Cronut creator setting up shop on Strip
When he opens his bakery at Caesars Palace next year, Dominique Ansel hopes to create a treat that will be representative of Las Vegas — a pretty exciting statement coming from the guy who created the Cronut, which has been copied all over the world but never quite duplicated.
Dominique Ansel Las Vegas, which is scheduled to open next summer, will be right off the Forum Casino across from the Colosseum and next to Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill. It’ll be his fourth bakery, after two in New York and one in Hong Kong.
“I feel humble, and I feel very special that they’re using that space for us,” he said. “It’s a great location, I’ve been told by many people. I’m pretty excited. Coming out of COVID, and with all the things we went through this year, it’s refreshing to see there’s still life, and a great place for me to come to the West Coast.”
Ansel, who had been executive pastry chef at Daniel Boulud’s Manhattan restaurant Daniel, opened Dominique Ansel Bakery in Soho in 2011. He rocked the pastry world in May 2013 when he introduced the Cronut, which has been described as a croissant-doughnut hybrid but actually is made with a more involved method that took two months to develop. After each pastry is created in a three-day process, it’s rolled in sugar, filled with cream and topped with glaze.
He concedes he didn’t anticipate how well the Cronut would be received, with fans initially lining up for hours to sample the goods.
“I don’t think anyone can plan for something like that,” Ansel said in a phone interview on Tuesday. “If you gave me all the money in the world, I don’t think I’d be able to create something like the Cronut. It’s a true story, a unique creation, something that people could taste without even tasting it, just thinking of it. There are hundreds of things that make it so special. I don’t think you can ever replicate something like this.”
Not that he’s throwing in the kitchen towel.
“I try every day,” he said, “to make something fun, to make something good for our guests.”
Ansel, a native of France, said a number of his creations have been inspired by the American culture and what he didn’t know about it.
“For me, the most important thing about creating is emotional connections,” he said. “The story is very important for me. That’s how I created frozen s’mores. I had never had a s’more before coming to America, and learned about what it meant to every American kid. I wanted to create something for people who grew up here, so it’s an ice cream version of the s’more.” The center of Madagascan vanilla bean ice cream is covered with crisp chocolate feuilletine, wrapped in honey marshmallow, torched to order and served on a smoked willow branch.
His creation of the cookie shot was even more serendipitous.
“I went downstairs and the team was drinking milk and eating cookies, dunking the cookies in the milk,” he said. “It was a new one for me. I wanted to serve the cold milk inside the warm cookie.”
Ansel said he’s been talking to Caesars representatives for some time.
“I love the people there,” he said. “It’s a food scene that’s very unique in Las Vegas, that people don’t always think about when they think about Las Vegas. I’m excited to be a part of it soon, and to discover it myself.
“It’s very important for me to have some unique creations, some menu items that will be created just for Las Vegas.”
Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Follow @HKRinella on Twitter.