wanting to come
here is I get to work with people every single day.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
That are better than me.
Speaker 5 (30:10):
Really like they're like, they're so great and I know
that they can make this whole experience is going to
make me a better pastry chef, a better facilitator. To
get them the credit they deserve because they're they're doing
a lot of the heavy lifting.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Sure, I mean, yeah, it is. Oh my goodness. I
just had a moment where I was just thinking about
the sheer amount of math that must go on in
everyone's head all day, and I'm just like, oh no,
heck uh yeah, I know. I'm I'm y'all do beautiful work,
like the photos that I've seen the online of events stuff.
And then just like walking through the little cafe cafe, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
(30:55):
we just grabbed a pastry on the way over the
little key lime org. Yes, it's gorgeous. It's so pretty tasty.
Speaker 5 (31:05):
That's yeah, that's going to be one of our you know,
next changes. Sure, you're constantly playing, right, like thinking of
things to change, thinking of how we can improve something,
adding a garnish, or you know, working on how to
make something really special for a guest.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Well, it's been lovely talking with you, and I love
that you work with a team that is so collaborative
and that you're so supportive of each other.
Speaker 4 (31:33):
So thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Thank you, And.
Speaker 4 (31:40):
That brings us to the end of what may potentially
be our last Las Vegas interview. But who knows.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Yeah, yeah, I mean we we would go back at
a heartbeat when call us.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
Where actually email I don't like that.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Oh yeah, yeah, yes, I mean I never mean actually
call It's terrible.
Speaker 4 (32:04):
Laura and I just have to specify.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
And yeah, we got to see We didn't get to
eat as much of Chef Gens pastries, but we saw
a lot of them and they were beautiful and they.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
All looked delicious.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Yeah, and it is.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Exciting that the menu. She was talking about how seasonal
it is and how it's always changing.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
So oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
That that key lime tart that I mentioned was was
a gorgeous.
Speaker 5 (32:32):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
It had some like pretentious gold leaf and everything on
it and uh and b was so good like it
wasn't it was It wasn't too sweet. It had these
really interesting little textural differences between it was kind of
like a like a like a puff pastry with this
kind of key lime curd and then some like like
(32:54):
little like merangue bits maybe.
Speaker 4 (32:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Yeah, so it had all of these different and Maraine
is really touch and go for me, but this was
an excellent merangue.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
Yeah, And we told her she had that and in
the way of everyone we talked to during these interviews,
she stayed after and talked with us longer, gave more
of her time to us when she was clearly busy
and was talking about all these other things. She was
like excited for us to try and the season menu changing,
(33:26):
and it was just really it was everybody we talked
to was so great and giving with their time and
their excitement about what they were doing and what other
people were doing.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Yeah, yeah, thank you so much to Jen and everyone
else that we talked to. Thank you to all of
the incredible people at Blue Wire Studios. Everyone. Everyone there
was just an absolute match and so also very generous
and giving.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
We're a little.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Bit like I think most of the podcasts they get
in there are like really bombastic sports podcasts. Yes, and
I don't know if you can like feel our vibe
from listening, but we're not.
Speaker 4 (34:09):
That's not our vibe non.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
So we were switching it up a little bit for them,
but they rolled with us literally, and yes, it was
talk of D and D.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
There was talk to Star Wars, there was cat pictures exchanged.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
It was great and yeah to the whole team, the
whole team at Edwynn for being so so so kind
and helping us figure out figure out all of our stuff.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
Yes, thank you, thank you to everyone who made it happen.
And yeah, listeners, In case we do go again and
there's anything we miss, let us know. If you have
any thoughts about this, we would love to hear from you.
You can email us at hello at sabrepod dot com.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
We're also on social media. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook,
on Instagram at saver pod and we do hope to
hear from you. Savor is a production of iHeartRadio. For
more podcasts from iHeartRadio, you can visit the iHeartRadio 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
(35:17):
that lots more good things are coming your way
Hello, and welcome to Save for production of iHeart Radio.
