I was cooking, fish of all things, in the Picasso restaurant at the Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas the day it opened. On my third interview the chef, Julian Serrano,

I was cooking, fish of all things, in the Picasso restaurant at the Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas the day it opened. On my third interview the chef, Julian Serrano, said he would hire me but there was a catch, we were in San Francisco and he said that the job would be in Las Vegas. He just signed a 5 year $2M contract. Steve Wynn made clear the purpose of us being there, to make the list of Mobil's 5 star travel guide restaurants which there were only 25 or so at the time and none in Las Vegas -- it will still be years before the Michelin Guide came to the United States. The Mobil guide is now Forbes Travel Guide. It might have been AAA Five-Diamond Award but it's been a while and I forget which one is which. One of the requirements is linen napkins and the restaurant Serrano was at in San Francisco, Masa's, would have had them if they could find a laundry service to clean them. Steve Wynn was very serious about that restaurant. He hired Picasso's son, an interior designer, to design the dining room, he purchased $32M in Picasso artwork for the walls, and hired a Spanish chef. We imported whole turbot fish from Europe at $35/lbs that was only 60% usable, the bones and skin were tossed. It had nothing to do with Steve Wynn caring about food. He needed the prestige of five stars. It was something to aspire to. Why are these guides relevant? Because without the Michelin and Mobil travel guides, there is nothing to push these restaurants to aspire towards perfection whatever that is in a completely subjective art. The guides are the goal, the standard. What is more interesting than this is why all attempts to create a fine dining restaurant in Las Vegas before the Bellagio opened failed.