Cooking in Las Vegas?

I also see Vegas in the long term future. Everytime I visit the city, I fall more and more in love with it.

The owner of a small seafood restaurant I go to each visit always has LCB externs working in the kitchen. He seems to be pleased with the quality of students the school produces (which is a change from what other employers usually have to say about LCB)

Connections I would guess are a huge plus. Working for a sister restaurant in another city is probably the best way to get a foot in the door.

Experience with hotels and/or extreme high volume production is probably the best thing to have on a resume.

While I dont think I answered any questions with solid answers, just talking about vegas gets me excited. Best of luck to you in your career path. You never know, maybe well end up on the line together sometime.

I know two people that have worked for the Bouchon here in Vegas and it is not as hard to get into as you might think. Vegas is a strange city for cooks and some of the rules are slightly different here.
Many of the cooks in Vegas work in the casinos, or restaurants run by the casinos, that are either part of the Culinary Union or at least offer the wages and benefits to stay competitive with those that are union. That means that an experienced line cook may be making $15-17/ hr, free health insurance and paid vacation after a year. By comparison, some of the free standing restaurants like Bouchon have a hard time competing. They offer health insurance, but only pay half and the wages are lower. Therefore they have higher turnover. People want to get in to have the name on their resume, but once in Vegas for 6 months, move on to the higher paying positions elsewhere.
Another situation unique to Vegas - the casinos do drug tests. I once heard that half of the applicants for any one open position are disqualified by either their drug test or their background check. That is before they even go to the interview. I have heard stories that some of the free standing restaurants have an unusally high number of cooks that do drugs, because they have to work somewhere and those restaurants don't do the same tests.
Right now is a good time for cooks in Vegas, because the new Palazzo just opened and there is a shortage in certain areas (like at the place where I work).
If you do decide to come here, I would suggest sending your resume to the chefs of the restaurants you are interested in. You can apply through the websites as well, but some of the better positions never get advertised and are done by word of mouth only.
Good luck and I hope you enjoy Vegas!

As Clove stated, Vegas can be a great place to work, but it is quirky. For a large city, it has a very small town mentality. It truly is the who you know, not what you know type of place. That being said, there are lots of good paying jobs in this town. Most of the big strip properties are union, which has a whole host of issues too numerous to recount here. One thing that the big mega resorts are good for is the opportunity to work in a number of different food outlets. A motivated cook may evolve into a chef tournant position and work the buffet one week, the steakhouse the next, and banquets after that. Many of these hotels have upwards of 15 or 20 food outlets under one roof. Plus you can get the experience of cooking banquets for 5, 10 or even 15 thousand people. Off the strip, there are literally hundreds of "locals" casinos. Some are very small, and some are huge,(Station Casinos). Most of them have restaurants of some sort. Then you have the countless thousands of restaurants scattered through town. Every ethnicity, style and price point that you can imagine.

Just to add to what Clove said, not only do they drug test and background check here, but they check your credit score. Most places will not hire you if you have a credit score under 600. They figure that people with bad credit have money issues, and well, what is there a whole lot of in casinos. You guessed it, money.

The other thing to consider is that Las Vegas is the kind of town where you can get into a lot of trouble with little or no effort. Gambling, Drugs, Prostitution, crime, crime and more crime. This town is not for the faint of heart. Being that you are from NYC this should not be a problem. There is a lot more to tell, but send me a PM and I can give you more detailed information.

yup true I work here in vegas, although Im pastry chef. got here in 93 worked of the strip for 6 months,when TI was offering jobs. went in a filled out the forms.and I was in. health benifits are better with the strip places. so good luck.summer time is the best ) I can't wait ....

Montelago - Where did you hear that about the credit check? I am just curious who is doing this. I did not have my credit checked for my current job, but perhaps other casinos on the strip have that requirement.

However, with the average score being aroung 670, it is hard to believe they can find 5,000 people above 600 just for one casino. Maybe they only have that requirement for positions that deal with cash? If you have more info...I am curious....

I know that the Hilton did, and my current place out at Lake Las Vegas. I know that they check for anyone dealing with cash. Dealers, servers, cage workers, bartenders, and all managers.

I haven't been in Vegas too long and all but one of my coworkers went to school out of state. I have heard a few negative comments about one of the programs, but I don't know the details. I can ask at work tonight and see if I can find out anything else.

