LAS VEGAS —Equipped to satisfy the demanding and varied appetites of this city’s high rollers, Flavors, The Buffet at Harrah’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino proves that small-batch cooking and high-volume foodservice are not contradictions.
Boasting an exhibition kitchen and more than 150 food offerings, Flavors brings such trends as Brazilian churrasco, Asian stir-fries, hand-rolled sushi, hearth-oven pizza and Southwestern dishes to the all-you-can-eat scene in a city known for buffets. The 21,000-square-foot space houses a hot- and cold-food line with dedicated food stations, many of which prepare food on the spot. With breakfast priced at $13.99 per person, lunch at $16.99 and dinner at $21.99, Flavors’ annual sales total $18 million. —Equipped to satisfy the demanding and varied appetites of this city’s high rollers, Flavors, The Buffet at Harrah’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino proves that small-batch cooking and high-volume foodservice are not contradictions.
Flavors’ equipment and design setup is based on the principle that continuous exhibition cooking of relatively small batches of food not only entertains and merchandises, it also keeps quality high because fresh, hot food keeps turning over on the buffet. —Equipped to satisfy the demanding and varied appetites of this city’s high rollers, Flavors, The Buffet at Harrah’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino proves that small-batch cooking and high-volume foodservice are not contradictions.
Immediacy and sensory appeal are major selling points. “You can smell the garlic and the wine when we make shrimp scampi,” said operations manager Debbi Lewis. “You see, hear and smell the stir-fries our wok cooks are making.” —Equipped to satisfy the demanding and varied appetites of this city’s high rollers, Flavors, The Buffet at Harrah’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino proves that small-batch cooking and high-volume foodservice are not contradictions.
Such live cooking is in marked contrast to the Vegas buffet of prior days, in which the action took place in a closed kitchen with the food carted out to the line. —Equipped to satisfy the demanding and varied appetites of this city’s high rollers, Flavors, The Buffet at Harrah’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino proves that small-batch cooking and high-volume foodservice are not contradictions.
“Everything was sort of thrown out on the buffet,” said Lewis, a veteran of more than 14 years in buffet foodservice. “It used to sit there and sit there.” —Equipped to satisfy the demanding and varied appetites of this city’s high rollers, Flavors, The Buffet at Harrah’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino proves that small-batch cooking and high-volume foodservice are not contradictions.
At Flavors, only staples like rice and mashed potatoes are held in large batches. —Equipped to satisfy the demanding and varied appetites of this city’s high rollers, Flavors, The Buffet at Harrah’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino proves that small-batch cooking and high-volume foodservice are not contradictions.
The visual focal points of Flavors are the roasting station, where a J & R Manufacturing churrasco rotisserie cooks skewers of pork, beef and lamb over a wood fire, and the eye-catching Wood Stone gas-fired hearth pizza oven. —Equipped to satisfy the demanding and varied appetites of this city’s high rollers, Flavors, The Buffet at Harrah’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino proves that small-batch cooking and high-volume foodservice are not contradictions.
Buffets have been a Las Vegas fixture since casinos realized that super-cheap spreads kept gamers at the tables longer. The crop of upgraded buffets, like Flavors, casts its lot with quality and variety. Chalk it up to the evolution of Las Vegas as a dining destination, with celebrity chefs like Bobby Flay, Bradley Ogden and Joël Robuchon setting up shop. —Equipped to satisfy the demanding and varied appetites of this city’s high rollers, Flavors, The Buffet at Harrah’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino proves that small-batch cooking and high-volume foodservice are not contradictions.
Supporting Flavors’ cooking stations is a behind-the-scenes kitchen outfitted with a gas-fired tilting skillet, a blast chiller and a pair of combi oven-steamers. The latter units, by Electrolux and Blodgett, are used for everything from biscuits to lasagna and barbecued ribs. Food runners don’t scurry about because the reach-in coolers and hot-food holding cabinets on the line have pass-through doors that allow stocking directly from the kitchen on the other side of the wall. —Equipped to satisfy the demanding and varied appetites of this city’s high rollers, Flavors, The Buffet at Harrah’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino proves that small-batch cooking and high-volume foodservice are not contradictions.
Steam cooking is done extensively. A Cleveland convection steamer makes short work of crab legs, while steam kettles by the same manufacturer produce soups in three- and four-gallon batches on the line. —Equipped to satisfy the demanding and varied appetites of this city’s high rollers, Flavors, The Buffet at Harrah’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino proves that small-batch cooking and high-volume foodservice are not contradictions.
Carved prime rib remains one of Flavors’ biggest draws, said executive chef John Maltby. Preparing it is a two-day process. Beef roasts are first marinated overnight in a dry seasoning rub and then are seared the following day in the tilting skillet. They finish cooking in Alto-Shaam cook-and-hold ovens set at 275 degrees Fahrenheit to retain flavor and minimize yield loss. “This is still a prime-rib town, no matter what else changes,” Maltby said. —Equipped to satisfy the demanding and varied appetites of this city’s high rollers, Flavors, The Buffet at Harrah’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino proves that small-batch cooking and high-volume foodservice are not contradictions.