Bobby Flay opens Shark at the Palms — VIDEO
“The day I stop getting nervous is the day I need to hang up my chef coat. So yeah. Am I nervous? 100 percent nervous.”
Bobby Flay makes the statement on the patio area of his new restaurant Shark, which quietly opened to the public on Monday, and will officially open its doors this weekend as part of the Palms’ grand reopening celebration. Through the window behind him, a team of workers is putting finishing touches on the resort’s massive dayclub and pool area, which includes a cabana with private pool situated directly atop his restaurant.
It can be hard to imagine Flay, one of the most successful and recognizable chefs in the world, getting nervous about a new endeavor. But Shark takes him into uncharted waters. It’s also part of something much bigger than any one chef.
“The Fertitta brothers, I have to give them all the credit in the world, they’ve put their money where their mouth is,” the celebrity chef says of Station Casinos’ principals Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, who are said to have taken a hands-on approach to the resort’s $690 million renovation.
“There is absolutely no question in my mind that, based on all the resources and all the things that have gone on here for the past year and a half or so, when this thing opens on April 5, everybody in Las Vegas with a pulse is going to want to come here for one reason or the other. I don’t think anything like this has really been put together in a really long time in Las Vegas. And for somebody like me, being part of it is really special.”
Flay’s part, Shark, represents several firsts for the man who has been a household name for the better part of the past two decades.
“It’s a brand new concept for me,” he explains. “It’s all fish with Latin flavors.”
The first part of that equation, he explains, was inspired by his proximity to the Palms’ year-round pool party.
The Latin style comes from his desire to expand on what his fans have come to expect.
“I’ve made my career on the back of chili peppers,” he says of his signature Southwestern style. “(Here) I’m going to be introducing a whole set of new chilies.”
This time, however, the chef’s jumping-off point for flavors isn’t the American Southwest or Mexico, but Peru’s melting pot of Latin American and Japanese cuisine. You can see both influences in dishes such as charred shishito peppers with peanut-mango dipping sauce, roasted yellowtail collar with tangerine vinegar sauce and tuna tartare with Peruvian chili sauce served over crispy rice. But few dishes exemplify this fusion better than Shark’s skewered tacos, where Flay combines Japanese robata with a Central and South American staple.
“We’re doing skewered meats and fish and vegetables, but we’re also going to be hand-making to order purple corn tortillas,” Flay explains. “So when you order a skewered piece of beef or a skewered piece of fish there are going to be garnishes, depending on which protein you order, and we’re gonna make these open-face purple corn tacos.”
Flay will also channel Japanese culture at his sushi bar, which is helmed by chef Kiyo Asano, a veteran of Nobu and BarMASA. It marks the first time Flay has ever brought in a chef/partner to oversee one of his menus.
“I’ll never forget, (Masaharu) Morimoto said to me, ‘It took me five years to learn how to cook rice.’ So when you think about that, it’s not something that you can have like a quick tutorial on, and then all of a sudden start making it at a world-class level. That’s why I have Kiyo.”
Between them, Flay says Shark will offer a bite for everyone.
“I’m gonna take care of my business. He’s gonna take care of his business. And we’re gonna meet somewhere in the middle and mesh them. If you come to Shark and you want to eat sushi and sashimi, you’re going to have world-class cuisine. I’m going to be cooking dishes from inside the kitchen and also inside this little area that we’re calling the lobster grill, pairing dishes and ingredients that work perfectly with this sort of Japanese and also Latin fusion. It all works really well together.”
Contact Al Mancini at amancini@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlManciniVegas on Twitter.
Naming the place
What's in a name?
"I really find it really difficult to name restaurants," Bobby Flay admits.
Nonetheless, he says it didn't take long for him to decide on a name for his first seafood restaurant.
"I usually use a moment of fate," he explains of his naming process. In this instance, that moment came when he heard about a work of art from the Fertitta family's legendary collection — "Unknown" by Damien Hirst — planned to hang over the hotel's center casino bar.
"I'm a big contemporary art fan. I don't know a ton about it but I really love it and I've been learning a lot more about it over the past few years. And when we were first talking to these guys about partnering up and doing this project, (Palms executive) Jon Gray said to me, 'Right here, when you walk into the hotel, in the lobby bar, there's going to be a big, giant Damien Hirst shark in formaldehyde.' And I said 'Thank you, you just named my restaurant.' "
Pepper power
Few chefs are as closely associated with chili peppers as Bobby Flay. The chef's claim to fame has long been his ability to summon more than just heat from his favorite ingredient.
"The fundamentals of my cooking are all about balance," the chef says of his signature style.
"It's all about big flavors," he continues, smacking his hands together for emphasis, "but having the flavors, like the chili peppers, used for accent not for injury. And how you're able to balance it is how we try to separate ourselves from the restaurant next door."
Heat is but one attribute of the noble chili.
"Chilis have so many personalities to them, depending on which ones they are. Some of them are fruity. Some of them are sweet. Some of them are earthy, smoky. Some of them are acidic. There are so many incredible characteristics to chili peppers. Heat is just the, you know, it's the default."
At Shark, the chef is enhancing his chili repertoire to incorporate some recent South American discoveries alongside old Southwestern and Mexican favorites such as chipotles, anchos, pasillos, serranos, jalapenos and poblanos, along with Italy's Calabrians. They include the panca, which Flay says "tastes like a spicy raisin," and the "much more searing" rocoto. His favorite new chili, however, is the aji Amarillo.
"It's my new chipotle," the chef says of the yellow pepper. "I'm falling in love with it in the biggest way. It has a really kind of fruity, but at the same time some earthy, flavor to it. And it has a middling heat."
"It's (about) pushing people's taste buds to the edge, so that they're like 'Wow, don't go over the edge yet, don't make me jump over!' "
