Linq Las Vegas

Food Network Star Giada is opening her first restaurant in 2014, at Gasevoort Las Vegas (the former Bill’s Gamblin Hall/Barbary Coast).

Known primarily for Giada at Home and Everyday Italian, De Laurentiis has never opened her own restaurant. Her first will be at the new Gansevoort Vegas

“For a long time I’ve been debating and for a long time I’ve looked at spaces in Los Angeles, in Las Vegas, in New York,” she said. “I figured that coming from a big movie family, my grandfather truly believed you go big or you go home, so I’m going big! It’s sort of funny because I’m going big yet I’m going to be in the smallest hotel on the Strip.”

On top of her restaurant, she will be involved in the in-room dining service at the boutique hotel which is slated to open in 2014.

“I want to bring what people will expect from me, my Italian food with a California spin,” she said. “The visual will be clean lines that you will find in a modern Milan osteria rather than the classic rustic Italian feel that people have come to know and love.”

“I wanted a space that wasn’t stuck in a dungeon,” she explains. “It wasn’t at the bottom of a hotel, [where] it’s dark and lined up next to a hundred other restaurants. I wanted something with a view, with some light and some sort of al fresco dining.”

With its epic centre-strip location, you can imagine the views will be similar to whats expected for the major Drai nightclub experiences at Gansevoort

“You can’t beat the view that we’re going to have,” she says. “I wanted a space in the sense that I could do whatever I wanted in the space. It wasn’t just about giving it a fresh coat of paint or new carpeting, but I actually designed the restaurant of my dreams.”

“I never dreamed of having a 300-seat restaurant!” she laughs. “The concept in my head was a lot smaller! There are things in my head that I’m adjusting to, and it’s a learning experience for me, but also one that is very exciting.”

Giada is joining a long list of celebrity (or TV Chefs) which have restaurants in Las Vegas, including Bobby Flay, Gordon Ramsay, and many many more!

“Unlike a lot of chefs that open restaurants in Vegas who know how to do this for a living, and have a huge team, I’m sort of building my team,” she says. “I have some team members, but I’m not going pretend to have the team that maybe a Bobby Flay would have.”

“Bobby has been very, very helpful,” she reveals. “When Caesars first came to me, we had many lunches discussing what his thoughts were venturing into this process, to give me insider tips on what to expect, and what to expect in my life, and what to expect about my food, and how best to preserve the brand, and what the expectations are. He has been instrumental in a lot of decisions that I’ve made. There aren’t many people that I have discussed it with but I have spoken to him and he’s been really great and very helpful.”
No other restaurants have been confirmed for the new Gansevoort Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, but it certainly seems as though it will be in competition with all the culinary big-boys nearby!