Paul Bartolotta
Paul Bartolotta, executive chef of Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare at Wynn Las Vegas, received the 2009 James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef Southwest. Fifteen years ago and a couple of time zones away, the Milwaukee native won the Best Chef Midwest title in 1994 when he helmed the kitchen of Chicago's Spiaggia. Bartolotta now holds the distinction of being the only person in the history of the awards to win the Best Chef title twice.
So what set him apart from the others in the pack, once again? “I’m old,” jokes Bartolotta during a tableside chat at his whimsical waterside restaurant. “Actually, age doesn’t hurt in my case. I think the reason I was so quickly recognized here was that I did something on a very high level that was different than what I had ever done.”
For years, Bartolotta earned accolades for his sophisticated plating and haute cuisine at Spiaggia as well as San Domenico in New York. At Wynn Las Vegas, he shifts to a coastal experience utilizing seafood indigenous to the waters of Italy. “Now I’ve gone from fifth to first gear with rustic, simplified plating, focusing on what is essential about a dish rather than what is impressive. So in my mind that was the reason. I did something on an equally high level but very different altogether.”
During the construction phase of his glamorous Las Vegas space, the cabana-laced lagoon setting inspired Bartolotta to settle on a transporting Italian seafood theme. “It’s clearly something that no one else had ever done,” remarks the chef. Thanks to five dedicated tanks, an in-house marine biologist and an intricate international web of fishermen and suppliers personally developed by the chef, on a typical night Bartolotta is able to offer 40-plus species – all indigenous to the Mediterranean. “We import over a ton a week,” he explains. “That’s because all the fish is untouched by man. The calamari are not cleaned, the fish are not eviscerated. I pay extra freight for stuff that’s going to be discarded so I can get it just as it was when it came out of the water. The moment that you touch it the deterioration process begins.”
When asked what he ultimately wants to contribute to the restaurant world, Sicilian-bred Bartolotta does not hesitate. “I want to elevate the stature of Italian food in America by creating benchmark restaurants in different sectors. In fine dining, there’s Spiaggia. Now [Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare] will be the benchmark by which all other Italian seafood restaurants will be judged. Not that it hasn’t been done, but so far no one has gone all the way. They’re not going to transport anybody to Italy like this place does.”
Offering the finest and freshest seafood the Mediterranean has to offer and paying international freight charges for chum certainly has its effect on the final price tag. But he says he hasn't found it difficult to sell the food he wants to serve in today's economy. “My restaurant has been extremely resilient. There’s been a small drop in wine sales but not when it comes to my food. I think it’s due to the fact that we’ve built a reputation as an approachable destination restaurant with an intense focus on the quality of ingredients. I have a product selection that no one else can boast – no one else does what we do on such a grand scale.”
So is the Best Chef Southwest a different person than the Best Chef Midwest back in 1994? “No doubt” he admits. “Instead of writing a menu, I’m cooking what I want to eat every day. It's food that I eat often and will eat often, and I don’t get remotely tired of it,” says Bartolotta, who is joined by his family for dinner there every week. “Making something perfect is more challenging than creating something new.”
– Shelley Skiles Sawyer