April 7, 2006
Charlie's Place

Celebrity chef Charlie Palmer plans to open a $400-million hotel-condo complex in Las Vegas--without a casino.
Just what makes him think he can succeed?

[hear this interview in its entirety here]

By Steve Friess
NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE

Does Las Vegas need another hotel? Especially one without a casino? Celebrity chef Charlie Palmer thinks so. He tells NEWSWEEK he will build a $400 million, 33-floor, 400-unit hotel-condo by 2008 on the site of a rundown six-story casino called the Golden Palm that still boasts $3.99 breakfasts all day.

Palmer's place will offer no such deals; there'll be three signature restaurants including a sushi bar suspended over the lobby. The announcement comes, however, amid a cooling in the recently frenzied condo market in Vegas, where projects by Ivana Trump and the Hard Rock were canceled and one involving George Clooney reportedly has been scaled back. Palmer explains why he thinks his enterprise will succeed, in a conversation with Steve Friess. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: First of all, with all of these condos being canceled in Vegas lately, why would this work?

Charlie Palmer: Well, we're doing a hotel-condo, which is something there's very little of in Las Vegas right now to sell. The buyers can put their unit in a pool for rental. As a hotel guest, you won't know the difference between this and a totally transient hotel like the Four Seasons or whatever. So they're getting a real, five-star operating experience and a small, boutique hotel concentrated on high-end personal service you can't get at those huge resorts on the Strip. And where the other projects got into trouble was pricing units that could never be built for what they're sold for. Our estimates are more accurate.

There is a list of very prominent high-end boutique hotels coming to Las Vegas, including a W and a Mandarin Oriental. Is this market going to be glutted?

People will always say that, but they've been saying that for 10 years. Las Vegas will continue to grow, there will be more and more emphasis on the higher end. But they won't be like what we're going to do because those small boutique hotels [will still have casinos in them].

But isn't that what people come to Vegas for? The gambling, the Strip?

Yes, but I can't tell you how many people who love all of those things have said to me at the end of the day they want to go back to a safe haven, a place that could be in Scottsdale, Ariz., or London.

You have a number of restaurants with your name on them. Now your name will be in big bold letters across the top of this building. Is that exciting for you?

I'm not the kind of guy who has a big ego about this kind of stuff. We could've called the hotel something else. But that name stands for high-end hospitality. The easier it is for people understand the brand, the better. I guess I'm a brand at this point. Why shouldn't I use the name?

I don't suppose you actually do much cooking anymore in your restaurants.

Absolutely I do. I'm going into the kitchen right now. I'll work on new menu items, redefine what we're doing food-wise. Tonight, for instance, I'll plate food, stir pots.

Wow. Isn't that a little like Martha Stewart hopping behind a sewing machine at the factory? Is it awkward?

My chefs call it Charlie inflecting his ideas on us. But they don't really mind it. I get to collaborate with all these terrific chefs and I mentor some of the younger chefs.

You're known for what you call Progressive American cuisine, but I can't find a definition for it.

Well, it's not a cuisine, it's cooking. I firmly believe that one day, what we do in this country can constitute a cuisine. But not yet. Like everything else in this country, it comes from somewhere else. Is there American music? Is there American art?

Of course there is. Georgia O'Keefe was an American artist. Andy Warhol was an American artist.

Where'd their influence come from?

Oh, I'm sure all over the place.

Exactly like a chef. I'm an American chef because I'm cooking in this country, I'm cooking with American ingredients. But all my influences come from somewhere else. I guess Progressive American cooking is cooking with the best things we have in this country and constantly making them better.

You were one of the earliest celebrity chefs. Now there are so many. What's that done to the American culinary culture?

Anything that makes people more conscious of what they eat and drink is good. It makes our job more exciting, that people understand the difference between really good food and mediocre food. People used to think that Americans were stupid about food and wine. They might've been right 20 years ago.

What's the greasiest, most unhealthy food that you love?

I wouldn't call it greasy, but when we're in New York, I'll have this urge to have fried egg, bacon and cheese on a roll. A New York diner staple.

Would you buy a hotdog from a street vendor? Carolina Herrera told me once she would.

No. I'm not a hotdog guy. I've been to hotdog processing plants. That's all I'll say.

Charlie Palmer, Charlie Trotter. How confusing.

(Laughs.) People always approach me and say, 'I love your restaurant in Chicago.' I'll say, 'I'm glad you love it, but it's not mine.' Charlie and I have toyed with doing a restaurant together just to satisfy everyone.

What do you eat at home?

Once a week, I try to do a big family dinner, the six of us plus a cousin or a couple of neighbors. Last night, we had a roast pork loin with a chipotle glaze with roasted parsnip, and then we did mashed potatoes with chives, peas and carrots. Reed, my 8-year-old, cut the carrots. He announced that. My 12-year-old made chocolate-chip cookies for dessert.

Would you ever get a burger at McDonald's?

No. I haven't been in a McDonald's in probably 25 years. But there is this one fast-food restaurant my kids like, In-N-Out burger.

That's not really fast food. They make everything to order.

That's about as fast as we get.

To hear Steve Friess' full interview with Charlie Palmer, go to www.thestrippodcast.com.

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