24 Hours in the Food Life of the Bellagio, Las Vegas

Behind the scenes at the Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas, where food service is a 24-hours-a-day operation involving 950 employees

Photographer Danielle DeBruno

September 4, 2013

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Feeding the guests at a major Las Vegas hotel-casino-resort is not a simple task. You can't just put a couple of celebrity chefs on retainer and call it a day. You have to coordinate a small town's worth of staffers—from sommeliers down to dishwashers—working in fine-dining restaurants, casual eateries, bars (and pool bars), room service, buffets, and the employee cafeteria. You'll offer tailored cooking classes and wine tastings (allowing guests to interact directly with the property’s executive chef and wine director), even if they'll serve only a fraction of the resort’s guests. You'll have seasonal menus—even for room service—and deluxe guides in the hotel rooms so guests don't get overwhelmed. Backing all this up will require an in-house butcher, massive wine storage, and a warehouse system that would be the envy of some small governments. And you'll have to keep virtually all of this going round the clock, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Yet this is what goes on inside resorts like the Bellagio Las Vegas, which is now nearing its 15th anniversary and remains not only a top Vegas resort but a serious destination dining excursion, with five awarded destination restaurants (including Michael Mina and Le Cirque), another six respected and popular venues, as well as a daunting buffet that could feed an army, and another seven or so casual outlets.

Intrigued by how the 950 F&B employees manage to pull this off every day, I recently decided (translation: was ordered by my editor) to spend 24 hours following the staff around, witnessing everything from the behind-the-scenes intake of raw produce and meat to the cataloguing and inspection of wine bottles to the delicate high tea service to the after-work, industry-only partying. On a random day, I checked in to the hotel (rooms smartly updated last year, by the way), woke up at 3 a.m., and (with the cooperation of the Bellagio team) started poking around…

1/21
3:22 AM
The smell of Lemon Pledge permeates the casino, where there are almost more dealers than guests at this hour. The guys with the land zambonis are polishing the lobby marble as actor Matthew Perry wanders by with his three-deep “Hangover” entourage (no, I’m not kidding). Downstairs in the danish production room, baker Rick Fredericksen uses a compressor gun to spray egg wash over a catering cart full of croissants ready for the oven, while Michael Lane grates lemon zest over a tray of cake donuts. This satellite operation (separate from the pastry shop) produces an average of 5,000 pieces a day for 12 outlets on property, including biscuits, cookies, muffins, cinnamon buns, sticky buns—over three dozen different items weekly—using a computerized production line. “We’re one of the few places on the Strip still making dough from scratch,” assistant pastry chef Bobby Sohms reports, while plying me with a hefty, butter-rich ham-and-cheese croissant and my first coffee of the day, big and black.
2/21
5:29 AM
On the Receiving Dock, Larry Vigil—the aptly named chef in charge of quality control—checks a produce order and decides to reject a pallet of baby green beans, some of which are oxidized despite a good sell-by date. Vigil shows me some of the Receiving Warehouse’s systems, including dating every case that comes in, verifying that all berries arrive within three days of their pick dates (the property consumes 60 cases of raspberries daily and 12,000 cases of strawberries a month, so nothing is idle long). Eggs have a similar rule. His amiable boss, warehouse manager Will Parks, throws even more big numbers at me as he shows me around an operation that, if it could, might giggle at being compared to a cute lil’ Costco. First there’s the 4,276-square-foot freezer, kept at a constant –10 degrees F, then the 1,631-square-foot beer cooler, and the 1,202 square-foot Dairy Cooler (with four different kinds of unsalted butter and everything from mascarpone to quail eggs), and the… You get the idea.

3/21
6:06 AM
Warehouse attendant Jeff Bruce pulls the day’s requisition order for FIX restaurant, including a case of fresh eggs, milk, chicken back bones (for stock), crème fraîche, Plugra butter, whipping cream, black peppercorns, canned truffles, Newport bone-in rib eyes and Kansas City steaks, crab meat, and 10 flapping lobsters from the tanks (currently holding about 500 total). Bruce once calculated with a pedometer that he walked 5–6 miles on an average day picking orders.
4/21
7:21 AM
Assistant head butcher Joaquin Serrano checks the slabs of rib eye, tenderloin, and porterhouse cuts in the dry-aging locker; typically the meat is held here for 28 days, but it can vary by a few days depending on Serrano’s inspection. His shop, with four butchers working at any time, cuts meats for most of the property, though Prime steakhouse handily dominates for meat (some days, Prime’s order alone will take six hours to fill). The Buffet, perhaps surprisingly, sells the most fish in Bellagio.

