It was back in December, 2010 that it was first announced that ex-soccer player and notorious hothead Gordon Ramsay would be opening a restaurant -- actually, two restaurants -- in Las Vegas. Gordon Ramsay Steak was earmarked for the spot in Paris vacated by Les Artistes and given a June 1 opening date, while a Gordon Ramsay bistro is due to open later at Caesars Palace.
The new two-level steakhouse, which opened ahead of schedule on May 11, welcomes guests through a "chunnel" entrance and features a wide Union Jack ceiling mural and custom neon sculpture, but Ramsay's an innovator and wants his guests to have a contemporary dining experience, so the feel of the place is very modern. Witness the fact that this will be his first U.S. restaurant to offer SmartCellar, an interactive wine list accessed via one of 20 iPads provided by the restaurant. It's a system used throughout his U.K. restaurant empire and will be extended to include the main menu later this year.
Ramsay takes his meat very seriously, and the steaks here feature beef aged for 28 days in a Himalayan salt room, which are then paraded around the room on a rolling meat cart for guests to admire. The chef, who recently purchased a home in California, said he plans to be in Vegas every couple of weeks as his new baby establishes itself, after which he'll be more hands-off, but will still be over to check on his hand-picked team at least monthly thereafter, which is more than a lot of "celebrity" chefs do, we have to say. We look forward to sampling his wares.
While Ramsay hasn't had his own venue in town before, he's had a tie-in with other Las Vegas restaurants: Winner's of prior "Hell's Kitchen" season's won jobs at restaurants at Red Rock and Green Valley Ranch. That association will continue, with the winner of Season 10 of "Hell's Kitchen", which premiered June 4, earning a head chef position at Gordon Ramsay Steak.
Outside of his TV reality series, Ramsay's had something of a checkered career in the U.S., so it will be interesting to see how his first foray into the Vegas market works out. We haven't made it over there yet, but heard reports that you could barely get in after it first opened, and somehow this city feels like a good fit for the feisty chef.
Click for a photo tour of the new joint, and some of its gastronomic offerings, courtesy of our friend at Pulse of Vegas, the official Caesars Entertainment blog (which is actually suprisingly and refreshingly funny and uncorporate).