I'm Annie Reese and I'm.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Lauren Volga bum and today we have our final final
interview for you from the WIN Las Vegas.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Yes, because if you've listened to our other interviews from
the WIN Las Vegas, they sponsored us to fly out
and to talk to some amazing people and to record
from there a very fancy podcast studios.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yeah, the resort built a podcast studio along with the
folks from Blue Wires Studios and invited us to come
interview a bunch of the humans who run their food
and beverage programs there, which are robust programs.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Yes, they are.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
I mean, if you've been to Vegas, you know what
we're talking about. I imagine if you haven't been to Vegas,
you just like know something about Vegas. You know what
we're talking about. Yeah, resort level all the time, good food.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Yeah. I think that one of the and I think
that we heard from a lot of these people was like,
you know, like it's not there's this idea in Vegas
that's kind of quantity over quality perhaps, but in the
past five to ten years, the new kind of thing
that all of these resorts are trying to what up
each other about is the food and drink and make
(01:31):
it really really cool, like like really interesting fun stuff
that they're doing. They did sponsor the trip out there, right,
They you know, set us up at the resort, gave
us a per diem, so there was a certain amount
of bias there. But we had again, such a fabulous
time we did, and super producer Andrew came with us. Yeah,
and we shared a lot of amazing meals and experiences together.
(01:54):
And truly, like everyone we talked to was really kind
with their time. I'm impressive.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
And also I really appreciated how much they talked up
everyone else that they worked with.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yeah, oh it was so it was so sweet and
so okay, this this interview is going to be with
Chef Jen Yee, who is the executive pastry chef for
the resort, and it was so sweet. We went we
went back to Kasaplia to visit Chef Sarah, who you
heard from if you listened to our previous interview with her,
(02:29):
and once she heard that we had talked to Gen,
she was like, oh, Jenn is the best, Like let
me like nerd out about everything that's going on in
her kitchen.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
I was like, what, this is so sweet.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Yes, and I believe I'm not sure if it's in
the actual interview, but we talked to Chef Jen about
Chef Sarah, and Chef.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Jin was like, oh, she's so kind and she was
already there. We're like good friends.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
And I was like, oh, it's so cute.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, yeah, which is which is terrific, Like, especially in
such a gargantuan undertaking of a system of a network
of kitchens, like to have that kind of camaraderie and
just seeing people work together and enjoying it.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Yeah, and really kind of nerding out not only about
what they're doing, but what other people are doing and
supporting that. It was really Yeah, it was a really
beautiful thing to hear and see.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Oh yeah, oh yeah. A little bit about Jen before
we jump in here. So she's been in the industry
for about twenty years in the pastry industry and worked
in New York City in Atlanta before making her way
to Vegas. She's gathered for James Beard nominations along the way.
In New York in the twenty teens, she worked at
(03:46):
Show and also Lafayette Grand Cafe and bakery here in Atlanta.
She was with the Hopkins and Company Hospitality Group, which
is like some of the most celebrated restaurants here in
a town that really likes their food.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
So that's kind of saying something.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Hopkins ran restaurant Eugene and they're still doing Holman and Finch,
which if you've been with us since our early days,
you may remember from our video episode on Sweetbreads. Yeah,
they invited us over to their kitchen and oh man,
that was a really good play of food.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
That was so good and it's one of my favorite
video things we ever shot when at the time our
video producer, Tyler, just left the camera running and we
were just eating and laughing and sharing this experience with
each other, and we were enjoying the food so much,
and it was just like such a sweet showcase of
kind of coming together and sharing those moments over food.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Absolutely. Yeah, but yeah, so like so like what I'm
saying here, But back to chef Jen is that is
that she has helmed the pastry programs at a lot
of the like it places in the cities where she's lived,
and she's now undertaken this absolute east of a job.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Yes, yes, and if you're listening, Chef Chin, I hope
that you've gotten some rests, because at the time.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
She was very, very big.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
I'm sure she's busy all the time, but she had
a sleepless night and was very tired.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
So I hope you've taken some time for yourself and sleep.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Yes, Oh goodness, okay, and I suppose with that, let's
get into this interview. Hi, this is the Savor Podcast
and we are coming to you live from Blue Wires
Studios at Win, Las Vegas. I'm Lauren Vogelbaum and I'm
Ann Aries, and we are here today with our special guest,
(05:42):
Jen Yee, who is the executive pastry chef here at
Win Las Vegas. Yes, I am hi. Hi, I don't
know right now. How are you doing great?
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Is this your first time in Vegas?
