[Executive Chef Zach Allen
A pair of orange Crocs clogs also graces the hostess stand at B&B Ristorante. Celebrity-chef and owner Mario Batali is rarely seen wearing anything else. Allen puts a lot of miles on his pair as he bounces back and forth between B&B Ristorante and the Enoteca San Marco upstairs.
Allen has been part of Batali's team for almost 10 years, and was tapped four years ago to be the executive chef at B&B Ristorante.
Being a chef, he said, is in his blood. "Both of my grandmothers were in the food industry," Allen said. "I decided I wanted to be a chef at 16 or 17."
The Washington native travelled east to study at Johnson and Wales in Rhode Island, and then headed to the Big Apple for a stint at La Riserve. Allen then secured an internship in Paris, and returned to work the kitchen at the four-star, four-diamond Beverly's at the Coeur d'Alene Resort in Idaho.
Allen decided he wanted to work for someone like Mario Batali and sent his resume. Five days later he was working at Lupa in New York.
"It's still one of his best restaurants," Allen said. "It's so cramped, though, you have to take the ingredients and put them on a plate."
Allen worked his way up the ranks, with a promotion to sous chef within six months. Allen said the move to Las Vegas has been a good one.
"I was never really a New York kind of guy," he said. "And being here on the West Coast, I'm closer to home."
As for B&B, Allen said he concentrates on local business.
"People know it's going to be great food all the time here," he said. "And we have quite a local following. Something like 10 to 15 percent of our reservations are locals, and that's a great start."
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