Jean Paul Labadie
You were born and raised in Puerto Rico. You have a Spanish and Italian background, but you're known for cooking French food. How does that diversity influence your style?
Jean Paul Labadie: I was born in Puerto Rico and spent my first 19 years there on the island. My grandparents on my mom's side are Spanish, and then my great grandparents, one is French and one is Italian. They all cooked a lot, but especially the French side of the family, and that's how I got stuck with a French name. But of course I studied French technique in school, and then when you're in America, nothing is sacred. You take it and turn it and put your own twist on it. But there is a lot of diversity in my background and even though we are a French bistro, we offer these different things. There are some Asian items on the menu, because those tend to be a little lighter. Sometimes the French menu can get a little heavy, especially these days when so many are trying to eat healthy. But all the chefs here grew up differently, and we have those influences on the menu.
You spent many years working for Emeril Lagasse's company, under him in New Orleans and then here in Las Vegas at Emeril's in MGM Grand and Table 10 at Palazzo. What was it like working with such a big name?
Most of my family has been in New Orleans for forty years, so I was always in and out of the city. After I went to school and started cooking, I figured, my family is there, I've got a spare bedroom there and it would be a great place to work. I was lucky to get hired at Emeril's right away. This was before he was on TV. He was still in the restaurant, in the kitchen all the time, and I learned a lot from him. Then when it was time to open in Vegas, because I am bilingual in English and Spanish, they took me. But yes, I was with Emeril before he became what he is now, and that was a cool thing for us. We saw this chef that was so great, to come from Commander's (Palace) and opening his own places, and then doing all this other stuff, TV and more. We saw it all happen before our eyes. He went to just this awesome chef to an owner of an empire he created all on his own. Him and his partners, they did it from the ground up, and he's still one of the hardest working people ever. He always led by example. He was always in the kitchen, always telling us what he was doing. He was a great teacher.
What made you want to leave the big restaurant scene on the Strip to come to Marche Bacchus?
When you work with someone like Emeril, you have to agree, it's the Emeril show. No matter how good you are, it's still his show. And I agreed with it. I enjoyed running his restaurant. That was great at that point and I was able to develop my own system under his. After 14 years -- and I'm not comparing myself to Emeril in any way -- I thought I have the skills now and it's time to do something myself, to market my own name. It was just time for me to do my own thing. This allows me that focus, to focus on Jean Paul.
What are the differences between running a restaurant on the Strip and doing it in the neighborhood?
People tell me all the time, "Oh you must be so relaxed now than on the Strip, it must be so much easier." But really, it's not. On the Strip you have so much volume, and you are just taking care of your name, but there you don't see the same people every week or even every month. At a local restaurant, you really have to bring your A game every single day. On the Strip, a high roller might come in and spend a bunch of money and you'll never see him again. You don't have that luxury in a neighborhood restaurant. The kitchen is much larger there and it's easier to work, and you're staff is much larger. Here, it's just you and your sous chef, really. You can't delegate too much. The buck stops with you. And you don't have the luxuries of the Strip, you don't have an office. You're doing your paperwork on the kitchen counter. There are just a lot of things you have to do on the fly and be more hands on. Sometimes on the strip, as an executive chef, you become more of a manager and you're not on the line so often. Here I'm on the line four or five nights a week, on top of doing all that other cool stuff.
Marche Bacchus always has been known for its lakeside views and wine program, and now in the last year since you've been there, the cuisine is earning a reputation of its own. What was your strategy in enhancing this restaurant?
It was a challenge, especially with the lunch menu. It has been very popular over the years and everyone knows it. They said, the regulars just want to come in and have a lobster croissant. People said don't touch that sandwich. It was just, let's have a bottle of Riesling by the lake with a lobster croissant. But on the other hand, you have to give something new a chance, be patient with me. Some things we kept, and others not. But the main thing was going back to the basics. Now we are roasting our own bones, makeing our own stocks, soups and sauces. That wasn't done here before, and it's a tough challenge to take on. Sometimes you don't want to mess with the equation. If it worked well, why change it, right? But why would I want to come in and do the same thing that was done before? Everyone here understood that, and now the menu is more complicated. You know, our tuna dish takes four pans to complete it. Our salmon, before it took three and now it takes six different spacs on the line to work on. These are the little details, but that's what we are doing: coming in and breaking it down, the traditional French style, and rebuilding it. One thing we completely re-did was the onion soup. We're just taking more time with it, really caramelizing the onions, cooking it down 45 minutes to an hour. I guess, with things like that, we really complicated our lives a lot. But it's definitely better for our guests.
You've been cooking in Las Vegas for quite some time now. How have you seen the restaurant scene change over the years?
It's funny because when I first came here, it was just Emeril and Wolfgang (Puck). We were the only two celebrity restaurants in the city so we were always busy. Now you have all the Food Network names here and the competition on the Strip went nuts in just two or three years. We really had to re-invent the wheel every year just to compete. And that translated into the neighborhoods. In Summerlin, it used to be just Rosemary's. When that place opened, people went crazy because now you have a Strip-quality restaurant in the neighborhood, and then other places started popping up. Now we have places like Vintner Grill, Nora's and others and the competition in our neighborhood is almost as strong as it is on the Strip. And we've got that locals factor so you have to do all you can because when people have extra money to spend, they want to know they're spending it well when they go out to eat. They want to know the food will come well prepared and it's not going to be a crapshoot. We are still a little off the beaten path, and I think people still think of chains first when they decide to go out. But there are a lot of people coming back to us now because they forgot about Marche for a while and they are curious about visiting again.
You have lived in the area for a few years. Where do you and your family like to eat?
It varies a lot. If I'm not cooking for or taking care of the family, or eating at home after work, we like to go to the late night places. You know, you are tasting all through work, all night, but you never sit down to have dinner or a glass of wine. We eat sushi often after hours. Sushi Mon is one of my favorites. For something different we might go to Sedona. They have a nice bar area and a nice menu. And then of course you have places like Kona Grill with its crazy happy hours.
What is coming up at Marche Bacchus?
Well we are about to change a lot in the next week or so, the first week of March, for spring. We won't change the whole menu, but we'll do about three items in each category, appetizers, salads and entrees. The weather is going to nice very soon and of course we have that great view of the lake. Those tables are going to fill up fast so it's definitely time to start making reservations.
What made you want to leave the big restaurant scene on the Strip to come to Marche Bacchus?
When you work with someone like Emeril, you have to agree, it's the Emeril show. No matter how good you are, it's still his show. And I agreed with it. I enjoyed running his restaurant. That was great at that point and I was able to develop my own system under his. After 14 years -- and I'm not comparing myself to Emeril in any way -- I thought I have the skills now and it's time to do something myself, to market my own name. It was just time for me to do my own thing. This allows me that focus, to focus on Jean Paul.
What are the differences between running a restaurant on the Strip and doing it in the neighborhood?
People tell me all the time, "Oh you must be so relaxed now than on the Strip, it must be so much easier." But really, it's not. On the Strip you have so much volume, and you are just taking care of your name, but there you don't see the same people every week or even every month. At a local restaurant, you really have to bring your A game every single day. On the Strip, a high roller might come in and spend a bunch of money and you'll never see him again. You don't have that luxury in a neighborhood restaurant. The kitchen is much larger there and it's easier to work, and you're staff is much larger. Here, it's just you and your sous chef, really. You can't delegate too much. The buck stops with you. And you don't have the luxuries of the Strip, you don't have an office. You're doing your paperwork on the kitchen counter. There are just a lot of things you have to do on the fly and be more hands on. Sometimes on the strip, as an executive chef, you become more of a manager and you're not on the line so often. Here I'm on the line four or five nights a week, on top of doing all that other cool stuff.
Marche Bacchus always has been known for its lakeside views and wine program, and now in the last year since you've been there, the cuisine is earning a reputation of its own. What was your strategy in enhancing this restaurant?
It was a challenge, especially with the lunch menu. It has been very popular over the years and everyone knows it. They said, the regulars just want to come in and have a lobster croissant. People said don't touch that sandwich. It was just, let's have a bottle of Riesling by the lake with a lobster croissant. But on the other hand, you have to give something new a chance, be patient with me. Some things we kept, and others not. But the main thing was going back to the basics. Now we are roasting our own bones, makeing our own stocks, soups and sauces. That wasn't done here before, and it's a tough challenge to take on. Sometimes you don't want to mess with the equation. If it worked well, why change it, right? But why would I want to come in and do the same thing that was done before? Everyone here understood that, and now the menu is more complicated. You know, our tuna dish takes four pans to complete it. Our salmon, before it took three and now it takes six different spacs on the line to work on. These are the little details, but that's what we are doing: coming in and breaking it down, the traditional French style, and rebuilding it. One thing we completely re-did was the onion soup. We're just taking more time with it, really caramelizing the onions, cooking it down 45 minutes to an hour. I guess, with things like that, we really complicated our lives a lot. But it's definitely better for our guests.
You've been cooking in Las Vegas for quite some time now. How have you seen the restaurant scene change over the years?
It's funny because when I first came here, it was just Emeril and Wolfgang (Puck). We were the only two celebrity restaurants in the city so we were always busy. Now you have all the Food Network names here and the competition on the Strip went nuts in just two or three years. We really had to re-invent the wheel every year just to compete. And that translated into the neighborhoods. In Summerlin, it used to be just Rosemary's. When that place opened, people went crazy because now you have a Strip-quality restaurant in the neighborhood, and then other places started popping up. Now we have places like Vintner Grill, Nora's and others and the competition in our neighborhood is almost as strong as it is on the Strip. And we've got that locals factor so you have to do all you can because when people have extra money to spend, they want to know they're spending it well when they go out to eat. They want to know the food will come well prepared and it's not going to be a crapshoot. We are still a little off the beaten path, and I think people still think of chains first when they decide to go out. But there are a lot of people coming back to us now because they forgot about Marche for a while and they are curious about visiting again.
You have lived in the area for a few years. Where do you and your family like to eat?
It varies a lot. If I'm not cooking for or taking care of the family, or eating at home after work, we like to go to the late night places. You know, you are tasting all through work, all night, but you never sit down to have dinner or a glass of wine. We eat sushi often after hours. Sushi Mon is one of my favorites. For something different we might go to Sedona. They have a nice bar area and a nice menu. And then of course you have places like Kona Grill with its crazy happy hours.
What is coming up at Marche Bacchus?
Well we are about to change a lot in the next week or so, the first week of March, for spring. We won't change the whole menu, but we'll do about three items in each category, appetizers, salads and entrees. The weather is going to nice very soon and of course we have that great view of the lake. Those tables are going to fill up fast so it's definitely time to start making reservations.
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