Speaker 2 (05:55):
This is, strangely my third time in Vegas, although all
of them have happened this year.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Oh wow, you must really love coming here.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Then, I work has sent me here three times now. Nice,
It's great. It's been lovely every time, increasingly odd, but
in a terrific way, as I imagine that. Probably Being
the executive pastry chef for a resort of this size
is also.
Speaker 5 (06:23):
Yes, especially not coming from a resort background, let alone
a Vegas resort background, it has.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Been quite the learning curve.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
I've been here for about seven months now and it's
been such a wild ride. But I feel so fulfilled
every day. I work with an amazing team and working
at the wind Standard is a challenge and a pleasure
at the same time.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
How that's that's amazing getting to do the fun hard work.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Yeah, very fun, very hard.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Okay, So I don't have a very clear idea of
what your job actually entails. Could you kind of run
through it for us?
Speaker 5 (07:08):
Yes, So I am the executive patry chef of the property.
We have multiple restaurants on property and food and beverage
outlets on property. We do have other pastry chefs on property.
We have Michael Outlaw, who is our pastry chef for
(07:29):
s W and Lakeside, and then we have Meghan Mueller
who's the patry chef at Kasaplia Cool. And then we
have a pastry shop within the hotel that plays support
role for the rest of the restaurants that don't have
their designated pastry chef.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
And not only do we have the other restaurants.
Speaker 5 (07:51):
We have catering in banquets, which is a huge part
of the dining experience on the resort. We have amenities
in room dining within the pastry shop. I have an
amazing crew, the biggest crew I've ever worked with, And
so yeah, I just feel so lucky every day to
be working with such a talented group of people with
(08:15):
such drive and passion and also very nice.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Oh, very nice.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Oh that's really good. Yeah, that's yeah, as opposed to
write our situation, which is very antagonist.
Speaker 6 (08:25):
Oh yeah, that planning murder all the time. We like
play D and D together. Yeah yeah, but no, so
that is a that is a wild amount of different
things that it sounds like y'all get up to. And
I mean and this is like twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week. Yeah, like it's it's the resort
industry here does not sleep, right, Yes, So so do
(08:48):
you like do you is there?
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Like can we can we talk a little bit about
like like like numbers and the kind of volume that
you do.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Yeah, talk about sleep.
Speaker 5 (08:57):
Just coincidentally, I got two hours last night, which is
not normal.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Good.
Speaker 5 (09:03):
For whatever reason, I stopped drinking coffee a few days
ago and then I had my first coffee in a
few days yesterday, and then oh just was up all night. Yeah,
it gave me more time to think about work. So
what was your question?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Oh, just just just just how how many pastries do
you go through? Like?
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Like?
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Like? How many desserts do you do ae night?
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Like?
Speaker 2 (09:26):
How? Because because you there are over twenty restaurants on
property that you provide pastry for. Yes, and in addition
to room service and special events and.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
Yes, okay, so I have not counted exactly how many
desserts go.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Out, but a lot. Uh.
Speaker 5 (09:46):
You know, every restaurant has its own volume level. So
you know, you can have a small like lobby bar
is a is a smaller place they'll do maybe you know,
one hundred two hundred people to the evening and then
you get up to s W Steakhouse and they're doing
up to eight hundred covers a night or and the
(10:08):
buffet serves, you know, thousands of people a day. So
it's easy to lose count for sure.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Sure, what's the size of the team that you're working with?
Speaker 5 (10:19):
So in order for our team to function, we need
to have a team of chefs plus a team of cooks.
And so I have seven chefs pastry chefs with me,
and that includes our cake artists, that includes our chocolate tear,
our restaurant pastry chef, our production pastry chef. We have
(10:43):
a whole banquet team with a banquet chef, so and
then each of the chefs will have their own sub teams.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
So overall it's about fifty ish people. Wow.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
Yeah, the workload is growing all the time. So we're
growing our team. And you know, if anyone and out
there wants to try out a career in pastry, give
me a call.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Yeah time for No.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
No, I'll stick with podcasting. I do. I am the
guy who brings dessert to things, but I'm not that
good at it, certainly not under that much pressure. Uh heck, So,
how how do you how do you go about?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Do do you get to help design dessert venus across
the resort for all of these different venues? How do
how do you work with?
