Famed Strip restaurant celebrating 25 years of French food, people-watching

Mon Ami Gabi, the French bistro at Paris, will celebrate its 25th anniversary Monday, along with the rest of the property.

Mon Ami Gabi partakes of the Parisian conceit while also standing apart from it.

Yes, the bistro, at about 500 seats, is larger than any French counterpart. Yes, it serves about a million customers annually, a number no bistro (or any French restaurant, for that matter) would do, or want to do. And yes, its 30-foot ceilings are higher, and its Strip-side terrace and pavilion much larger, than what you’d find back in France.

But in the most important ways, Gabi remains essentially French, with a celebrated French chef, Vincent Pouessel, leading the kitchen with a menu grounded in bistro classics that French people, in the desert 5,400 miles from Paris, would call their own.

“You definitely think you’re in a bistro in Paris. Not only do we want to run a successful restaurant, but we want to remain as true and as honest as possible to delivering a French dining experience. That’s the pledge we put in every one of the dishes,” Pouessel said.

“I feel like I’m the humble guardian of this French temple. We’re here to continue to serves guests the way we started 25 years ago.”

Who is Gabi?

Mon Ami Gabi (“My Friend Gabi”) is named for Gabino Sotelino, a chef-managing partner in Lettuce Entertain You, the hospitality group that owns the restaurant. Besides Vegas, there are locations in Chicago (the original) and the Washington, D.C., area, but the Strip Gabi is easily the most famous, and some diners are surprised to learn it has siblings.

Since opening, the restaurant has been known for its Strip terrace that affords some of the best people-watching in the city. Today, the vintage green lampposts and red umbrellas sheltering diners are iconic, but 25 years ago, terrace dining right on the boulevard was largely unknown.

In fact, the Gabi terrace, so central to the restaurant’s identity today, almost wasn’t a terrace at all.

“The patio was budgeted to be the Seine River,” said Perry Fuselier, a Lettuce managing partner. “It was supposed to be the Seine River and flow into the hotel.”

But what the property lost in a water feature, it gained in a wait list for a terrace where everyone wants to dine.

The food of home

Pouessel has been executive chef of Mon Ami Gabi for eight years; he’s also a Lettuce partner. He arrived in Vegas almost 25 years ago after stints in Paris at the legendary Le Jules Verne, on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower, and early on at Chez Nenesse, a longtime neighborhood bistro in the Marais with only him and the owner in the kitchen, Pouessel said.

When the chef first came to Vegas, he missed French cooking.

“I asked people, ‘Where could I find French food, closer to something I would find back home?’ ” They recommended Mon Ami Gabi, which was new. The restaurant transported Pouessel. “A beautiful sunny afternoon in Paris sitting on a terrace somewhere having steak frites. This was the same vibe.”

Anniversary prix fixe

To celebrate 25 years, Pouessel is offering a four-course prix fixe anniversary menu during September.

To lead off, a thick slab of truffled brie, baked and oozy, awaits swiping across a chunk of crusty baguette. Loup de mer, or Mediterranean sea bass, lounges seasonally atop lentils, crisp pork belly and tart-sweet zings of pomegranate.

A duo of beef, richly sauced, features tenderloin and flat iron steak. Cherries jubilee with fat fruit from Hood River, Oregon, source of some of America’s finest cherries, rounds out the prix fixe menu.

Family fare

But marking the anniversary (and the restaurant’s contributions to Vegas culinary culture) is also about showcasing some of the dishes that have sustained Mon Ami Gabi year in and year out, across a quarter-century.

“We started this restaurant with the steak frites — it’s basically the cornerstone of every bistro in Paris,” Pouessel said. “In the life of French families and households, steak frites is on the menu once a week.”

At Gabi, the steak (entrecôte, or ribeye) is marinated in thyme, garlic, salt and cracked black pepper, then it hits the grill quickly on both sides. A tangle of frites crowns the steak.

“The French fries in this restaurant are a big, big deal,” Pouessel said. “They are handmade and cooked to order. It’s something we take so much pride in doing. It’s an all-day project: people cutting and blanching and throwing in hot fryers.”

Poulet a la grand-mère — grandmother-style roast chicken — is another dish that anchors the menu at Mon Ami Gabi. Pouessel brines the chicken, roasts it whole, then plates a half-chicken portion with cipollini onions and locally raised hydroponic mushrooms.

“Poulet grand-mère is a staple of the French household,” the chef said. “If I’m in a mood, it makes me instantly happy.”

Doing things the right way

French onion soup offers another exemplar. More than a hundred people a day order it, Pouessel said, even when Vegas broils. The stock is made from scratch. The soup is never stored overnight. What’s made that day is served that day. The soup is tasted continually, as is the rest of the menu, from humble to haute.

“You stuff the chicken with herbs. You make sure your green peppercorn sauce is on point,” the chef said. “Does it need a little bit more butter, a bit more cream, for the potatoes? You make choux three times a day for profiteroles.

“It’s taking the time to do things the way they need to be done, so the guest feels the difference,” Pouessel said. “That’s what makes Mon Ami Gabi what it is.”

Doing things the way they need to be done also provides ongoing instruction, Pouessel continued.

“It’s up to me that I train and I model the next cooks I want to have as a chef. It’s like the Tour de France — you’re only as good as the last cycle across the line. I’m only as good as my least experienced cook.”

Staff longevity

It’s not just the menu and its consistent execution that have made Mon Ami Gabi a Vegas mainstay.

There is the classic bistro look and feel: dark woods, brass accents, No. 14 bistro chairs, menu items written on mirrors, clusters of wine bottles. There has been the owner, Lettuce Entertain You, which understood from the beginning to leave well enough alone.

“We knew we had a hit on our hands,” said Ryan Richardson, a Lettuce managing partner. “We’ve seen the landscape change, obviously. There is a lot more competition and a lot more guests, but we have stayed relevant.”

And there is the longevity of the staff — many have worked at the restaurant 10 years, 15 years, 20 years or since day one. Mandy Lahlou, senior sales and special events manager, has been at Gabi since the first steak frites came off the line. She started as a server when she was still at UNLV. She met her husband at the restaurant. Eight years ago, she moved into management.

“It can be as casual or as fancy as you want it to be. There is something for everyone,” she said, explaining the restaurant’s enduring appeal. Lahlou said she has seen people, locals and visitors, who first came to Mon Ami Gabi as children becoming regulars themselves. “It’s now a staple in a younger generation’s life.”

Steak frites forever.

Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram.