HotelChatter

To be held on May 17-20, the Bon Appétit's Culinary & Wine Focus will, in short, be a "celebrity chef experience" hosted by the magazine's editor-in-chief Barbara Fairchild and its executive chef Cat Cora, featuring some of the top chefs in Vegas and in the world.

So how did this celeb chef craze come about in Vegas?

Foster says one of the reasons why opening an outpost in Vegas has become more and more appealing to famous chefs is simply because the "hotels give them carte blanche, total creative freedom", meaning they can bring in the best interior designers to create the best ambience, develop a menu of their dreams and most importantly, they can cook with the finest ingredients, such as fresh seafood from the Adriatic flown in everyday as one Wynn restaurant does.

What celeb chef wouldn't want to have a restaurant here? And even better, foodies--especially those on the West Coast--don't have to haul themselves over to New York, London or Paris to enjoy these gourmet sensations.

With the foodies in mind, Bon Appétit created an "ultimate access" event, focusing on the restaurants and chefs found at three High Rollers---The Bellagio, Caesars Palace and Wynn Las Vegas, as well as the Lake Las Vegas Resort area.

Here we have listed what's going on at these hotels along with a few of Vegas's other top foodie stops.

· WYNN LAS VEGAS: There's nothing but the finest restaurants here for Steve Wynn's namesake hotel--Alex (helmed by Alessandro Stratta) Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare, Daniel Boulud Brasserie, and SW Steakhouse. During Bon Appétit's culinary focus, Wynn will host a high-stakes wine auction at Alex (with Steve-o himself making an appearance) and the hotel's lounge Lure will host a "cocktail smackdown", essentially a workshop on the latest cocktailing trends.

· THE BELLAGIO: The biggest name in restaurants here is Le Cirque but Michael Mina has his own outpost here as does Todd English's Olives and a pastry shop by Jean-Philippe Pâtisserie. During the culinary focus, the hotel's Tuscany Kitchen, an exhibition kitchen, will host two morning and two afternoon sessions each day, where you can learn some of the celeb chefs cooking secrets.

· CAESARS PALACE: Here's where a lot of the Bon Appétit magic will happen with the Master Series kick-off event. Fairchild, Cora, and food critics Alan Richman and Rand Richards Cooper will host intimate dinners at the hotel's Restaurant Guy Savoy, Bradley Ogden, Rao's and Mesa Grill (Bobby Flay.) Also being held here is a Grand Tasting by the pool where Las Vegas chefs will have the town's A-List personalities (Barry Manilow?) serving as sous-chefs to cook up a foodie's dream cuisine.

· THE VENETIAN: Thomas Keller has his famous Bouchon restaurant here and the Tao Asian Bistro (and nightclub) has become a celeb-fave and a guaranteed spot to find Kevin Federline when he's in town. But also making an appearance here is Wolfgang Puck's Postrio and Emeril's Delmonico Steakhouse.

· MGM GRAND: Back in the late 1990s this place prided itself on its casual Wolfgang Puck eatery. Today it has Joel Robuchon's formal (prix fixe) and less formal (L'atelier) restaurants, Craftsteak by Tom Colicchio, two Michael Mina restaurants and again, a Wolfgang Puck and an Emeril shop. Never fear you can still kick it WT style at the Rainforest Cafe.

· MANDALAY BAY: We've made no secret of our love for MIX by Alain Ducasse in THEhotel, but we still have yet to check out Aureole (Charlie Palmer) with its three story wine tower (which attendants scale use climbing gear to fetch your wine selections) and Fleur de Lys (Hubert Keller), a AAA four diamond restaurant.

Tickets for the Bon Appétit Culinary Focus are on sale at the event's web site through May 1, and are available for individual events as well as in two package options, allowing you to attend almost every event. (Extra bonus: the John Legend concert at Lake Las Vegas is part of the weekend.)

As for hitting up Vegas restaurants on your own, Rule #1: make your reservations in advance. Rule #2: A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips. Just kidding.

Click here to go straight to the Viva Las Vegas Hotel Map