Michel Richard’s Asian Bistro Soup

Michel Richard's Asian Bistro Soup with Shrimp

Michel Richard’s Asian Bistro Soup with Shrimp

Last month another world-class chef joined Escoffier in the Grand Kitchen up in Heaven. Legendary Chef Michel Richard was 68 years old. I was introduced to the Chef’s innovative style of cooking over lunch with my old colleagues at his restaurant Citrus in LA back in the late 1980s and have been an ardent fan ever since.

After hearing of his sudden passing last month, I immediately pulled Happy In The Kitchen from my bookshelf and spent a good part of the day re-reading his recipes and perspectives.

Before each recipe the Chef writes a paragraph or two about the dish – from where the inspiration came; what is important for the cook to note; or his keen observations on taste, texture, presentation, what-have-you. Yes, he is a most accomplished chef, but he is also a very effective teacher – employing humor and ingenuity as skillfully as he does the knife.

Thomas Keller wrote, “Michel did something that’s almost unheard of in the pastry world: he crossed over and became a chef, opening one of the best restaurants in the country, Citrus, in 1987. It’s difficult to overemphasize how unusual this is. Pastry chefs and savory chefs rely on a completely different set of skills and use their intellects in different ways. Pastry chefs are mathematicians. Savory chefs, we’re like free-thinkers. Michel, amazingly, has been able to combine the precision of the pastry chef’s mind with the freethinking nature of the savory chef in a way that no other chef in America has done.”

Michel Richard’s Asian Bistro Soup Recipe

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Hitting The Las Vegas Culinary Jackpot

tagliatelle con il primo tartufo bianco
tagliatelle con il primo tartufo bianco @ sirio
tagliatelle pasta with fresh shaved first of the season white truffles

We’ve been hitting The Las Vegas Culinary Jackpot, big time! A week ago I shared what is now our absolute favorite spot for Brunch in Vegas – Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill @ Caesar’s. Among many other items, the Yucatan Style Grouper with Blue Crab Succotash Sauce is brilliant. Our epicurean bonanza did not stop at Mesa Grill, though.

Thanks to my brother’s edict that we try new restaurants, on this trip we hit the mother lode. To our immense delight, we re-discovered Las Vegas’ first celebrity chef, the charming André Rochat. It was with fond memories of escargots and duck à l’orange enjoyed at André’s in Downtown Vegas decades ago that we made our dinner reservations.

“In the 1980s, it was a whole different city. We were the only freestanding gourmet restaurant in town. We were very busy, very busy, sometimes with a line at the door,” said Rochat, who was raised in a small town outside Lyon, France. (Read more about our favorite Las Vegas legend here).

André’s @ Monte Carlo reflects the original old-world Downtown Vegas charm and combines it with new-world breathtaking aqua décor and warm, personalized service plus the Chef’s years of talent and hospitality. We were so blown-away by our experience we are certain that foodies coming to Vegas to meet the hottest new Chefs will be even more impressed to meet the town’s hottest old Chef!

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