Behind the scenes as a legendary Strip restaurant closes after almost 26 years
Ever since word emerged in May that legendary Picasso restaurant in Bellagio was closing, and its famed chef Julian Serrano was retiring after almost 26 years at the helm since opening, the calls and emails and other inquiries have come as thick as the potato mousseline nestling the chef’s pan-seared U-10 day boat scallops.
You’re closing? You’re really closing? We have to visit one last time (or one last multiple times).
And so they have come. Vegas locals. Customers from across the U.S. And from Europe and beyond. Even people who had never eaten before at the restaurant but realized an essential part of the city’s culinary history was ending. Picasso has been completely booked (about 180 seats) since the May announcement.
“There has been an incredible interest,” Serrano said, with modest understatement, when he sat down Thursday afternoon with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, as preparations took place for service that evening and for the final night of service on Friday.
The chef, who turned 74 in July, seemed clear-eyed about the closing and retirement — “When I make a decision, there is no looking back” — and he swatted away any suggestions of momentousness for Friday or the months leading up to it.
“I was very concerned not to get crazy in the last few days — we do good food, good service, consistent, just like we weren’t going to close. Running it like every other night. Doing the best we can until the very last minute.”
Of oysters and napkins
On Thursday afternoon, the staff practiced this approach, as they had for a quarter-century, smoothing tablecloths, arranging settings and calling out table details. “Thirty-four is a single. Fifty-three is a deuce.”
In the kitchen, stacks of napkin quatrefoils awaited oysters (in summer, from Massachusetts) poached in white wine, then served with vermouth beurre blanc and a topknot of Ossetra caviar.
The oysters are served in spent and sanitized oyster shells placed within the petals of the quatrefoil. The napkins, like Picasso’s version of origami, are starched, then spritzed with water so they’re pliable enough for folding but sturdy enough to hold their shape.
“We do thousands,” Serrano said of this art of folded napkins.
Oysters are playing a part in the story of Picasso closing. A VIP and longtime customer is currently staying at Bellagio. This VIP is partial (to put it mildly) to Picasso oysters, ordering three dozen of them (served classically on crushed ice) every day at the restaurant or wherever he might be dining on the property.
Does this VIP understand the oysters, at least as prepared by Picasso, have an end date? “He does,” Serrano said.
So, slurp while you can.
Thinking of employees
At an Aug. 9 tribute dinner for the chef at the restaurant, Serrano said he almost got teary-eyed when he recounted his move to Vegas from San Francisco (where he helmed Masa’s), a move that uprooted his wife and young daughter, a move that saw him taking a chance on this new property called Bellagio.
The other afternoon, what evoked emotion for the chef was talking about the restaurant employees, a significant chunk of whom have been there since day one.
“That is the tough part. Some of the people I might not see them again. And that makes me sad. It’s toughest to leave the employees. They support you; you support them. We had a life we spent here.”
A second family
The chef, employees said, has created an environment that required excellence but also provided nurturing.
Brian Kolp, the executive sous chef, has been with Picasso for 14 years. He came to the restaurant as a sous chef. “It was hard and it was stressful and Chef was very demanding,” Kolp said. “You have to earn his respect.”
Over time, he settled in. “We are a team. Everything is always a collaboration. Our foie gras tart, our lobster salad: How do we evolve that? Chef always gave us free rein to really collaborate. We spend more time with each other than we do with our families.”
‘Head in the oven’
Ryland Worrell, a captain at Picasso, has been with Serrano longer than any other staffer at the restaurant. He was a captain at Masa’s, in San Francisco, for 12 years, and when the chef was recruited to Bellagio, Worrell asked if he could also make the trip to the desert.
“Julian said, ‘I can’t promise you anything,’ but I knew better. I knew the restaurant was going to be a success here.”
Serrano, he said, led by example.
“Julian’s head is in the oven every night. He’s sweating bullets. When we see him do that, it impassions us to rise to that level to represent him, to represent Picasso and Bellagio.”
Career pinnacle
Beyond that, there was the success of Picasso.
“He’s created a great income for us, to send children to school, to make investments, to pay the mortgage. The people here, it is their profession; they are proud of it. The guests pick up on that.”
After Picasso closes, Worrell said he would take a few months to float in the pool and think on things.
“This was the pinnacle of my career. I may never see it again; I know that. Nothing will come close to what we had here. I get emotional — we basically grew up here. It’s been a journey and an opportunity. The chef is responsible for that.”
Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram.