Wynn Magazine - Las Vegas
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/314388
photography by brian bielmann (boat); jeff green (opak apak a) since 2012. The lobsters, hailing from Brittany, Australia, California, Maine, and Chile's Juan Fernández Islands, are treated simply but dif- ferently than in other seafood restaurants. Roasting them in their shells in a wood-fired oven adds a nutty nuance to the meat. Enthusiasts order sweet and tender Maine lobster along with, for instance, exotic Australian rock lobster to compare the meats, seasoned with a choice of plain drawn, yuzu-basil, or spicy harissa butter. The lobster program has gone swimmingly since Walzog turned his ovens from pizza to crustacean duty, and for the never-complacent chef, that meant it was time to introduce a new concept for his guests. He had been to Maui many times and dreamt of faithfully capturing the experi- ence of beachside dining. "You've got to love the freshness right out of the water," he says. "So how do we take that to the next level and really be able to tell a story about it?" For Walzog, much of the beauty in dining is in the narrative. Well- traveled guests want to know the provenance of their food, he explains, and giving them a story of unparalleled freshness was his priority. Typically, commercial fishing boats are out on the water for 12 to 14 days, keeping their haul on ice before selling it at auction, and that length of time is still considered fresh by the standards of most restaurants. But this is Wynn, home to Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare, the restaurant that revolutionized the idea of fresh seafood. And Walzog was committed to upholding the resort's reputation, which meant getting his hands on pristine Hawaiian fish brought to shore on the same day that it is caught. "I called my friend who is the chef at Maui's Grand Wailea, Eric Faivre, and said, 'I need to get a direct line to somebody who's out every single day and every single night and is bringing day-boat fish back—and I want that fish.'" Faivre gave Walzog that direct line, to a small company with 30 contracted day boats that had been looking to land an account with a restaurant of Lakeside's caliber. As soon as he could, Walzog headed to Hawaii to meet his new vendors. "I wanted to cement that relation- ship," he says. His trip involved spending a week with them on their boats, making the journey of three hours over rough waters to the north shore of Maui with the men, whose equilibrium, he adds with a laugh, was better than his own ("I had the patch, which I think helped me a lot"). Walzog himself WELL-TRAvELEd GuESTS WAnT To knoW THE pRovEnAnCE oF THEIR Food, WALzoG SAYS, And GIvInG THEM A SToRY oF unpARALLELEd FRESHnESS WAS HIS pRIoRITY. above, from left: Chef David Walzog on the Rainbow Runner off Maui with Captain Armelio Cabatingan and a fresh wahoo, locally called ono, the Hawaiian word for "delicious"; opakapaka, a kind of snapper served at Lakeside, shown here with a dressing of soy, yuzu, and Japanese pickled vegetables. 62 Wynn Food SpoTLIGHT 060-066_Wynn_FEAT_FoodSpotlight_Spring14.indd 62 5/15/14 1:16 PM