Evil-like quick-chill machine for safe handling. But soups are perhaps the most important part of the job here, produced in computer-controlled 200-gallon vats, broken down to 2-gallon transport bags, which are then put into a Dr. While the main kitchen generally supplies the Buffet, quick service outlets, and Mangia, the Employee Dining Room, they also do a few special orders, such as the ducks for Noodles café. Helper Valerie Beck checks temperatures on the Bellagio’s semi-famous chicken soup in a huge holding bath in the resort’s main kitchen, while her boss, executive chef Greg Deflorio peeks at Peking ducks in the smoker. First there’s the 4,276-square-foot freezer, kept at a constant –10 degrees F, then the 1,631-square-foot beer cooler, and the 1,202 square-foot Dairy Cooler (with four different kinds of unsalted butter and everything from mascarpone to quail eggs), and the… You get the idea. His amiable boss, warehouse manager Will Parks, throws even more big numbers at me as he shows me around an operation that, if it could, might giggle at being compared to a cute lil’ Costco. Vigil shows me some of the Receiving Warehouse’s systems, including dating every case that comes in, verifying that all berries arrive within three days of their pick dates (the property consumes 60 cases of raspberries daily and 12,000 cases of strawberries a month, so nothing is idle long). On the Receiving Dock, Larry Vigil-the aptly named chef in charge of quality control-checks a produce order and decides to reject a pallet of baby green beans, some of which are oxidized despite a good sell-by date.
“We’re one of the few places on the Strip still making dough from scratch,” assistant pastry chef Bobby Sohms reports, while plying me with a hefty, butter-rich ham-and-cheese croissant and my first coffee of the day, big and black. This satellite operation (separate from the pastry shop) produces an average of 5,000 pieces a day for 12 outlets on property, including biscuits, cookies, muffins, cinnamon buns, sticky buns-over three dozen different items weekly-using a computerized production line.
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Downstairs in the danish production room, baker Rick Fredericksen uses a compressor gun to spray egg wash over a catering cart full of croissants ready for the oven, while Michael Lane grates lemon zest over a tray of cake donuts. The guys with the land zambonis are polishing the lobby marble as actor Matthew Perry wanders by with his three-deep “Hangover” entourage (no, I’m not kidding). The smell of Lemon Pledge permeates the casino, where there are almost more dealers than guests at this hour. On a random day, I checked in to the hotel (rooms smartly updated last year, by the way), woke up at 3 a.m., and (with the cooperation of the Bellagio team) started poking around… Intrigued by how the 950 F&B employees manage to pull this off every day, I recently decided (translation: was ordered by my editor) to spend 24 hours following the staff around, witnessing everything from the behind-the-scenes intake of raw produce and meat to the cataloguing and inspection of wine bottles to the delicate high tea service to the after-work, industry-only partying. Yet this is what goes on inside resorts like the Bellagio Las Vegas, which is now nearing its 15th anniversary and remains not only a top Vegas resort but a serious destination dining excursion, with five awarded destination restaurants (including Michael Mina and Le Cirque), another six respected and popular venues, as well as a daunting buffet that could feed an army, and another seven or so casual outlets. And you'll have to keep virtually all of this going round the clock, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Backing all this up will require an in-house butcher, massive wine storage, and a warehouse system that would be the envy of some small governments.
You'll have seasonal menus-even for room service-and deluxe guides in the hotel rooms so guests don't get overwhelmed. You'll offer tailored cooking classes and wine tastings (allowing guests to interact directly with the property’s executive chef and wine director), even if they'll serve only a fraction of the resort’s guests.
You have to coordinate a small town's worth of staffers-from sommeliers down to dishwashers-working in fine-dining restaurants, casual eateries, bars (and pool bars), room service, buffets, and the employee cafeteria. You can't just put a couple of celebrity chefs on retainer and call it a day. Feeding the guests at a major Las Vegas hotel-casino-resort is not a simple task.
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