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (11:31):
I mean are you working with the chef?
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (11:34):
Yes, you know like this this job cannot be done
alone obviously, and it's a complete collaborative process. So we
move by the seasons, so we'll change our desserts throughout
the restaurants around the seasons, and that's when we get together,
me and my chefs to work on changing up the menus,
(11:57):
coming up with new ideas and doing all the R
and D and testing and using our teams to help
us with that and help execution and understanding what's feasible
for Yes, we have a big team, but we also
have a huge load to carry. So how do we
divvy up the work for everyone?
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Sure? Sure do. And for some of those special events,
like I imagine that there is an absolutely I imagine people
come in with an absolutely wild amount of money and
dream of what something is going to be. Could you
talk a little bit about what you wind up doing
(12:40):
and how how you go through that process.
Speaker 5 (12:43):
Yes, Well, we do a lot of amenities, so we
have a lot of VIPs coming through staying in the
rooms and the villas, or we have special celebrations and
people request amenities or a show piece or something special,
something custom. So that is a big part of the
(13:04):
pastry team is providing that custom experience and those custom pieces.
Every single one is a project, right, so it goes
from concept, It goes from trying to mock up something
into execution and planning it's it's almost like a you know,
an engineering project.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Oh sure, and y'all have sometimes very limited amounts of
time to put these together, right. I think I was
reading online that you only require like five days in
advance for something like that, or may maybe a little
bit more.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Yes, you know, it's a case by case.
Speaker 5 (13:40):
We of course, we tried, and we never know, right,
there will always be that pop up guest, but we
do try to, you know, in order for us to
make the best possible piece, and to make something that's
impressive and something that we can be proud of, we
need that time to sure planning it and make it
(14:01):
and and gather the team around it.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
You actually came to Vegas from from Atlanta, where where
we're coming from.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
Ye?
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Can you talk a little bit about how, like like
what brought you here, like like why did you decide
to make the change to resort? Yes?
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I was happy in Atlanta.
Speaker 5 (14:17):
I was working with the Hopkins Family group of restaurants,
and I got a random late night phone call from
Christopher Lee, who is our VP of restaurants.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
And we had worked together in.
Speaker 5 (14:34):
New York for quite a few years at Guilt and
at Oriole and we had a great relationship back then.
I had always looked up to him. It was a
surprise hearing from him. I had, you know, followed his
career when we parted ways and he moved away from
New York and yeah, he called me out of the
(14:54):
blue and he's like, you want a job in Vegas.
I'm like, I don't know if I want to move
to Vegas. You know, I had only been here once
before before speaking with Chris, and you know, I love it.
It was you know, I went for New Year's Eve,
like nineteen ninety nine or something like.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Okay, yeah, yeah, so.
Speaker 5 (15:16):
It was a really long time ago, just a minute,
so that was my only experience. It just never occurred
to me that I would live in Vegas.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Yeah, but we talked.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
He convinced me to take a flight out and check
out the kitchen, and wow, I was so blown away
by the size of the team, the immaculate kitchen, the
equipment that we're using, the ingredients that we were using,
just the breath of work and scope of work that
(15:51):
was required. Coming from Atlanta, that was extremely daunting. Sure,
but I thought, you know, well, if I'm going to
have this opportunity to maybe nail this job.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
I want to nail this job.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
We still have some more of our interview for you,
but first we have a quick break forward from our sponsor.
We're back, Thank you sponsor, and we'll get back into
the interview.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Speaking about some of that technology that you guys use.
Are there any techniques or technologies that you're really excited
about right now that you're super into using or that
you're looking forward to getting to know better.
Speaker 5 (16:43):
The team and I are planning for next year, and
so with next year, you know, we have certain goals
to do more impressive things, to push the envelope more,
and so we're looking at procuring more equipment, and so
we've been looking at getting a really pro three D
(17:03):
printer to help us with doing a lot of custom amenities,
custom shapes, making custom molds for our desserts, and just
really giving us the flexibility. It's like building this workshop
right of course, this you know, wind has been around
for eighteen years, so we've had professional chefs and a
(17:27):
lot of great equipment come through this building and still
functions and we depend on it. And what I love
about being a win is, yeah, we have some of
the best equipment on the strip. But in order to
really be progressive and push the envelope, we have to
(17:47):
continue finding ways to be more creative or finding ways
to put our vision to life.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Yeah, yeah, is there do you find a little bit
of challenge and balancing? Like are there always going to
be certain desserts that are like mainstays that are traditional
traditional here that you're just like, okay, well that has
to be on the menu. But how do we make it?
