‘Cake Boss’ marks 10 years on the Strip and reveals his new TV shows

He let them eat cake. And they ate it up.

Almost 15 years ago, Buddy Valastro first gained fame with the debut of “Cake Boss,” the reality TV show set in Carlo’s Bakery, the Hoboken, New Jersey, shop purchased by his father in 1964. If viewers couldn’t visit the bakery, they could still enjoy Valastro’s cake design wizardry, the hubbub behind the scenes at the bakery, and slices of Valastro’s family life with his wife, Lisa, and their children.

Today, folks can eat Valastro’s cake from Carlo’s Bake Shops across the U.S. (including Las Vegas) and Canada. Valastro has also expanded his brand to Carlo’s Bakery Express ATM, a chain of vending machines dispensing cakes slices, and several restaurants on the Las Vegas Strip showcasing the Italian cooking of his native New Jersey.

One of those spots, Buddy V’s Ristorante at the Grand Canal Shoppes in The Venetian, is turning 10. Valastro and family are in town this week to mark the occasion and, at a party at the restaurant on Thursday, to film for his new TV series launching in November on the A&E Network.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal sat down with the baker, chef and restaurateur to discuss the anniversary, his A&E projects and the dream restaurant in Vegas he still wants to open.

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Review-Journal: Buddy V’s was your first restaurant in Vegas. What are your thoughts on 10 years?

Buddy Valastro: I know I’m a baker, but it was always one of my dreams to have a restaurant on the Strip. Sheldon Adelson (the late Venetian owner) gave me a shot and this place really grew. That’s a testament to my team. We have an amazing team here that works really hard and innovates and creates new things. I’m popular, I have a huge following to get them in the door the first time, but what keeps them coming back is how we deliver the food and service.

What is the A&E series you’re filming for at Buddy V’s?

“It’s called ‘Buddy Valastro’s Cake Dynasty.’ It will be 10 episodes. The best way to explain it is, it’s my life. I had one bakery and a dream. Now, I have concepts all over the country, a 100,000-square-foot facility, we’re selling to supermarkets. It’s watching me make a crazy cake that jumps and spins and moves, but there’s also a part about assembling 15,000 cakes a day.

Does the ‘Dynasty’ refer to your family? Your children have grown up helping in the business.

The show is also about the succession of my kids, who is going to take over. Now my kids are older. I want to make sure they want to do this. I feel like ‘Cake Boss’ only showed one side of me. ‘Cake Dynasty’ is showing me as a dad, as a brother, as a businessman, as a baker, as an entrepreneur, as a crazy man. I think it’s the best stuff I’ve ever done.

Is there another series that’s been finalized in your A&E deal?

There are also 20 episodes of ‘Legends of the Fork.’ I leave the bakery and taste food and look at iconic places like Katz’s Deli (in Manhattan) or Al’s Italian Beef (in Chicago) or Buddy’s Pizza in Detroit or Pancake Pantry in Nashville. I explore why they are iconic. That begins airing in November as well.

Besides Buddy V’s, you have Carlo’s Bake Shop here in The Venetian, The Boss Café and Buddy’s Jersey Eats in The Linq, and Pizza Cake in Harrah’s. Do you have plans for another Vegas restaurant?

We have a couple of things in the fire. A dream of mine is to have a restaurant, just me and my wife: Buddy and Lisa’s Kitchen. I wouldn’t want the food to be only Italian because we cook different foods at hour house. It would be flair from different cultures, different places.

Elizabeth Blau and her husband, chef Kim Canteenwalla, of Honey Salt are Valastro’s operating partners in Buddy V’s Ristorante.

How did you and Buddy Valastro become partners?

Elizabeth Blau: Jon Rosen, a top culinary agent, made the introduction and said Buddy Valastro is doing a restaurant and looking for an operating partner. We took the train out to (Carlo’s Bakery in) Hoboken in February (2013). It was ice and hailing and the most disgusting weather you’ve ever seen — and there was a three-block line.

What are your feelings about the 10th anniversary?

Blau: It’s been a great partnership. It’s very special.

Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram and @ItsJLW on X, formerly known as Twitter.