Monday, Feb. 13, 2006 | 12:34 p.m.
Les Kincaid's radio shows on cooking and other Las Vegas topics include:
'Lifestyles Las Vegas'
WHEN: Noon-1:30 p.m. Saturdays
WHERE: Broadcast live from the
Mariposa restaurant inside Neiman Marcus at Fashion Show mall.
ABOUT THE SHOW: Guests in the local entertainment industry talk about the business while dining on a gourmet meal and sipping wine.
STATION: KLAV 1230-AM.
'Les' Wines and Vines'
WHEN: 7-8 p.m. Thursdays
WHERE: Broadcast from a different restaurant each week on Thursday it will be at the Venetian's Lutece.
ABOUT THE SHOW: During the show, which has been on air for five years, 35 invited guests eat a gourmet meal while a chef pairs three wines with the dinner. Kincaid discusses the wine with special guests.
STATION: Nationally syndicated through Cable Radio Network on KLAV 1230-AM.
'Tableside du Jour'
WHEN: 6-7 p.m. Mondays
ABOUT THE SHOW: Kincaid interviews the owners, chefs or other key people of upscale restaurants.
STATION: KLAV 1230-AM.
Kincaid, a native of Dayton, Ohio, hosts three radio shows, has written a number of books (among them "Never Trust a Skinny Chef") and teaches about cooking and wine at UNLV's continuing education department.
But the gourmand came from humble beginnings.
His parents split up when he was 6 months old, and his father eventually moved to Fresno, Calif., where he was an accountant for a beer company.
His mother remarried, but there was little income.
"I came from a poor family," he said. "We were so poor my mother allowed me to stay with my grandparents for five years."
The family moved a lot - he attended 12 schools before he started high school.
Kincaid had early aspirations of being a musician, learning to play the trumpet in elementary school.
"It's the way I got to meet people, by being a musician," he said.
He started working during summers at the age of 8. One of his first jobs was at a riding stable.
"During the summers I worked from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. six days a week," Kincaid recalled. "I was paid $10 - and out of that my stepfather allowed me to keep 50 cents. He kept the rest to buy beer."
His daily lunch was a jam sandwich and water, but for once a week when he had 50 cents to buy a hamburger, fries and soft drink at a nearby restaurant.
"I thought my life was normal," Kincaid said. "It was the only thing I was exposed to."
"Until I was 12 I didn't know what a steak tasted like," he said. "The steak I was used to was pounded round steak, overcooked by 200 percent."
Then, when he was 12 he went to California to spend a summer with his father.
"He was remarried, and his wife's parents were living with them," Kincaid said. "Everyone in the house worked but for my step-grandfather, who was a retired executive chef.
"He and I spent the summer together. In the beginning he was cooking and I was watching, but at the end I was cooking and he was watching."
For the entire summer, the two talked about food.
"Food became very interesting to me," Kincaid said.
When the summer ended and it was time to return to his mother, Kincaid decided to stay with his father.
Two years later the family moved to south San Francisco, where Kincaid attended night school, played in a band and worked at a Winn's Drive-In.
"It was a big deal at Winn's to put the cooking burgers so close together that you could get 53 patties on the grill and not burn any of them," Kincaid said. "It took me two weeks to learn to be able to do that."
Kincaid still didn't know what his life's work was going to be. He was thinking about being a musician - he was good enough to sit in with some legendary band leaders when they passed through San Francisco, including Tommy Dorsey and Stan Kenton.
"But you couldn't make a living as a trumpet player," he said.
After high school he joined the Marine Corps and became the base bugler in San Diego - waking up the troops at 4:50 a.m.
"When I wasn't doing that I was taking care of prisoners," Kincaid said.
Eventually the Marines let him cook.
"In the Marines, if you were a non-commissioned officer you were assigned to a mess hall 30 days out of the year," Kincaid said. "I was assigned to a mess hall on the base at Long Beach."
After his discharge from the Marines he returned to Fresno and bought a restaurant.
"I ended up with three," he said.
In the meantime, he said, he became interested in construction contracting.
"I built my own restaurants," he said.
He spent nine years as a contractor, performing with bands in off-hours and playing golf every chance he got.
"My wife at the time introduced me to the game," Kincaid said. "The instructor for my first lesson told me 'Never let work interfere with golf.'" Kincaid said he took the message to heart and for two years never missed a day playing.
In '78, after a divorce, he came to Vegas and got a job as a golf pro at a local country club.
After 18 months he quit.
"The club worked very hard at being unsuccessful," Kincaid said.
From there he worked for a vitamin and mineral supply company, training people to sell.
The late '70s and early '80s were the days before Vegas became well known for its high-end restaurants, and Kincaid used his expertise in the culinary arts and wine tasting to become a consultant.
"When I first moved here I was embarrassed to tell anyone about chefs in Vegas," Kincaid said. "It was 'all you could choke down for $3.99.'"
In 1984 he began teaching cooking in UNLV's continuing education department, and eventually expanded his classes to include wine tasting.
"Wine has always been part of the food business," Kincaid said.
He says he learned about wine from salesmen who came to his restaurants in California.
For more than six years Kincaid has been involved in local radio, talking about food and wine, among other topics.
"I would rather see people eat quality than quantity," Kincaid said.
He emphasizes the importance of family and food.
"Fast food is not a dirty word, but it doesn't take the place of eating with family," Kincaid said. "Family relationships are more important than ever - the family should have at least one meal together every day."
Jerry Fink can be reached at 259-4058 or at [email protected].
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