Like how do you make it fun? How do you
(18:17):
make it yours?
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Right? Yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:18):
When I first was looking at all the restaurant menus,
there was a bit of a theme like there's a
lot of cheesecake.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Sure, yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Know, but people really love cheesecake.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
It's delicious.
Speaker 5 (18:31):
And you know, I thought, gosh, there's a lot of
cheesecake in this hotel right now. But and there was
one there's one outlet that doesn't get cheese, that doesn't
serve cheesecake normally, and the guests are asking for cheesecake.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
It's so funny. Yes, there's a lot of cheesecake.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
There's a lot of chocolate cake requests, and that's something
that you, you know, you want to satisfy the customer cravings.
But you also want to be creative and you want
to give that guest that chocolate dessert but with a
twist or something elevated.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah, you also studied, you studied architecture before you got
into pastry or was that kind of simultaneous.
Speaker 5 (19:16):
No, I have a BFA in interior architecture, Yeah, interior design.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Could you talk a little bit, I mean, does that
influence your work in pastry? Can you talk a little
bit about that?
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Well?
Speaker 5 (19:27):
I think any field in the arts is going to
inform another field in art field, right, which is what
pastry is. So I think it enhanced and it just
it gave my pastry background just a little bit more
humph Yeah. I think yeah, because with you know, going
(19:51):
to school and studying interiors and architecture, you know, some
of those classes and some of those courses are about
planning and design and balance and scale and color and
lighting and how something functions, how something looks, how something feels,
and all of those things matter. And desserts as well,
(20:13):
like how something functions, like you want it to eat well.
You want a dessert to eat well. You don't want
it when you dig your spoon into ooze chocolate all
over the table unless that's what your intention is. Sure,
but things have to be constructed or plated in a
way to make it a pleasure to eat. It's not
just the flavor, and it's not just how it looks,
(20:35):
but it's also how it eats. Yeah, so in a way, there's.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
A lot of parallels with pastry and design.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Yeah, do you do pastry at home? Like do you
cook desserts at home or breads.
Speaker 5 (20:51):
Or There was a time when I would make pastry
all day at work and then go home and make pastry.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
I've cooled down.
Speaker 5 (21:01):
A bit since then, but I still do. I haven't
baked anything at home in Vegas because you know, I
just basically moved here.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
I have hardly.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
Any furniture or a lot of A lot of our
stuff is still in Atlanta. Soh sure, I haven't had
a lot of time to do anything at home. But yes,
I do love home baking, and it is still a
nice relaxing thing to do, just to cook for yourself
or your loved ones. Yeah, it's just a different pleasure
(21:39):
then it's I don't think it's better or worse. I
think it's there's still a pleasure to make pastry professionally
and to make pastry at home.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Yeah right. I would imagine that is two very different highs. Yeah,
like like the difference between like, Okay, I have ninety
eight of these to play right now, versus like I
hope that this bread rises correctly.
Speaker 5 (22:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Yeah. Can I ask what drew you to pastry to
pickin with?
Speaker 3 (22:07):
You know, I've always loved desserts.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
I can't remember a time when I didn't just love
eating desserts. And even as a kid, when we would
go to a restaurant and open a menu, I would
immediately flip the page to the dessert menu. I wouldn't
even be looking at the food.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:27):
And you know, when I would come home from school
as a kid, I would watch the old PBS cooking
shows like public television cooking shows with my uncle. He
would pick me up or my grandmother would pick me up,
and it was just fascinating. And it was at such
a young age. I remember thinking, oh, so, like, you know,
(22:48):
adults can actually make cakes.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
For a living, like that is so awesome.
Speaker 5 (22:55):
And I think one of my first baking memories was,
you know, making apple pie with mom. And at school
we had to bring cupcakes every month for like Hot
Dog Day, and my mom would like, because she was
a single mom at the time and she was really busy,
she would do the box mix. But that was just
such a pleasure to do that with my mom and
(23:16):
decorate cupcakes. And I think it's just always been a
thing that I wanted to do. I didn't know I
wanted to do it for a living, but I knew
it was a thing that I could do. And you know,
making my own birthday cakes growing up was always fun.
