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Andre Rochat is Las Vegas' original celebrity chef. And, today, although he shares the limelight with some of America's most celebrated toques, Rochat remains the dean of Las Vegas chefs, with three award-winning venues and a dedication to standards as high as the 56th floor perch of one of his grandest restaurants, Alize, which overlooks the city from the top of the Palms Casino Resort. Rochat, was born in the French Alps, where his family owned a charcuterie in the village of La Rochette. After learning the business - and inheriting the gift of cooking from his mother - he left home at 14 to apprentice at Leon de Lyon, the renowned Michelin two-star restaurant in the heart of Lyon, the cradle of French gastronomy. Andre's first professional cooking job was close to his home, at the Hotel du Mont-Blanc in Megeve, and was shortly followed with a military assignment as chef to a French naval commander, a prestigious appointment for a rising culinary star. |
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In 1965 Rochat departed France, arriving in Boston with nothing but $5, a bagful of knives and a head full of youthful dreams. After cooking at several prestigious East Coast hotels including Boston's Charter House and Washington's Mayflower and a stint as in-flight chef for United Airlines, he drifted west, eventually landing in Las Vegas. In 1973, after noticing the absence of an authentic French boulangerie in Las Vegas, Chef Andre Rochat opened Savoy French Bakery which quickly became very popular and successful.
1980 brought the opening of his eponymous first French restaurant, the quaint and elegant Andre's, which would eventually become one of Las Vegas' most venerable and acclaimed establishments. |
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