Fine dining has become a vital part of the Las Vegas resort experience and Puck has capitalized on the trend, opening six restaurants on the Strip and anticipating as many as three additional high-end eateries in the years to come. Las Vegas has become the hub of Puck's gourmet business, which consists of thirteen owned or managed restaurants.

Wolfgang Puck is to fine dining in Las Vegas what Steve Wynn is to the modern megaresort. Puck took a gamble when he opened the high-end Spago at the Forum Shops in 1992, doubting gamblers' willingness to pay full price for gourmet cuisine. The Las Vegas outpost of the original Beverly Hills restaurant was a hit with locals, who spread the word among tourists.

Question: Tell me the story of how your Los Angeles restaurant, Spago, opened its first location at the Forum Shops.

Answer: When they were building the Forum Shops, (developer) Sheldon Gordon lived in Malibu (Calif.) and he was always saying there were no good restaurants in Las Vegas, that I should open a restaurant in Las Vegas. He would go on and on and on. I decided that the easiest way to get rid of him was to say yes so he wouldn't bug me anymore. I told him to find investors. The Gordon Group found investors in Las Vegas and L.A., (boxing promoter) Bob Arum and people like that. When we opened in December 1992, I remember it because that was the slowest time in Las Vegas, just before the holidays. Nobody came for like two weeks. I would sit in the restaurant and drink a bottle of wine every night. I was already doubting it. I was hearing from all these rich people, the high rollers, that they could get free food, free caviar, free Dom Perignon. How can I compete with that? I thought there would be a clientele in Las Vegas, the locals, who like that. After those first few weeks it was busy and it's been busy ever since.

You have five restaurants in Las Vegas. Do you have plans for others?

The last one we opened was at MGM, the Wolfgang Puck Bar and Grill. We are opening another in the Palazzo (next to the Venetian) and hopefully something at (MGM Mirage's Project) CityCenter. We will open more in Las Vegas. We are really the only (restaurant company) with an infrastructure there, including (Senior Managing Partner) Tom Kaplan and chefs and managers who've worked with me for years. At least two or three more are yet to come.

What are your growth plans worldwide?

I've not decided yet. I think that we can achieve whatever we want in America, with Las Vegas being our main hub. We are opening a restaurant in Atlantic City. We are opening one in Miami. A few weeks ago I looked at Dubai but it is so far away. It would be silly to open just one restaurant there.

How do you decide where to open your restaurants?

Chef Wolfgang Puck discusses the evening's menu with his chefs at Spago in The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace. Photo by Sam Morris

We have to be careful of the location. We have restaurants in California in Santa Monica, which is like a smaller neighborhood, some in Hawaii. Customers might think we are too expensive. You have to be in the right neighborhood so that you don't have to teach people who you are. That doesn't work. I really believe the U.S. has enough business for us. We might open a restaurant with (Venetian owner) Sheldon (Adelson) in Macau if the financial side is right. It has to make business sense.

Spago basically started the celebrity chef trend. Chefs are even bigger celebrities now with cooking shows and reality competition shows. How much of your success do you attribute to your exposure on television?

I've been telling people since the '80s that if people don't know you they won't come. I did benefits all over the place. In 1986 I started doing Good Morning America regularly, and then a much wider audience learned about us. Now I do the Food Network. I did a guest appearance on the show "Las Vegas" and I was on "American Idol." That was great. It helped a lot. Instead of paying for advertising, people say, "Oh, I saw him on TV."

How important is the dining experience in the casino industry?

I think it has become an important part now. It wasn't that important before. Now the chefs are stars who are just as big as the entertainers there. Las Vegas has so many Californians coming here, too. They want to know where to eat and about dining. I was a big fight fan and started going to Vegas in the late '70s. I never wanted to eat in the fancy restaurants run by the hotels for their high rollers. I don't want to be taken for a ride.

Las Vegas has been transformed from a gambler's haven to a high-end resort destination with the some of the country's finest shopping, dining and entertainment. Some are even calling Las Vegas the new culinary capital of the country. Is that an exaggeration?

Only New York might be compared to Las Vegas in upscale dining and the number of fine restaurants. We don't have that many mom-and- pop operations or ethnic neighborhoods and places that have been around 100 years.

Where do you think Vegas ranks now and how will it rank a few years from now?

I don't look too far in the future. In the next five years, Las Vegas will be growing and so will the dining scene. French chefs are coming here. Ten years ago I said we should have French chefs here and they said, "Oh, it's too expensive." A hotel needs to have a nice restaurant. You might as well have the best. Co-branding has become the way to go not just for the casino business. At the Four Seasons in Maui we are grossing $6.5 million. The hotel restaurants really cannot keep up.

It seems that every major casino has branded its restaurant with some sort of celebrity chef. Branding is a critical part of the retail business. Why has it become so important in the restaurant business?

I think it's important to have great food and great service. You cannot have great food by committee. The food and beverage manager, the restaurant manager, they all sit together and say what should we have on the menu. They say there's too much garlic, it's too cooked. If you have a chef who runs the restaurant it's so much easier.

Some have said Las Vegas now has more brand-name chefs than any other city. Is that good for competition?

So far competition is good. The most important thing for restaurants is that the hotel has occupancy. We depend on the hotels and it seems like the hotels are full.

Have there been any restaurants or chefs that have surprised you with their arrival in Las Vegas? Are there any that particularly impress you?