Maybe not fun for everybody else, but it was fun
for me. Made a bit of a mess.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
It was your birthday. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, you're fun is
what counts there.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Make a mess if you wants.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Yeah, we have a little bit more of this interview
left for you, but first we've got one more quick
break for a word from our sponsors, and we're back.
(24:04):
Thank you sponsors, and back to the interview.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
I feel like you moved to Las Vegas at a
very busy time, and I'm curious if you have anything
in the future that you're looking forward to other than
this three D printing thing that I'm very curious about.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
That so exciting.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
Yeah, you know, I arrived in February, and I thought
that would give me enough time to get ready for
the holidays and that are coming up like very quickly.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
But you know, just I knew that this first year
was going to be.
Speaker 5 (24:46):
A huge learning experience. I wanted to get to know
my team and learn the systems.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
That have been put in place already.
Speaker 5 (24:53):
I wanted to get to know the different properties and
the styles and just understand stand the entire breath of
what we do and what we can improve. And you know,
it's been really observational for me and learning just what
(25:13):
we do and even just learning how to get from
one place.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
To another in.
Speaker 5 (25:19):
This massive resort, and getting to know all of the
chefs from the different restaurants and understanding their styles, understanding
their needs, understanding their clients. You know, I had big
ambitions to do a lot of changes right away and
like really put my mark on stuff right away. But
that's not I wanted to do things deliberately. I didn't
(25:42):
want to rush through anything. So this was my chance
to like really try to understand before we started changing.
But that being said, Chris, the VP, dropped a lot
of different projects on me right away, so you know,
the learning and doing has been kind of simultaneous anyway. Yeah,
(26:06):
we just launched a brand new amenity menu. We are
getting ready for F one for the first time. I've
had to learn a lot quicker than I thought.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Yeah, I mean, I think, I know we talked about
it earlier, but I'm just really interested in the fact
that you have to do like restaurant pastries, and then
pastries for the buffet that serves thousands of people, and
then pastries for.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
The amenities and like in room amenities. That's a lot.
Speaker 5 (26:36):
Yes, well, that's what I rely on my team for.
And everyone on the team has their specialty. Everyone on
the team knows what part of the game they're playing.
And then we also collaborate all together for a lot
of other things. It's not like very very delineated, but
(26:58):
you know, everybody does have their projects to do, and
then we collaborate on other things that we have to do,
like F one. F one is a is a whole
team thing.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Oh I'm sure. Yeah, that's most of what we've been
hearing about from everybody since we got here. Like literally
off like off the plane into an uber. It was
it was like F one is coming, what is happening? Yes,
are there any special pastries for F one?
Speaker 5 (27:26):
We're doing some some beautiful custom amenities for a whole
host of guests, so that we are feverishly working.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
It's howard finishing.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
We have a lot of obligations, and you know, along
with F one, there are other events within F one, so.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Everyone's via p right. So yeah, we're making a little
something special for everyone.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
And I'm excited for all of our guests to try
our restaurant desserts. I think they're delicious and I can't
wait to do more. Yeah, and Mizumi is going to
be opening very soon, so we're excited about that too.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Awesome.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
You might have to make a return trip. I was
so bulked.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
H Yeah, we'll just have to go to other excellent places.
Is there anything that we have not asked you that
you really want to talk about?
Speaker 3 (28:31):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (28:32):
I did want to just celebrate my team really. You know,
we have a wonderful cake artist, Flora. She's actually, you know,
been the cake artist here for several years and she's
now our executive assistant pastry chef, and she really is
an artist and the talent among our team, which includes Flora,
(28:58):
is just so vat and I just I'm blown away
every day by what this team puts out and I
cannot take even a fraction of the credit for the
work that they do. Jonathan, he's our chocolatesier. He and
his team they put out the Stanley Cup when the
Bolden Knights won the Stanley Cup. We were tasked to
(29:21):
make a life size Stanley Cup in like three or
four days, and they did it.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Does chocolate even temper and then set that fast like okay.
