CANYON RANCH (SPA+FITNESS)
at THE VENETIAN, LAS VEGAS
Speaking to Executive Chef Peter Ghione about health and wellness on the culinary front is like opening a fascinating treasure trove of life-saving enlightenment.
With 25 years experience cooking professionally, Ghione’s bio runs the gamut. At the heart of the matter, Ghione’s chief mission has become
striving to help people use food to fight disease, especially the big C.
He began researching food’s ability to heal when a large venue he worked for made the rather sudden decision to go all organic. After diving into
research on the subject, Ghione found that what intrigued him the most was research regarding how food gets processed in the body and how it can not only nourish but to actually heal.
As fate would have it, he was hired as a private chef to create and prepare a low glycemic diet for a client who had suffered three bouts of lung cancer and endured six months of chemotherapy. The man had been given a 98% chance of death and only five years to live. Since eating Chef Ghione’s
tailored menu, which combined ingredients that are nutrient-rich, low in sugar and high in natural anti-inflammatories twice a day for three years, the once near death client is now thriving, cancer free.
“My analogy is this if you surround yourself with real, quality people, you know will have great conversation. Food is like that. If you eat real, quality food, your body is going to run better and more efficiently. It’s pretty simple.” -Executive Chef Pete Ghione
Chef Ghione’s ability to articulate the incredible benefits of foods packed with anti-inflammatories, facts regarding the USA’s over-consumption of dairy, the “The Dirty Dozen” (list of most pesticide-laden fruits and vegetable), its counter list, “The Clean Fifteen, the populaces over-obsession with ‘organic,’” (“Organic doesn’t mean healthy!”), how adding black pepper allows the body to absorb the many benefits of Turmeric, a myriad of reasons why sugar is the devil of the food chain, and how making the right food choices is the fundamental key to feeling good, looking good and longevity, is something absolutely book worthy. Seriously, Executive Chef Ghione should write a book, first about the lives he has saved and then about how he can help us save our own lives via what we eat (and don’t eat.)
Ghione’s “Health and Wellness” signature culinary style, frequently highlighted on television (Discovery and Travel Channel, plus dozens of TV News features) and high profile magazines such as Esquire, is embodied in the Venetian’s
Mordeo Boutique Wine Bar
Off The Strip, Las Vegas
The “word on the street” is there’s a lot of new food-magic happening just two miles off the Las Vegas Strip, where Spring Mountain Road meets Las Vegas Boulevard, in an area known as China Town. There, within the seemingly unromantic, shopping mall-infused environment, foodies in the know feast on some of the most delicious, trés-authentic Raku, Tapas, Thai food, New American Vietnamese and Chinese cuisine happening in the U.S.
Mordeo Boutique Wine Bar, is the new, sexy, off-the- strip, brainchild, of Chef Khai Vu (owner of popular District One Kitchen Bar). Inviting, with a modern/contemporary design, Mordeo (meaning, small bites) seduces with Spanish and Latin inspirations with a touch of Japanese flair.
The morsels getting everyone excited are Mordeo’s nightly Pintxos offerings complemented by eclectic yet approachable wines, sake, and sangrias, every night at Happy Hour (5-7 pm).
Known as complex finger foods, Pintxos originated in bars and taverns throughout the old Basque Country.
Born in Vietnam, and relocating to the U.S. at age 11, Chef Khai discovered his passion for Pintxos while traveling to Barcelona. He shared, “I get all of my concepts from my travels. I have to love it. And then put my own twist on it. I never offer anything on my menu that I don’t deeply love.”
Chef Khai, who grew up in his parents still thriving restaurant, Pho So 1, (serving authentic Vietnamese food since 1993), is known for shaking up the culinary scene, breaking rules and providing a platform for new creative chefs to spread their wings, like with Mordeo’s “Pop Up” nights.
Chef Khai added, “It’s becoming more and more common to have big limousines pull up out in front with people looking for something new and more intimate than the business of the strip.”
Enigmatic Las Vegas continues to unfold into its essence just when we think it’s reached its peak. Morphing always from the once brash gaming liquor induced mecca of yore to today’s glamour infused, entertainment shiny, shopping and eating decadent destination. And now, Vegas is providing the nuance of more wholesome types of innovation: Eataly, with its multitude of integrally-educative and authentic offerings, Chef Khai Vu’s, Mordeo, beckoning us off the strip, for sultry pintxos, pop up and intimate conversation, and Executive Chef Ghione, the health guru gastronomist of Canyon Ranch at The Venetian reviving us with vital, honest, and downright life-altering sustenance. On the strip, off the strip, or revitalizing after the gym, Vegas has become a place where everyone can win.
EATALY
Las Vegas
The new Eataly, opening in Las Vegas within the massive Park, MGM, marks the 6th Eataly location in the U.S. CW is very excited to support Eataly’s exuberant offering of the most authentic Italian experience to the people of Las Vegas, including both visitors and locals.
In keeping with Eataly’s bespoke venue themes (a piece of history, an influential person, an idea, i.e Eataly Roma is an homage to beauty, Eataly Smeraldo in Milano to music, Eataly Istanbul to history etc.) they have decided to dedicate Eataly Las Vegas to “Anything is possible.” And the reason is clear. Anything is possible in the city of Las Vegas where, in the middle of the desert, an entire city has been built, one that attracts millions of visitors that can order true Italian gelato that has been made in the middle of a dry, arid desert, eat street food from Rome, fresh pasta from Piemonte, and enjoy wine from every single region in Italy, all under a single roof. Offering two restaurants, La Pizza E La Pasta and Manzo, three bars,
Gran Caffe Milano, an education center, a chef’s table, a market (Cucina del
Region than all the magnificent splendors Eataly, Las Vegas will bring to the vast “communal table.” Buon Appetito!