I don't go out in Vegas that much, I don't eat at Guy Savoy, Robuchon. It's hard to say anything about the restaurants. I think it's great. If we have restaurants it gives people an additional reason to come to Vegas. We don't want to take ourselves so seriously. We want to have fun with it.

Casinos say this luxury trend in Vegas stems from a different kind of customer who is younger and wealthier. Do these brand-conscious customers prefer high-end restaurants, in your opinion?

Because of the Food Network and all these magazines and newspapers writing about food so much, now people really know. When the movie "Sideways" came out, Pinot Noir sales went up. It was amazing. Younger people spend the money. Older people are too tight. They do not work and they feel that their money is running out.

In spite of the many wealthier people coming to Vegas, the vast majority of customers are solidly middle-class. Is it important for you and your peers to attract this customer segment?

Absolutely. When you look at Spago and Postrio, actually you have two restaurants in one. In front is the cafe. It's fast food like hamburgers, pizzas, sandwiches. Anybody can come in and eat. It's a time of year starting around now when the customer base is different. Rooms are much cheaper — when rooms are cheaper, attractions are cheaper. We really base our business on the way our hotel balances rooms. If they lower the price of the rooms, we put more lower-price items on the menu. It is still of high quality.

There's been some controversy among critics about price not equating with quality. Do you think Las Vegas' finest restaurants offer a good value, all things considered?

I think if you go to Paris and London, for sure. I think the upscale restaurants are comparably priced to other cities. The prices, when you look at Wynn or Bellagio, the new resorts spend so much money to build a restaurant. Without gaming it wouldn't make business sense, but you are attracting a wealthier crowd.

Like some other restaurants in town, you are not running your namesake restaurants day-to-day. Some critics believe some restaurants run by underlings sacrifice quality. Is there something to be said for that?

(A man) who's had a famous restaurant in Lyon (France) for 45 years travels as much as anyone in the industry the last 35 years. One day a journalist asked him, "So who cooks in the restaurant when you're not there?" He said, "The same who cook when I'm there."

I'm 56. If I had to go behind the line and cook, it would be impossible. If I'm not able to train the right people I wouldn't be a good manager. I never thought in my life that I'm the only good chef out there. There are so many young chefs who are working hard. I don't think it's a problem at all. Sometimes I think I'm a handicap because I think the old-fashioned way. It is a sentimental value for people when they see me in the restaurant. They say, "We saw him on TV on 'American Idol'." The food will be the same if I'm here and if I'm not here. If I was gone for a year maybe yes, it would be different. It's not brain surgery at the end of the day. If you buy a great steak and if you cook it right it's good.

How much time do you spend in Las Vegas compared with other cities in which you do business?

I spend most of my time in Los Angeles. I go to Las Vegas once every couple of months or so. I go to San Francisco, Hawaii three to four times a year and Japan maybe three times a year. (Corporate Chef) Lee Hefter has worked for me the past 15 years. He goes (to Las Vegas) instead of me. I know when he goes he cooks the way I like it. It's not like (the business) depends solely on me. I hire the right people.

The casino business is a business based on customer service. How important is that in your business? Do you see eye to eye with casino bosses on this issue?

Much more so than anything. For us the customer is king. We just opened a new restaurant at the Beverly Wilshire and as I told the waiter, "No is not an answer. If someone wants a baked potato we will make a baked potato for them." When I was 24 years old and young, I was different. If someone wanted a steak well done, I would say, "No, tell him to eat the chicken." These days I'm much smarter about it. The customer is paying for it. They should get what they want. If you go to a tailor and a suit is too short it should be redone. We are here to get repeat customers and make customers happy. We still have a good local clientele at Spago. They might go to the choice restaurants that are opening but they come back. Why? Because Tom Kaplan and (Corporate Chef) David Robbins and (others) are there. They have become their own stars there. They have become good friends with the casino executives. We home grow a lot of our talent.

Do you own your restaurants? Do you franchise some of them? What are the pros and cons?

Few of the (known chefs) own their restaurants. We own the restaurant at the Forum Shops, at Mandalay Bay, at the Venetian, with investors, some of them. We also manage restaurants like the one at MGM and participate in the profits. We don't franchise. We really are responsible for our people. We promote from within. We have people who started as busboys at Spago and they are now floor managers, telling people how to deal with customers. People come back to Las Vegas and they say, "Carlo or Peter is still there."

Some of these restaurants have become very expensive for the average person.

If you are paying $350 that is one thing. There is a different expectation than if you go to Spago and pay $80. If the waiter isn't smiling and the hostess isn't doing a good job or looking down on customers, then it's a problem. You don't judge a customer by how he looks. We have customers who are billionaires who come in in jeans and a sweatshirt. We are easygoing on the dress code because we are from California, not from New York or Paris.

Your company does a lot of charity work and community events. What do you get out of that?

I tell all of my chefs, "You have to be a great cook." You also have to be a great businessman. You have to be a great citizen as well. I think it's important to help people who are less fortunate. I came from Austria and the time was right. I became successful way beyond my dreams. I have to give back to the community. We started (raising money for the) Lou Ruvo Alzheimer's Center there. It started very small at Spago and we raised $1.2 million. This year raised $20 million. We always donate dinners, we always donate to the community. If we are not in the community then why should they be interested in us? Whenever we open a restaurant in a city we are geared toward the locals. It's harder to keep the locals happy than to attract the tourists who are here two to three times per year. That was our aim from the beginning. We have a big local following in Las Vegas.