5/21
7:32 AM
Butcher Alex Menez loads meat into the 500-pound-capacity grinder, then paddles the output into collagen casing, starting on the day’s typical order of 2,500 pork breakfast sausage links.
6/21
7:50 AM
Olympia Del Rio is working on her daily order of 1,000 chocolate-covered strawberries in the pastry kitchen, while her fellow cooks Bryce, Nector, Jacqueline, and Kathy put finishing touches on the almost unbelievable quantity of desserts they produce for the property (7,000 just for the Buffet). Their boss, assistant pastry chef Simon Bregardis, shows off the chocolate production line (they make an impressive array of truffles and pralinee, just for VIP amenities) and chocolate displays.

7/21
8:37 AM
Back in the danish production room, second shifter Juan Castaneda portions out 400 pounds of brioche dough for pastries while Jason Tuala wraps the ham-and-cheese croissants. Meanwhile, off the casino floor, quick-service outlets Palio and Café Gelato, across the hall from one another, have competing lines for coffee, each at least 15 deep.
8/21
9:52 AM
The Buffet cook Eligio Ortiz juggles five omelet pans like a master, including one with jalapeño and cheddar, another with mushrooms, peppers, and spinach, one Denver style, an egg white with spinach and tomato, and a single egg sunny-side up. Meanwhile, in back, Maria Cabrera is working her way through her daily task of 300 veggie, shrimp, and tuna sushi rolls.

9/21
10:33 AM
Helper Valerie Beck checks temperatures on the Bellagio’s semi-famous chicken soup in a huge holding bath in the resort’s main kitchen, while her boss, executive chef Greg Deflorio peeks at Peking ducks in the smoker. While the main kitchen generally supplies the Buffet, quick service outlets, and Mangia, the Employee Dining Room, they also do a few special orders, such as the ducks for Noodles café. But soups are perhaps the most important part of the job here, produced in computer-controlled 200-gallon vats, broken down to 2-gallon transport bags, which are then put into a Dr. Evil-like quick-chill machine for safe handling. Bellagio executive chef Edmund Wong, who not only oversees all 950 F&B staffers in the resort but is also teaching cooking classes for guests, choses perhaps this most industrialized part of the operation to emphasize the human factor. “We’re cooks at heart,” he tells me, taking strides to not let any aspect fall victim to efficiency. “The burger patty is a special blend, and it’s hand formed for a reason.” It’s also the same burger everywhere, whether a guest orders it via room service or an employee gets it at Mangia.
10/21
11:42 AM
Wine-warehouse attendant Marcos Chavarría checks over the wine order for Prime Steakhouse, the resort’s single biggest wine seller, while director of wine Jason Smith, MS, informally inspects inventory in advance of his next (the 90,000 bottles are checked more carefully once a week). Smith oversees a master list of 1,200 labels available to all the resort’s restaurants, but with an uncommon level of talent working for him (two more Masters), he encourages each restaurant to forge an identity. “Individuality is key,” Smith tells me. “It wouldn’t make sense for Sensi to have the same selection of wines as Picasso.”

11/21
12:01 PM
Brad Skougard, executive chef at Todd English’s Olives, steadies himself at his expediting station, at the ready for what should be a typical 300-cover lunch. At the wood-burning oven, cook Azad Hannah makes the first of what will probably be 200–250 flatbreads that afternoon, while in the rear prep kitchen Jose Granada assembles ricotta ravioli from scratch. His daily order averages 100 pounds. Olives, one of the oldest restaurants in the resort, continues to be one of the most popular. I have no complaints about the lunch I enjoyed: paper-thin carpaccio, some silky seared tuna, and about five iced teas.
12/21
2:46 PM
Server Robert Matthews assembles his order for an amenity to be delivered to a suite on the 30th floor. Matthews is part of a sizable Amenities team sharing facilities with, but entirely separate from, In Room Dining. They offer a wide menu of niceties for favored guests (anyone from high-volume gamers to regulars celebrating special occasions) . Moments later, server Mindy Guo, on the IRD team, picks up her order for the 22nd floor. The In Room Dining kitchen—with its own call center and dispatch officer—averages 700–2,000 covers daily, representing up to 10 percent of occupancy. Mornings are heaviest, no surprise, although check-in time on Fridays is also very busy. The kitchen bartender takes a moment away from his typical Piña Colada orders to pull a doppio for me.

