Wolfgang Puck: 'Vegas' TV Restaurant

By JULIETTE ROSSANT When you've opened as many restaurants as Wolfgang Puck, what territory is left to venture into -- except Television? Well, this morning (so early that we first heard from Australia -- thanks, Chef Benjamin Christie), Reuters ran a story by The Hollywood Reporter that as of January 9, 2006, the chef will join NBC's drama Las Vegas. Wolf will appear in one of his own restaurants at the "Montecito Resort & Casino" on the Vegas set. Show creator and producer Gary Scott Thompson explained to THR that the chef's company helped finance the cost of building a real-life restaurant for the show on the "Montecito" set, just as car maker Aston Martin and others had financed replicas of their businesses at Culver Studios in Culver City (CA). Thompson claimed he did not know and NBC would not say whether Puck or others had to "pay additional product placement fees to NBC or commit to media buys." One thing is certain: "top-of-the-line appliances from NBC parent company GE" will receive prominent placement in Wolf's restaurant kitchen. Either everyone involved has done their homework and gotten the basic story straight, or Wolf is truly so famous that the PR people have not failed to mention, as Thomson did to THR that "Wolfgang Puck is the man who originally brought world-class cuisine to Las Vegas, revolutionizing dining in sin city." Ergo, "Wolfgang's restaurant is the perfect dining destination for the characters of Las Vegas. " (Wolfgang Puck's expansion into Las Vegas is detailed in his profile chapter in Super Chef, pp. 7-48.) Sometimes, though, TV people do seem to mix fact and fiction. For instance, Thompson also said, "He'll be opening Wolfgang Puck at the Montecito, which is his seventh Las Vegas restaurant." Hang on! The TV set is in Culver City (conveniently close to Wolfgang Puck's corporate headquarters and to Spago Beverly Hills). The fictional location is Las Vegas.......? Never mind that, Thompson said to THR. "What really benefits us is that it's a real restaurant and he's a real person." Eat your hearts out, previously televised chefs: Wolf has just landed himself a part on NBC prime time that Superchefblog bets will last (and augment) Las Vegas for the life of the show. In typical Wolf style, he has distilled the essence of what makes for the proper place of Food in prime time television: a small but prominent part. Let other Media-aspiring chefs take careful heed. Super chefs: Wolfgang Puck Previous articles: [complete Food Television] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, television --> back to superchefblog