“This won’t take long,” I said as celebrity chefs Bobby Flay, Giada, Gordon Ramsay, Guy Fieri and Mr. Chow gathered around.
“I want you cowboys to know something,” I told them. “There’s a new sheriff in town and his name is Rich Luna. So y’all be cool. Right on.”
Before they could respond, the alarm clock went blaring in my ear, straight up 4 a.m. Maybe working in the kitchen at Paris Las Vegas was not such a great idea, and that was a weird dream, channeling Eddie Murphy in the movie 48 Hrs. with the crème de la crème of celebrity chefs in Las Vegas.
Come on, me a celebrity chef? Ha! This from the guy who’s basically never cooked a meal in his life. No, I’m not spoiled—well, sort of with my mom’s home cooking, my wife’s great cooking and even my young daughter Abby’s developing skills. She’s getting quite good, actually.
This will be my chance to show them that there is still hope for me, to show I’m not exactly hell in the kitchen, so I signed up for a unique opportunity to become an apprentice pastry chef at Paris Las Vegas on Executive Pastry Chef Jim McNamara’s team. It was going to be a busy day—with three conference groups at the property, desserts had to be prepared and ready to go.
Jim very smartly passed me off to Pastry Chef Frank Francheteau, who was probably wondering what he did to deserve this, especially at 4:30 in the morning.
I discovered, though, where everyone on the Las Vegas Strip is at that time of the morning. The kitchen is a busy place, with staff bustling here and there. There’s one baker working on croissants, another using a torch to finish off some crème brûlée and another making precise cuts on some cheesecake—all the while folks moving trays and carts around as items are finished. McNamara’s regular team includes seven chefs and around 30 bakers.
After donning my white apron, I was assigned to work with Jose on creating fresh fruit charlottes. Oh, that’s what they’re called. Most are made either from bread or sponge cake to form a mold that is filled with custard topped with fruit. Apple slices, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and strawberries.
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Jose drew the short straw and quickly trained me on the exact order of placing the fruit. I did one as he watched very carefully, then he placed a tray with 24 charlottes. Time to get to work.
On any given day, this kitchen will make anywhere from 3,000 to 8,000 plated and buffet desserts, depending on the number of banquets.
To bake all those goodies, the kitchen will go through a mixture of about 2,400 whole eggs, liquid whole eggs, egg whites and egg yolks and anywhere from 250 to 350 pounds of flour.
I don’t want to be the one to get us behind, so I get to work. First, I place the apple slices, then get to cutting strawberries. I carefully place the split strawberries on top of the charlotte up against the apples, making sure there is enough room for the rest of the toppings. For some reason, Jose pops over to help and quickly tops four charlottes in the time I did one. Oh, I get it, I was slacking.
I’m able to pick up the pace and soon enough I’m knocking those desserts out. Apples first, then strawberries followed by blackberries, raspberries and blueberries. Not a lot of space there, but the process gets easier. Note: If anyone got a charlotte that was partially smushed, sorry about that. It took a few tries to learn just how much pressure to apply when I picked them up.
Overall, my work passed muster, so on to the next phase where the final touch for each charlotte was left to a real pro. Chef Francheteau stepped in and sprinkled a few extra bits of fruit and then applied one of those really cool raspberry syrup swirly lines that look perfectly the same on every single dessert plate.
It’s now after 6 a.m. and more desserts await. There are any number of challenges each day for McNamara and his team, from fluctuating needs to managing supplies to taking into account things like outlet space coolers each dessert has to fit.
“Every dessert is different,” says McNamara, who has been with Caesars Entertainment for more than 20 years, the last 10 at Paris. “Each dessert has be a good match with the savory offerings.”
He says banquets are “the most fun,” especially the custom desserts needed to meet the needs at VIP dinners.
“We work with the clients to get the look and the taste they want for their guests,” he says.
It’s not easy satisfying the palate of however many are sitting down to buffets and luncheons each day, but by the time my shift was over, I had a much healthier appreciation of the teamwork and commitment that takes place behind the scenes.
To all those celebrity chefs in town, your jobs are safe for now. Just don’t try to imitate my fruit charlotte.