13/21
3:41 PM
In another underground prep kitchen far removed, Benjamin Jenkins, executive chef of Michael Mina Bellagio, the resort's signature dining experience, is portioning Hudson Valley foie gras for the evening’s meal service as other cooks on his staff prepare squid-ink risotto, blini for caviar, soup stock, and tuna tartare. How much he sells each night can vary greatly, but the restaurant's overall popularity never wanes. Jenkins’ mind is on the next week’s fall menu switch, in which at least 80 percent of the dishes will be changed.
14/21
4:00 PM
Hotel guest Rocksan Clark enjoys English Tea service—watercress, salmon, and chickpea finger sandwiches, Devonshire cream, scones of every description, and petits fours—in the Petrossian bar while pianist Whitney Phoenix tickles the ivories. “It’s really remarkable how they can create such a sedate and sophisticated experience so close to the buzz of the casino floor,” says Clark, taking a business meeting. “And the fact that they offer this elegant tea for only a few tables a day.” Clearly feeling a caffeinated euphoria after 13 hours on my feet, I eschew the nine tea options for a glass of champagne.

15/21
5:06 PM
Across the casino floor, general manager Ivo Angelov convenes the “pre-shift” meeting of his front-of-house staff at Le Cirque. While most of the restaurants here do triple-digit numbers regularly, even fine-dining sister venue Picasso, for the jewel box that is Le Cirque, it’s a big night for them with 70 covers on the books (the MAGIC fashion convention is in town). Ivo encourages everyone to tell diners, “It’s the best experience for our guests to try the tasting menu.” Sommelier Frederic Montandon offers everyone small pours of a second-growth Bordeaux he wants to push: “The perfect balance of fruit and earth—when you take a good vintage from a great chateau, this is what you get." Morels are now out of season, so the ravioli on the menu will come with a soft poached egg and osetra. The chicken fricassee is finished with porcini. Some new handblown rocks glasses will be appearing in the next day, when they are also closed for a private event. “Make a connection, make the guest feel special,” Ivo reminds everyone. “Verbiage is very important in fine dining, from the moment they walk in the door to when they leave, everything has to be perfect.” He also asks everyone to always use trays when serving.
16/21
7:40 PM
As I enter the ethereal dining room of Jasmine, Bellagio’s refined Cantonese restaurant, I pass a server presenting a smoked Peking duck to a private party of 12 at a round table, who will hopefully sense the certain "umami" that comes with nine-story-high water jets dancing to “Luck Be a Lady” just outside the restaurant’s floor-to-ceiling windows. My own tasting, arranged with executive chef Hiew Gun Khong, is highlighted by a version of Chicken Szechuan offering earthy sweet meat under paper-crisp skin and a five-spice finish, with slightly rubbery thin mushrooms and micro cilantro on a bed of crispy onions (paired with a complex creamy-orchard fruit Marc Bredif Vouvray). “The fungus is called wood ear,” assistant general manager Connie Shin informs me. “It actually cleanses your blood.” It’s like she knows I’ve been up for 15 hours already, which reminds me: Might the dessert of mango three ways, presented over misty dry ice, be accompanied by another doppio?

17/21
9:14 PM
The set-decorated dining room of Prime Steakhouse is humming, but when I duck my head back into the kitchen, the hum becomes a roar. With MAGIC in town, Prime is set to do a healthy 400 covers and executive chef Sean Griffin is shouting orders to his 13 line cooks like a battalion commander under fire. Still it’s broiler man Harold Tillman who is the heart and soul of the operation, finishing what he guesses is his 300th piece of meat for the night, so far, without blinking.
18/21
9:58 PM
Silena Kabir, server at Hyde, offers my patio table last call on fruity cocktails like cucumber watermelon mojitos and strawberry shandies.

19/21
10:30 PM
The lounge flips into bottles-and-beats mode, and the Eyes Wide Shut-inspired dancers dominate the room. It’s “Industry night” at the relatively intimate (by Vegas standards) club, which means payback time: servers and staffers from other nightclubs come to party on their nights off.
20/21
11:37 PM
Back at Petrossian, bartender Eron Smith is showing off a little, at my encouragement. He offers a version of a cocktail that won him a local Bacardi Fusion contest, combining the pineapple-flavored rum with Cherry Heering and Amaro Montenegro. “I wanted to do something not too pretentious, but represented what we do here at Petrossian," he says. Although it’s unheralded in the hotel, Petrossian is basically ground zero for mixology in Las Vegas, the signature hotel bar where Tony Abou-Ganim created the resort’s made-to-order cocktail program when it opened in 1998. The bar still serves Abou-Ganim’s pineapple-blueberry-strawberry vodka infusion, sporting an ample tank of it alongside a small aging barrel containing Negroni cocktails.

21/21
3:14 AM
The Bellagio café continues churning out orders for insomniacs (they’ll do 2,500 covers in an average 24-hour cycle), whether it be a bottle of Veuve for the lonely-looking guy two tables away or nachos for the two ladies in LBDs near the entrance (probably coming from Hyde or Lily Bar). I opt for the standby club sammy, but I’m not sure at this point if I can remember how to get it in my face. Stick a fork in me, I’m done.