As one Andre’s restaurant departs, expect two more
It appears Andre Rochat is returning to his roots.
Joe Marsco, managing partner of Rochat’s operation, said the group will open a restaurant in the southwestern valley by the end of the year, and they’re also planning a project downtown.
“We’re certainly looking at opportunities to enter into the area now that there’s a lot of culinary redevelopment downtown,” Marsco said. “We’re in the midst of finalizing a project that’s about a year away.”
When Andre’s French Restaurant opened downtown in 1980, it quickly acquired a mover/shaker/celebrity clientele, making Rochat Las Vegas’ first homegrown celebrity chef. Andre’s at the Monte Carlo followed in 1997 and Alize at the Palms in 2001. The original Andre’s closed on New Year’s Eve 2008/2009, “before everything started happening downtown,” Marsco said. It’ll be followed by the Monte Carlo Andre’s restaurant when it shuts its doors Wednesday. Rochat, who’s been guest-cheffing in Alaska, will be there.
Neither of the new locations will be a fine-dining restaurant, Marsco said — no surprise, considering the recent decrease in fine dining in Las Vegas — with the southwestern one a bistro-style spot, the downtown one a quick-serve cafe.
Don’t miss the chippy, chap: Gordon Ramsay will open his fourth Las Vegas restaurant Friday at The Linq. Gordon Ramsay Fish &Chips has been described as a grab-and-go fish-and-chips spot, but it’ll also have 40 seats. And, like Ramsay’s other local restaurants (Gordon Ramsay Steak at Paris Las Vegas, Gordon Ramsay Pub &Grill at Caesars Palace and Gordon Ramsay BurGR at The Linq) the decor will evoke all things English, right down to the newspaper wallpaper that’s a throwback to fish-and-chips tradition.
The Cornish Pasty Co., which had announced late last year that it would move from the Commercial Center to the Arts District by this spring, will at last make the move to 10 E. Charleston Blvd., with an expected late-October opening. The restaurant is known for both traditional (steak, potatoes, onion and rutabaga), updated (chicken tikka masala) and vegetarian (balsamic portobello) pies, and the new spot will have a larger bar, sure to draw in the First Friday crowds.
Turmeric Flavors of India, from the owners of Curry Leaf and Saffron, is expected to open this week on East Fremont Street downtown.
Sightings: Actor Jared Padalecki of “Supernatural” (and soon the “Gilmore Girls” reunion) at Beer Park at Paris Las Vegas. Carlos Santana at Vintner Grill. Rock band Young the Giant at Beauty &Essex at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
Have an item for Kitchen Confidante? Email hrinella@reviewjournal.com.
