Caesars Entertainment on Wednesday said James Beard Award-winning pastry chef Dominique Ansel will be bringing his creative culinary talents to Caesars Palace Las Vegas.
The dessert maker’s newest shop, eponymously dubbed Dominque Ansel Las Vegas, will be located in a soon-to-be-constructed space next to Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill, the company said. It is slated to open in summer 2022.
According to Caesars, Ansel prides himself on shaking up the conventional and injecting innovation and creativity to create something extraordinary. For his prolific originality, Ansel was named the World's Best Pastry Chef in 2017 by the World's 50 Best Restaurants awards. Food & Wine has called him a "Culinary Van Gogh" while the New York Post coined him “the Willy Wonka of New York.”
He also has been bestowed the prestigious l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole, France's second-highest honor.
Prior to opening his own shop, Ansel served as the executive pastry chef for restaurant Daniel, when the team earned its coveted third Michelin star and a four-star review from The New York Times. In 2011, Ansel opened his first shop, the Dominique Ansel Bakery in NYC's Soho neighborhood, with just four employees. In January 2020, he launched Dang Wen Li by Dominique Ansel in Hong Kong, and most recently in July 2021, he opened Dominique Ansel Workshop, a croissant counter inside of his pastry kitchens in NYC's Flatiron neighborhood.
Ansel is the author of two cookbooks: Dominique Ansel: The Secret Recipes (October 2014), and Everyone Can Bake: Simple Recipes to Master & Mix (April 2020).
Chef Dominique is responsible for creating some of the most famous pastries in the world, including the cronut, which was named one of TIME Magazine's "25 Best inventions of 2013."
Ansel said the cronut took two months and more than 10 recipes to develop. It is not simply a croissant that has been fried, it is made with a laminated dough which has been likened to a croissant (but uses a proprietary recipe) and is first proofed, then fried in grape seed oil at a specific temperature. Once cooked, each cronut pastry is flavored in three ways: 1) rolled in sugar, 2) filled with cream, and 3) topped with glaze.
Among the other signature items that will be featured at Dominque Ansel Las Vegas are the DKA (Dominique's Kouign Amann), described as similar to a caramelized croissant, the Cookie Shot, a warm chocolate chip cookie shaped like a shot glass, filled to order with homemade cold-infused Madagascan vanilla milk, and Frozen S'mores, which have a center of Madagascan vanilla bean ice cream covered in crispy chocolate feuilletine, and then wrapped in honey marshmallow and torched to order, served on a smoked willow wood branch for an authentic campfire flavor.
“I am thrilled to be heading out West and opening a new shop in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace next year,” Ansel said in a statement. “We have known the Caesars team for several years and truly believe that we are aligned in quality and creativity to bring something special to visitors and locals alike. We are quite conservative in where we choose to grow and open our shops, and at the end of the day, it is all about the team you build. There is so much talent in Las Vegas and we are excited to be amongst some of the best. As with all our shops, we will be developing brand new items inspired by our new home and limited-edition exclusives just for Las Vegas, so expect some delicious surprises.”
Caesars Entertainment regional president Sean McBurney added: “Our relationship with Dominique dates back many years and we have long spoken about bringing his incredible talent to Las Vegas. We are delighted that the time is right to create something true to Dominique's incredible vision and unique to Caesars Palace. For more than 55 years, Caesars Palace has brought extraordinary experiences to our guests. We are proud of our legacy in the food and beverage space, and we know Dominque Ansel Las Vegas will raise the bar, yet again, with its innovative creations and unforgettable confections.”
