Connecting You

Author: Carolyn Koenig
June 2008

Chef's Table

For most people, the only inspiration we get in a doctor’s office is a daydream of ourselves on a white-sand beach with an umbrella drink in hand.

 For Barbara Nosek, a food and entertainment writer in Las Vegas, the visit was an “Aha!” moment that jump-started a new career.

“The Cliffs Notes version is, I was in a doctor’s waiting room and a stranger was reading a book and trying so hard not to laugh out loud, but failing miserably,” Nosek says. “She was reading Fannie Flagg [Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe], and central to the book is the main character’s radio show, which was broadcast out of her living room. “It was a rural thing, kind of homey, but I thought, with all the interesting chefs here, it could make an interesting show.”

Enter Debbie Hall, both a friend and a tech-savvy, veteran broadcaster, and the result was “Celebrity Chef Connection,” a weekly interactive audiovisual Internet show that debuted last fall.

The shows, which are divided into individually viewable segments, are posted on their website, celebritychefconnection.com, by 5 p.m. every Wednesday. The centerpiece is Featured Chef, an interview with a prominent chef either in one of Vegas’ numerous name-brand restaurants, or visiting chefs from around the country. The interviews take place “on location” at events or in the restaurant’s dining room, amid the clatter of voices, tables being bussed and meals being served, for real “you are there” moments.

Guest chefs chat about their background, their training, their food philosophy, their signature dishes and food trends. For example, one show spotlighted Kerry Simon, aka the “Rock ‘N Roll Chef,” at his new restaurant, CatHouse in the Luxor. (“We always try to cover new restaurants, so folks know before they get here about something new,” Nosek says.) Turns out, Simon began his stellar career at Little Caesars Pizza, where he went to work as a teenager to buy amps and other accoutrements for his guitar. Of his current project at the Luxor, he said: “CatHouse is a fun food place, but also serious. You can see the elegance of the room. It’s glamorous but not pretentious.”

The restaurant features Simon’s eclectic cuisine, offering shared plates with Asian, American and European influences. His favorite dishes are the chicken wings and lobster rolls, by the way, and he’s working on a cocktail to be called Catnip.

Other program segments range from Noshing Like a Native, which spotlights some little-known neighborhoods and fine dining opportunities, to the Mailbag, an opportunity to ask questions of Nosek and Hall or any of the featured chefs in upcoming programs. “We welcome any and all questions,” Nosek says. “If any readers want to know about a restaurant, or if you had a fabulous dish and want the recipe, we can tuck it into the Mailbag segment.” You can also search for private dining rooms on The Strip or in neighborhoods. “Not everybody has a group that will take a grand ballroom,” she recognizes.

Each week’s Connection opens with the program’s line-up; just click on whatever interests you most. The segments play on demand for an entire week—and as it’s the Internet—they’re available 24/7. Among the most popular features is pastry chef and “Mr. Chocolate” himself, Jacques Torres—or anything else they do pertaining to chocolate. Shows are also archived for later retrieval by viewers.

Not even a year old, the show draws viewers “from coast to coast and more than 20 countries,” according to Nosek. Future plans are to include Tables Everywhere, focusing on restaurants and on-site interviews with chefs around the country, a great opportunity for planners to check out potential dining spots.

As a preview of the next show, the duo delivers a free weekly newsletter to your inbox that also includes a listing of upcoming guests (all the better to get your questions in ahead of time). To sign up, e-mail them at celebritychefconnection@yahoo.com.

And, they’re serious about asking any question. “One really set me back,” Nosek says. “Every now and then I get reminded that there are folks out there who haven’t been [to Las Vegas] before.” The question: “Do we have grocery stores here?”