With so many great things to offer, it's no surprise that Chef Chen couldn't name just one favorite thing about his restaurant. Instead, he told us, he loves "the whole package," including the ambiance and the people. "When Steve Wynn wants to build a hotel or restaurant he really hires the best people," he says. "And he himself takes the time and is very detailed in planning for the whole package. Walking into the restaurant is very impressive and the back of the house, equipment and work spaces for the employees were designed incredibly; they allow us to get food out on time or even faster because of the detail and thoughtful, perfectly executed plan. It's great to combine that for a successful restaurant."
Ultimately, though, the experience at Wing Lei is all about the food, so we naturally wondered, where does Chef Chen find the inspiration for his extensive menu and phenomenal tasting menus? "In terms of menu inspiration, we are always searching for ways to get ingredients into Las Vegas," Chef Chen says. "Las Vegas is in the middle of the desert; for vegetables and seafood, if you go to a good Asian restaurant you'll find that this combination is the most important combination of ingredients. The selling point is that the seafood has to be live. The shellfish and the fish are all live and need to be served right away. The challenge was that we had to ensure that we had a seafood purveyor who could deliver the fish at least two times per week from California, and had to go to the ports and sometimes the airport to receive the live fish from Asia. It's very hard to come by, but for special Asian guests, anything with live seafood they will buy right away."