Here is an option, though it may not fit your needs. You might consider getting a culinary trainee position at one of the casinos. This is entry level and doesn't pay much. After you work there for a certain amount of time (usually a year) the casino will pay for your schooling. It would take longer to finish, but would save you a lot of money in the long run.

I asked at work last night about the local culinary programs in Vegas. One cook had gone to LCB and was happy enough with the program. I also was told that CCSN (community college) has a good culinary program for a much lower price.
I couldn't get any info on UNLV.
Good luck!

They will bounce you around as needed. This is a good thing though. This makes you that much more valuable to them. Plus, in my opinion it is very important to get the experience of banquets and buffets. These are aspects of the business that you run into everywhere. It helps teach you planning and organization on a much larger level.

Actually, it depends on the casino. Some of the restaurants are independent, even though they are within the casinos, so you would be an employee of Bouchon (TKRG - Thomas Keller Restaurant Group) and not the Venetian and would be more likely to moved within TKRG (say, to Yountville or NYC).

When you apply for a job, you can apply for a specific job within the casino. If you want to work in a restaurant, you can and may eventually (after a year or so) be moved to another restaurant, but not likely to banquets or such, unless you request it. Things can move slow within a casino, so don't wait for an opening. They all have extensive online job postings, but the best positions get filled before they are posted to the public. I highly recommend being more proactive - contact the chef of the restaurant you are interested in, best yet, show up in person to drop off your resume (not during service, please) and ask to do a stage. Many chefs will not say no to a stage, even if they are not hiring. It can be a great way to talk to fellow cooks in the area and ask questions. If you make a good impression, they may point you in the direction of someone else that is hiring if they don't have any openings (my own chef has done something similar).

Not all casinos or restaurants in Vegas are union. Even if they are, you do not have to join to work there.

You do not always have to be a member of the union to get their health insurance (weird, I know).

Each hotel that is union, negotiates a seperate contract with the union (unless they are all owned by MGM, which is about half the strip casinos). Therefore, the dues probably differ.

Vegas information

Hey JoJo,

I am from Vegas and read the posts. I hope this information helps:

LCB Vegas: I looked into this school a number of times and was never impressed with it. I was even here for their open house when they first opened their doors. The facilities are pretty decent, but the administrators, admissions reps, etc. really misrepresent opportunities. I interviewed there on two different occassions--a couple of years apart. And both times I was told that upon graduating I could easily find a job as a saucier making $50,000 per year. I knew that was BS. Both interviewers mentioned "we just had a student not too long ago who just got hired down on the strip for $60,000. See...we offer great opportunities." When I asked who the chef was or where he was working, neither interviewer could remember the guy's name or where he works. They couldn't even remember when he attended LCB. Truth is, LCB stuffs their classes to between 20-30 students. This means the kitchens are crowded and/or not everyone will get a chance at cooking on a particular day. Chances are, if you visit the school, you will know more about cooking than the admissions reps.

College of Southern Nevada: This is where I am currently enrolled. I enrolled a couple of years AFTER my LCB experiences--so I am not just knocking LCB because I attend a competing school. At CSN, they limit class sizes to 15 students or less. The kitchens are large and fully equipped. There are many different sections for each class, so you can take classes pretty much whenever you need. AND you will NOT PAY $40,000+ Here, the chef instructors are well experienced and so far, each one I have met is truly concerned with your progress. This is definitely due, in part, to the smaller class sizes. Much more time for one-on-one attention. And here is the kicker...I started at CSN mostly because I could afford it and go on a part time basis. However, I have learned that CSN actually has an extremely respected program that has won many regional and national competitions and awards. In fact, from what I understand, CSN has won the state culinary school competition for the past number of years--i.e. it has beat out the much more expensive LCB and the Arts Institute of Las Vegas. And yes, the school does have its own working restaurant.

UNLV: For UNLV, if you take their hotel/hospitality management degree program, they will just send you to CSN for the culinary aspect of the degree. So you end up paying two different schools for one degree. I don't know what the reasoning is. I always assumed that UNLV had their own culinary program. But a large number of my classmates are enrolled at UNLV but were told that they must do their culinary classes at CSN. Yeah...they aren't too happy about that. :)

The job market in general is always in need of good people. Craigslist is just a small tip of the iceberg. Actually, many of the better restaurants in town do not advertise on Craigslist. There are actually a number of amazing restaurants off the strip too. So straight internet searching does not even come close to showing you all that is available.

