Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/577402
fsh. We want to bring out the favor of the main ingredient. People right now are getting used to it, and I'm hoping to teach them. Krohmer: I think we're blessed here. Unlike Salt Lake City or some other midsize city, we can totally piggyback on the stuff that's coming in to the Strip. All the great lobsters and oysters and caviar that are brought in by these quality boutique companies that are on their way to the Strip—I can call them and say, "Hey, on your way there, can I get 10 pounds of your mat- sutake mushroom?" People still look at my [oyster] bar and say, "Oysters in the desert? That just sounds weird," and I say to them, "It's 2015—this stuff isn't coming here by horse and carriage." Ontiveros: It was nerve-racking to leave the Strip and come downtown. When we looked there, we saw lots of pizza and burgers, and the fact that we've added things like steak tartare, pig ears, and braised oxtail to the menu shows we're trying to educate diners. I just had a group of girls come in and try the pig ears, and now they come back to the restaurant every week just for the pig ears, something they never thought they'd love. Clawson: A lot of my customers are professionals on the Strip—hotel executives and people associated with the hospitality industry. From salt to pepper to soda, I try to bring the top-of-the-line products to my customers to impress them, and in a lot of cases they haven't had them before, so their expectations have been exceeded—from their usual Diet Pepsi, or better sea salt than they're used to. What stops Vegas from having more chef-driven restaurants like yours? Choi: I've been here 13 years, and the sad fact is many people in Vegas are still looking for a lot of food for a very little amount of money. The other side of that is that people think that if your ingredients are off the Strip, they must be cheap or not any good. It's up to us to show the customers that the food can be just as good and the experience of eating in a chef-owned restaurant even better. Krohmer: Right now I have slices on my hands, I'm starting to get arthritis, I have back pains, I have all kinds of issues at 35 years old, but I know I have an expiration date. I'm not trying to get rich from this restaurant. I want to make a salary hopefully comparable to what I might be making with a Strip job. I want to provide jobs for my friends. I want to listen to the music I want to listen to when I work. I want to close if it's my girlfriend's birthday, and if my mom's in town, I want to be able to leave early. What needs to happen for Vegas to continue to evolve as a food town? Ontiveros: In many ways, it's already happening. We're coming together as a community of chefs, supporting each other and making Las Vegas a much better place to go out to eat. Clawson: Now people can go to a smaller restaurant where they can look and see the chef standing there at the stove and giving that personal touch to the plates… and really experience a chef-driven restaurant. Choi: I just want to show my food to the people and see how they enjoy my food. When I see them fnish their plates, then I see that they're happy and I am happy. V Daniel Krohmer Chef-owner, Other Mama (3655 S. Durango Dr., 702-463- 8382; othermamalv.com) Former gig: Spent fve years as sous/sushi chef at Morimoto in Philadelphia Specialty: Raw seafood, incredible cocktails Fun fact: Trained in sushi and kaiseki in Japan 96 vegasmagazine.com