Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Columnist Muriel Stevens: Brewery-restaurant bash draws crowd and compliments

The opening of the second Gordon Biersch brewery restaurant in the Hughes Center at Paradise and Flamingo brought a record crowd to the trend-setting brews bash. The first Las Vegas Gordon Biersch opened recently in the Sunset Station.

It had taken a long time to get the project open, but the result is a smashing high tech design that is inviting and comfortable and a menu that's as pleasing as the decor.

How it began

Gordon Biesch co-owner Dan Gordon didn't set out to become a world class brewmaster. He was attending college in Germany as part of his junior year at UC-Berkekley when a chance discovery in a German university catalog set him on the path to his future career -- a career that would combine his appetite for the good life with his passion for the beers of Germany.

Gordon was taken with the German approach to brewing. Unlike the more standardized American breweries, Germany's more than 1,000 breweries produced beers for different seasons, different foods, even for different times of the day. Gordon, "a beer guy," appreciated the difference.

Leafing through the catalog, he came across the Brauerei Wissenschaft and Getrane (Brewing Science and Beverage Technology), a premium school for studying the making of premium beers. The education he received at the Technical University in Munich was the catalyst for the chain of Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurants that would evolve after meeting Dean Biersch in 1986.

The partnership

Biersch, a fellow Californian, had grown up in the restaurant business and he was intrigued by the brewpub movement that was just beginning. He had put together a plan for his own brewpub, but needed a master brewer. Dan Gordon was just finishing his schooling in Germany -- he was the first American to graduate in 30 years. The two met through business friends, felt an instant kinship, and founded the company in 1987. They opened their first Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant later the same year.

There are now seven Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurants -- the original in Palo Alto, San Jose, Hills Brothers Plaza in San Francisco, Pasadena, Hawaii and the two in Las Vegas at Sunset Station and the Hughes Center. At 14,000 squre-feet, the Hughes Center property is one of the largest in the company, and it is the first free-standing brewery restaurant Gordon Biersch has ever built.

More than an upscale restaurant separates Gordon Biersch from the average brewpub. There's an involvement with their patrons that is genuine as well as being good business.

The staff

Gordon considers "the big, bold personalities of the brewing staff" to be a major factor in producing the best beers. The handcrafted lagers they produce at the Hughes Center location are made by Michael Ferguson, who began his brewing career at the Palo Alto location. Like Dan Gordon and many other GB expert brewers, Ferguson began his career as an engineer. He is considered to be "one of the best brewers in the region," said Gordon.

The restaurant staff reflects the owners' philosophy to offer food that is every bit as good as the lagers. Chef Patrick Beck is a graduate of the Culinary Institute in Talance, France and has been the executive chef for Bon Appetit Management at the University of the Redlands in California.

Corporate Pastry Chef Karen Schooley, originally from Hawaii, oversees the bakeries in all the restaurants. She will remain in Las Vegas until she trains a pastry chef for the Hughes Center location. The display and desserts she created for the VIP party were gorgeous and delectable.

General Manager Mark LaVoie has worked at three of the Gordon Biersch breweries and is, said Dean Biersch "one of our most seasoned managers."

Both Las Vegas locations feature a menu of upscale American dishes with Pacific Rim influences that are designed to complement the authentic German-style lager beers. The Hughes location features a number of Angus beef selections.

Restaurant hours at the Hughes Center are: 11 a.m-2 a.m. The full menu is available weekdays until midnight; the satay bar and pizzas are offered until closing. One recent closing time guests were having such a good time they started to sing, "we won't go." Of course, they did go, albeit reluctantly, but the success of the brewery may indicate the need for additional hours on weekends.

The guests

Among the many guests enjoying the preview party were: Teresa and Lorenzo Fertitta, Vicky and Frank Fertitta, Jr.; Jill and Frank Fertitta III, Bonnie and Sen. Richard Bryan, Judy and John Goolsby, Debbie and Terri Lanni, Mary Kincaid, Sandy and Roger Peltyn, Mitch Chait, Bonnie and Frank Schreck, Rene and John O'Reilly, Phil Peckman, Denise and Dan Reichartz, Dee and Don Snyder, Sandy and Tito Tiberti, Dana and Terry Wright, Virginia and Bill Yeager, Susan Fine and Charles Lipschutz, Paul Carelli, Michelle Betancourt, Michael Frey, Gary Frey, Larry Spitler, Rene and Leo Diamond, Nicky Blair, the Umberto Binettis, Chantal and Steve Cloobeck, Kathleen Delaney, Todd Margolius and many more.

Along with the restaurant and bar areas, there are two private dining rooms that are used for special parties and restaurant overflow.

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