Columnist Muriel Stevens: Community college student chefs strut their tasty stuff

Friday, March 12, 1999 | 10:45 a.m.

There's good news for diners seeking well-prepared meals at modest prices.

Those award-winning Community College of Southern Nevada student chefs are once again showing their skills at a luncheon and dinner series that started this week.

Lunch is served Mondays and Thursdays through April 19; dinners are offered Tuesdays and Wednesdays through April 22. There will be no service from March 29 to April 1.

Mondays are devoted to the Aromatic lunch series and Thursdays to the International Cuisine lunch series. Both present three daily specials, elegant soups or salads, dessert and beverage for $5.95. Service is from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.

The Spice Up Your Life With Aromatics dinners are served on Tuesdays, 6-7:30 p.m. Each of the dinners includes three courses and a glass of wine for $8.95. Reservations are suggested.

Wednesdays are devoted to the Classic French Cuisine series -- five-course dinners that include three glasses of wine. The price is $25. Reservations are required for this series. Seating starts promptly at 6 p.m.

The first dinner on Wednesday included herbed goat cheese en croute with a baby lettuce salad, carrot and parsnip soup, tangerine sorbet, a grilled veal chop with a morel mushroom sauce, asparagus bundles, beets and Yukon gold potatoes, and for dessert -- a chocolate torte with raspberry sauce and Chantilly cream.

Menus for the upcoming dinners are equally appealing.

All lunches and dinners take place in the comfort of Russell's Restaurant at CCSN's Cheyenne Campus.

For reservations or additional information, call Terri Jones at 651-4407.

I've attended many of these dinners in the past and have always enjoyed them. The service and the cooking are much more than one would expect from students, but these are serious cooks. Some already work outside of school.

There is a professionalism here that's a reflection of the fine teaching staff at CCSN's fine culinary college.

Freddy G's

There's more to Freddy G's Deli Diner in the Hughes Center than deli foods. Twice in the last few weeks I've gone there for dinner and have had fish that was cooked perfectly. One of the nightly specials ($8.95) is grilled whitefish. It's a super value.

Included is a salad or soup, the fish and generous portions of fresh vegetables. Most recently I ordered the grilled salmon (not on the daily specials) and was, again, pleasantly surprised to receive a large piece of delicious grilled salmon, a mountain of mashed potatoes, fresh spinach and summer squash.

I made the mistake of ordering the black bean soup as a starter. The "cup" was so large and the soup so good, I ended up taking the salmon ($13.95) home.

Another pleasant surprise was the wine by the glass -- an oversized glass of Mondave Woodbridge Merlot was just $4.25.

Go early. Freddy G's has become a popular dinner choice. Come after 7 p.m. and you might have to wait for a table.

Times are a-changin'

Each time I would meet John Shoup, president/ director of the "Great Chefs" series seen on the Discovery Channel -- "Great Chefs of America" and "Great Chefs of the World" make up the series -- I would ask him when he was going to do episodes about Las Vegas. He would just laugh.

This week he called to tell me he was in Las Vegas, and he was not only doing three programs with Las Vegas chefs but would be doing more in the fall. It was my turn to laugh -- with delight, of course, over how our dining image has changed.

This I had to see. So I dashed over to Picasso at Bellagio to watch the chefs in action.

Shoup and his crew had already taped a segment in the kitchen of award-winning Executive Pastry Chef Stanton Ho at Bistro Le Montrachet at the Las Vegas Hilton.

At the Mirage's Alex Stratta restaurant, a segment was taped with Stratta and with his pastry chef, Christophe Ithurritze.

By the time I got to Bellagio, segments had already been completed at Jasmine Chinese Restaurant with Chef Philip Lo and with Executive Chef Grant MacPherson, Prime with Chef Kerry Simon, and Le Cirque with Chef Marc Poidevin and Pastry Chef Patrice Caillot.

I arrived in time to watch a gorgeous presentation by Bellagio's Executive Pastry Chef John Philippe Maury, and to watch Julian Serrano prepare for his segment. Serrano would present four dishes -- stuffed quail served with black truffle risotto; sauteed salmon with saffron sauce; roast langoustine and his signature warm lobster salad with tropical fruits and a citrus vinaigrette.

This was the final cooking segment. A view of the city from the VooDoo Cafe terrace high atop the Rio's new tower would be used for added color.

I was curious as to how Shoup picks the chefs. He doesn't. He depends on chefs from around the world to send him the names of chefs they consider the best. And, he says, he's never been disappointed.

Each episode includes three chefs. In addition to the segments already completed -- they'll start airing at the end of September -- Shoup will return in the fall to do more.

Short orders

* Traditional Irish favorites will be featured St. Patrick's Day at several of Harrah's restaurants. The Fresh Market Square Buffet will feature corned beef and cabbage, shepherd's pie, lamb stew and finnan haddie (smoked haddock) along with Irish potato pancakes and soda bread. Of course, all of the usual buffet foods will also be available. The special Irish items will be offered at lunch from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and at dinner from 4 to 10 p.m. Lunch is $8.99 for adults, $5.99 for children 10 and under; dinner is $12.99 for adults and $7.99 for kids 10 and under.

* Corned beef and cabbage will also be available in the 24-hour Garden Cafe and the Winning Streaks Cafe, located within the Harrah's sports book, for $7.99 per person. Included are a green salad, parsley potatoes and Irish soda bread.