Speaker 5 (29:32):
Yeah, I mean there are ways to do it. They
Like I said, there is a lot of engineering involved
here at Win Pastry so and it's amazing, Like, yeah,
I helped, but it was really them.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
And then you know.
Speaker 5 (29:47):
The organization it takes to run a program like this.
Not only is it organization, it's like the drive, the
passion that we have on this team is so beyond
And that's what really drove me to wanting to come
here is I get to work with people every single day.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
That are better than me.
Speaker 5 (30:10):
Really like they're like, they're so great and I know
that they can make this whole experience is going to
make me a better pastry chef, a better facilitator. To
get them the credit they deserve because they're they're doing
a lot of the heavy lifting.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Sure, I mean, yeah, it is. Oh my goodness. I
just had a moment where I was just thinking about
the sheer amount of math that must go on in
everyone's head all day, and I'm just like, oh no,
heck uh yeah, I know. I'm I'm y'all do beautiful work,
like the photos that I've seen the online of events stuff.
And then just like walking through the little cafe cafe, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
(30:55):
we just grabbed a pastry on the way over the
little key lime org. Yes, it's gorgeous. It's so pretty tasty.
Speaker 5 (31:05):
That's yeah, that's going to be one of our you know,
next changes. Sure, you're constantly playing, right, like thinking of
things to change, thinking of how we can improve something,
adding a garnish, or you know, working on how to
make something really special for a guest.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Well, it's been lovely talking with you, and I love
that you work with a team that is so collaborative
and that you're so supportive of each other.
Speaker 4 (31:33):
So thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Thank you, And.
Speaker 4 (31:40):
That brings us to the end of what may potentially
be our last Las Vegas interview. But who knows.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Yeah, yeah, I mean we we would go back at
a heartbeat when call us.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
Where actually email I don't like that.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Oh yeah, yeah, yes, I mean I never mean actually
call It's terrible.
Speaker 4 (32:04):
Laura and I just have to specify.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
And yeah, we got to see We didn't get to
eat as much of Chef Gens pastries, but we saw
a lot of them and they were beautiful and they.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
All looked delicious.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Yeah, and it is.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Exciting that the menu. She was talking about how seasonal
it is and how it's always changing.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
So oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
That that key lime tart that I mentioned was was
a gorgeous.
Speaker 5 (32:32):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
It had some like pretentious gold leaf and everything on
it and uh and b was so good like it
wasn't it was It wasn't too sweet. It had these
really interesting little textural differences between it was kind of
like a like a like a puff pastry with this
kind of key lime curd and then some like like
(32:54):
little like merangue bits maybe.
Speaker 4 (32:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Yeah, so it had all of these different and Maraine
is really touch and go for me, but this was
an excellent merangue.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
Yeah, And we told her she had that and in
the way of everyone we talked to during these interviews,
she stayed after and talked with us longer, gave more
of her time to us when she was clearly busy
and was talking about all these other things. She was
like excited for us to try and the season menu changing,
(33:26):
and it was just really it was everybody we talked
to was so great and giving with their time and
their excitement about what they were doing and what other
people were doing.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Yeah, yeah, thank you so much to Jen and everyone
else that we talked to. Thank you to all of
the incredible people at Blue Wire Studios. Everyone. Everyone there
was just an absolute match and so also very generous
and giving.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
We're a little.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Bit like I think most of the podcasts they get
in there are like really bombastic sports podcasts. Yes, and
I don't know if you can like feel our vibe
from listening, but we're not.
Speaker 4 (34:09):
That's not our vibe non.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
So we were switching it up a little bit for them,
but they rolled with us literally, and yes, it was
talk of D and D.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
There was talk to Star Wars, there was cat pictures exchanged.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
It was great and yeah to the whole team, the
whole team at Edwynn for being so so so kind
and helping us figure out figure out all of our stuff.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
Yes, thank you, thank you to everyone who made it happen.
And yeah, listeners, In case we do go again and
there's anything we miss, let us know. If you have
any thoughts about this, we would love to hear from you.
You can email us at hello at sabrepod dot com.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
We're also on social media. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook,
on Instagram at saver pod and we do hope to
hear from you. Savor is a production of iHeartRadio. For
more podcasts from iHeartRadio, you can visit the iHeartRadio 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
(35:17):
that lots more good things are coming your way
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Dylan Fagan
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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