I know at some point I am going to actually have to write up all the medical stuff I have learned at the conference, but for now I’m just sharing the Vegas Experience with you all. Because seriously, it is an experience the likes of which exists nowhere else on the planet. Everyone should go at least once in their lives, if nothing else at least to people-watch.
Because even if you don’t gamble (I don’t), and don’t drink (well, let’s say I am not averse to a glass of wine), there is always the shopping. And the food. Oh, the food.
Every celebrity chef worth his or her salt ends up coming to Vegas and opening up another branch of their famous haunt. This means that concentrated in the 4 miles of Las Vegas strip is the most insane concentration of fine dining in the universe. I’ve gained at least 30 pounds this week, I’m sure of it.
But I digress. I’m not a foodie per se in that I don’t really know what I’m talking about with fine dining, but I love food. I am in fact a huge Top Chef addict and I have no problems admitting I watch the show salivating on a weekly basis. When the first season of Top Chef Masters came out, pitting already established famous chefs against one another with the prize being money for charity, I watched that too, mesmerized.
While watching the show, one chef stood out and took my heart: Hubert Keller. He’s a Michelin rated French chef who seemed, at least based on the show, to be the coolest dude ever. None of that prissy ego, just an amazing yet humble talent with an adorable French accent. And he could cook circles around everyone else. When they did a challenge for little kids and he was in there carving swans out of cucumbers, I was forever his.
So today, when I realized he had a restaurant right near the conference, I decided to treat myself and drop in for lunch. I struck up a conversation with a woman next to me at the bar, who as it turns out was also a Keller fan. We kind of geeked out a little over Top Chef and enjoyed the fabulous food (and it was truly wonderful.)
As I was obliviously gobbling the cheesecake lollipops, my companion nudged me. “That’s him,” she said.
“Who?” I asked.
“Chef Keller!” she said. “He just walked by.”
I turned, and sure enough, disappearing into the back was a ponytailed man in a chef coat who looked to be the man himself.
I asked the bartender if the chef was in today, and she said yes. I expressed, probably very enthusiastically, my ardor for him and how cool it was to see him. She told me that was really sweet, and I reveled in my near-chef experience.
5 minutes later he tapped me on the shoulder.
“Allo,” he said. “Are vee enjoying zee meal?”
And then I died.
The bartender went in the back, told him I was a fan, and he was kind enough to come out and greet me. Then he talked to me about food for at least 5 minutes, just chatting with some random person for no reason other than he wanted to be a nice guy. I seriously doubt Bobby Flay would have done that. I’m just sayin’.
And I did something I have never done before, which is ask Chef Keller for a picture. He graciously obliged. I now own a picture of me next to my culinary hero with the biggest, cheesiest grin I have ever sported in my entire life. I murmured a silent apology to my 4 year old then kicked his picture off my iphone wallpaper because this is just epic.
Who says you need poker chips, 5 bottles of Stoli and Mike Tyson’s tiger to have a good time in Vegas? This is pretty much the best time ever. Oh yeah, I learned some stuff too.
C’mon on…show us the picture! You know you want to!! (And so happy for you that you had a fabulous experience in Vegas! In a town where nobody wins, you won!)
+1! What a great story – it’s always so amazing to meet a hero and find them to be a truly kind person! Yay for you!
Not to mention, how nice of the bartender to go and tell him… Obviously, as he was receptive to that, Chef Keller is indeed what one would hope.
I am living vicariously through you right now – that is amazing! I love Chef Keller… so very, very cool! (My vicarious starstruck-ness has apparently rendered me unable to be more creative than that.)
Nom nom nom…cheesecake lollipops. Great story, but of course I’m dying to see the picture of you two.
Now that I’m back from checking out a picture of Chef Keller, I’m even more impressed. I couldn’t remember which one he was.
Jumping on the bandwagon, I want to see the picture too! That is a very awesome story! And I had to LOL about you kicking your child’s picture off your wallpaper. Look at it this way – now you aren’t playing favorites amongst your children for the coveted wallpaper space! 🙂
ROOO!!!! ROOOO!!!
BOL!!! You have my Human Momma sitting beside me salivating and drooling like I do over my treats. 😉
Y’all come by now,
Hawk aka BrownDog
PICTURE! PICTURE! PICTURE!
OMGOMGOMG!!!!!! HUBERT KELLER????ARE YOU SERIOUS??? PEEKCHURS!!!!
holy crap. CHEESECAKE LOLLIPOPPS???
i’m hyperventilating.
please….need to see the evidence.
FUN! I’m a self-professed foodie, and while Top Chef isn’t my thing, I watch a LOT of Food Network. Alton Brown is my favorite. My boyfriend and I learned the day of that he was going to be signing books downtown in a few hours. We raced to the bookstore and stood in line for 4 hours so I could meet him and get him to autograph my cookbook (the boy was not the biggest fan of cooking or cooking shows, so he gets brownie points for standing with me all that time for something he could really care less about). It was awesome. So I too have a picture of me, cheesy grin and all, with my culinary hero. You go, girl!
Awesome! That is just too cool! We don’t have access to TV where we live now (by choice mainly) and the only thing I really miss?… Cooking shows, the Food Network, Gah.
So happy for you! You have excellent taste in chefs, he is my absolute fave too. Your inspiring a trip to Vegas for me. And yes, lets see that picture!
Picture! Picture! I am hoping I run into George Clooney and Ryan Gosling since they are in Cincinnati filming a movie. I haven’t had any luck, but then again I don’t think they would be hanging out at my work at the animal shelter or whatever fast food drive thru I pick that day.
Want to hear something more about Keller? He spins in SF. Yes, the man is also a DJ. He’s just too cool. Also, I have it on very good authority that Bobby Flay is actually a very nice guy too and takes photos with his fans if he has the time.
We love Chef Keller for his lack of hubris – he just seems so much *nicer* than Anthony Bourdain or the likes… And Bobby Flay’s throwdown? Is just mean-spirited.
So very jealous in so many ways…going back to studying Clin Path now 🙂
OMG, I am so jealous of you. I agree with you on all points: Hubert Keller is teh awesome. I need to go back to Las Vegas and go to this restaurant. My desktop background on my Mac and iPhone are with me and Alton Brown <3