So here is something that might interest you about the job market. there is a large project on the strip being built called "City Center." If you look it up, you will see just how massive this place is going to be. What our instructors were told, they are going to be needing THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of culinary workers just to meet their minimum needs. The opening of this place is not too far off, so get yourself to Vegas pronto LOL.

Now as for living in Vegas generally, like someone else said, it really does have a small town mentality even though it is such a large city. Connections really do make the difference. so the earlier you get here, the more connections you will have.

The housing market is finally back to affordable prices. There are many great deals on the market in nice neighborhoods. You should have no problem finding an affordable place. (let me know if you need a mortgage officer--I know some great people. SEE?! Connections! :D )

Traffic can be bad, but its likely NOTHING compared to what you likely deal with in Baltimore.

The summers are really not that bad. You usually go from A/C in your house, to A/C in your car, to A/C at your job. So don't even fret about that. No state income taxes is AWESOME! Um.....what else?

WOW! I just realized I wrote a novel. I better stop now. Send me an email or reply to the post if you have other questions. Good Luck!:bounce:

Depending on which part of Summerlin and Henderson you are living, expect about 20 minutes with good traffic. During rush hours, it is of course longer.

VERY generally, the Las Vegas valley is a big square. The south east part of that square is Henderson/Green Valley. The West part of the valley is basically Summerlin. The southwest part of the valley is...well....the southwest.

All of these parts is about a 25 minute drive to downtown with normal traffic. So, maybe a little less to the strip. I have lived in both Henderson/Green Valley and the Southwest part of the valley. Both are great areas. The City of North Las Vegas is also not too far, but I am not sure how the traffic is from that part of the valley.

anybody with any advice for the above question?

I'm sorry, but I'm not familiar with their program. The big casinos have pros and cons. Since most of them are union jobs, it can be extremely difficult to advance. Many people get stuck in a position and don't move much after that. It is hard to learn in a place like that. The union jobs do pay well, and the benefits are very good. I would look into some of the non-union places like Venetian, Palazzo, Station casinos, and all of the other private restaurants in town. You are coming up on the hiring season, so I would start looking soon. One thing is for sure, there are jobs to be had here. There is always growth, new resorts opening and a need for cooks.

I might get whacked off for this ...but Vegas is a right to work state...google it..you don't have to join the union to work there . I never did. casinos pay the health benifits to the unions and most people don't know that.

You don't have to join the union, but you still have to get a union referral, pay the union dues and work under the bargaining agreement. So basically, you have to join the union.

Like anything else, it depends on what level job you are applying for. As a line cook, not much of a worry there. If you are looking for a management job, they will certainly look more closely at your work history. I don't think that you have a whole lot to worry about as far as that goes. The best bet is to put an accurate job history on your applications. The restaurant industry is one of the most transient professions out there, so a few short stints here and there won't really affect you that much. Now, if it is clear by your resume that you are the king of the 6 month job, employers will be wary. Best to be honest about it though.

What would you reccomend for people who want to learn as they work?

That is really hard to say. There are a lot of good restaurants in this town both in and out of the casinos. It is really a matter of researching and interviewing. Some places are all about production and some take a more hands on approach with their cooks. This is more up to the chef than anything else. I know some great chefs in this town that I would recommend working for, but beyond that it is really a tough kitchen. I would say a good place to start is to find the type of restaurant that you want to be in or learn in and start going from there. Talk to the chefs and ask them candidly how they feel about teaching on the job. Some have no time for it and some are very into molding and teaching inexperienced cooks.

Caught padding the resume....

JoJoBaltimore -
I thought of your question when I saw this news release today. It appears that the guy from "Dinner Impossible" on the food network has been fired because he padded his resume. So....just in case you ever get famous...
Padded Resume Costs Chef TV Show - Food News Story - WFSB Hartford

About.com: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:s.00370:
:cool:Clark County Nevada Labor you don't don't let anyone tell you you do..again when your asked to sign a card, just don't do it.