Wynn Magazine - Las Vegas
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/914167
ocean and eat it raw." At Il Teatro, he serves the mollusks simply: pan- seared with porcini mushrooms. Olivas is also fanatical about tomatoes, a core ingredient in Southern Italian cooking. The San Marzano variety is widely considered the best, but the chef disagrees—it's too tart to use alone, he believes. To cut the acidity, he hunted down the ideal companion tomato—an on-the-vine cherry varietal grown in the Netherlands. These arrive fresh in Macau, but Olivas is patient; the best thing to do with tomatoes, he advises, is to leave them for a while. "Those get sweeter and sweeter as the days go by," he says. "But you must never keep tomatoes in a chiller, because tomatoes are not a cold-environ- ment vegetable, and that stops them maturing. If you let them mature in a natural way, it builds up the sweetness." But nothing epitomizes his persnickety approach to sourcing better than Olivas' quest for burrata. The best is usually from Puglia, the heel of Italy: A moist shell of mozzarella wraps around a center of cream and stracciatella, or shredded cheese. Much of the burrata earmarked for export, however, is either too creamy and wet, or dry and rubbery. So Olivas f lew to Italy himself and began a taste tour. Once back home in Asia, he staged a dozen or more tests with colleagues to see which was worthy of his menu. It wasn't just f lavor or texture he was assessing but also consistency; the finalists were sampled across six weeks to ensure that their high quality wasn't a f luke. Olivas is also adroit at adapting Italian classics to retain authentic f lavors while better appealing to local tastes. In risotto, for example, he reduces the amount of salty cheese, Parmigiano Reggiano, and replaces it instead 帝雅廷意大利餐廳的大廳， 是欣賞表演湖的絕佳位置。 Il Teatro's main dining room has an incomparable view of the resort's Performance Lake. 87 海鮮，特別是扇貝。從北海道周邊海洋冷流裡捕獲的扇貝有種獨特的鮮甜，他在 其他地方從來不曾找到替代。「這些扇貝在全世界都大受歡迎，因為北海道附近 的水質極為潔淨，被評為A級，意味著可以從海洋中撈起扇貝直接生吃。」在帝雅 廷意大利餐廳，他也以簡單手法處理這些貝類：在鍋中輕煎，配以牛肝菌。 Olivas也很喜歡使用番茄這種意大利南部菜式的常用食材。通常認為San Marzano番茄品種是最好的，但主廚並不贊同 —他認為這種番茄單獨使用會太 酸。為了減少酸度，他找到了另一種理想的番茄來搭配—在荷蘭種植的一種爬藤 櫻桃番茄。這些番茄新鮮運抵澳門，但Olivas會繼續耐心等待；他建議說，處理番 茄的最好方法是先放置一段時間。「隨著時間的推移，番茄會變得越來越甜，」他 說：「但絕對不能把番茄放進冰箱，因為番茄不是在寒冷環境下種植的蔬菜，低溫 會停止它們的成熟過程。如果讓它們在自然條件下慢慢成熟，甜度就會增加。」 然而，他對burrata（布袋芝士）這種食材的挑剔和執著，才是對食材來源 嚴謹要求的最佳體現。最好的布袋芝士多數出產自Puglia這個位於意大利靴 形國土地圖的靴跟位置的地區，以濕潤的馬蘇里拉芝士外層包裹著奶油和strac- ciatella芝士或碎芝士。但是Puglia出口貿易的大部分布袋芝士不是過於濃稠和 濕潤，就是太乾燥和質地太韌。因此Olivas親自飛往意大利展開品嚐搜尋之旅， 一回到亞洲就立即和同事們對芝士的品種進行幾十次測試，評估哪一種才值得 放進菜單裡。除了評估味道和質感，他們還要評估質量的穩定性，最終入圍的品 種歷經六週的採樣測試，以確保它的高品質能維持在穩定的水準。 PHOTOGRAPHY BY BARBARA KRAFT