Wynn Magazine - Las Vegas
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/49393
FOOD SPOTLIGHT Pesce scorfano e gameri rossi imperiale all'acqua pazza (Mediterranean scorpion fish and imperial red shrimp in crazy water) at Bartolotta tomato." And as for that Caprese, Schoenegger turns his into a sort of antipasto misto, combining roasted cherry tomatoes with fresh tomatoes, braised artichokes, and roasted red peppers. Today, cooking with ingredients that are in season is considered ideal among the nation's top chefs, but as Tal Ronnen, the world-famous vegan chef perhaps best known for having catered Ellen DeGeneres's wed- ding to Portia di Rossi, points out, "The truth is that Las Vegas is built on a desert, not on farmland. In Vegas, nothing is local, which means that everything is imported—which means that you can get anything you want, from anywhere, and whenever you want it." Ronnen, who recently collaborated with each of Wynn's chefs to create vegan dishes that are as rich and satisfying as their meat-based counterparts for all of the resort's restaurants, is used to employing culi- nary sleights of hand to enhance or manipulate the flavors of plant-based foods or to maximize their intensity. For tomatoes, Ronnen starts with small teardrop tomatoes, and dehydrates and then marinates them in a bath of olive oil, garlic, and thyme for several hours. The result is a glis- tening, richly colored jewel-like sphere that adds a burst of acidity and sweetness to vegan offerings throughout Wynn resorts. "There might just be a few of these tomatoes in a dish that's really about something else, 64 WYNN such as 'chicken' Parmesan at Sinatra," he says. "And yet I'll get more com- ments from people telling me how much they loved those little tomatoes than I will about anything else." At Tower Suite Café, the breakfast and lunch spot in the Tower Suites at Wynn, executive chef David Spero faces yet another seasonal chal- lenge—a poolside restaurant with diners who want poolside fare. "A lot of my clientele is coming from colder climates looking forward to the warmer weather here," he explains. "In terms of food, they want light, bright flavors. They want tomatoes." Spero has figured out how to offer a delicious Caprese salad using a combination of small tomatoes that have been slow-roasted, to remove some of the water and thereby intensify the flavor, and hothouse tomatoes, from which he cuts out the seeds, leaving only the sweetest portion on the plate. Another popular lunch- time item, a steak entrée, which is more or less a deconstructed steak salad, served with crumbled blue cheese, features prized heirloom toma- toes that are grown in hothouses all year long. Canning tomatoes in their own kitchens when they were at their peak, or using the prized San Marzano Italian canned tomatoes to make their own versions of basic tomato sauce, is another way Wynn chefs extend the season. "Even in Italy, where of course we are very seasonal," Schoenegger