Chinois chef finally finds home

Wherever chef Terence Fong goes, awards for culinary excellence seem to follow. Fong has worked for numerous restaurants since he graduated from UNLV after moving to Las Vegas in 1979 from his native Honolulu. But his career has only recently come full circle.

Fong started at the bottom of the restaurant industry at Caesars Palace and worked his way up to being a chef at Palace Court. His professional career took him to Gatsby's in the MGM and Osaka in Summerlin and finally to Malibu Chan's, which he left to join the high profile team at Chinois.

Fong has added his own special Eurasian cooking flair to each of the establishments he's graced, and in some cases, taken it with him when he left. Until recently, Fong jumped from local restaurants every few years until he found a place where his talents could blossom. Since he's been the executive chef at Chinois inside the Forum Shops at Caesars, Fong feels like he's truly found a home.

"Promises have been made, and sometimes people haven't kept them," Fong said of jumping around the city's restaurants. "What can you do but just keep going til you find the right give and take."

Fong's journey from being a runner to a small catering operator and now a well-known executive chef began at home. He learned various styles of cooking from his parents and siblings.

Until he started working at Chinois, his expertise lay in Japanese, French, Italian and continental dishes. Although he enjoyed Chinese food, he said he only had a limited knowledge of how to prepare it. That's part of what makes his job a little more interesting. The wealth of culinary knowledge between Fong and the other chefs is a shared learning experience.

"I haven't even got started here yet," Fong said of learning and growing as a chef. "I still have to go to Chinois in Santa Monica so I can learn more about the style of cooking."

Although he arrived just before the restaurant scene in Las Vegas took off, Fong said in a bizarre irony, he knew it was going to boom when celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck arrived with Spago. Fong now has the chance to congregate with Puck as a high level employee.

"I guess I saw it about 10 or 11 years ago when (Puck) came here, and when I was working at Palace Court," Fong said. "That was the place where you wanted to be seen. When he came in, he started the change and now it's ballooned up."

Although he hasn't tweaked the menu at Chinois yet, Fong said changes will eventually occur. Right now he's just trying to acclimate himself to the increased volume of customers. Chinois, since the opening of Club OPM, a chic lounge upstairs from the restaurant, has attracted more visitors and at later times.

The restaurant also experienced a recent redecoration, which Fong said makes the establishment a little more "warm and fuzzy."

"This is a great corporation," Fong said. "I feel like I can flourish here. I think I bring to the table one part of fusing three chefs together. I think it's combining great minds together to come up with a great menu."

Fong said customers who have followed his blossoming career have found his latest spot and are now becoming regulars.

His decision to stay in primarily neighborhood restaurants for the last few years was based on the fact that he had two younger children. Now that his son, Danial, 14, and daughter, Stefani, 16, are both in high school, Fong feels comfortable going back to the often long hours and hectic life of a chef on the Strip.

"I'm learning a different type of cooking, I know my French, Italian and Japanese, but this is different," Fong said. "I always go out and eat Chinese food and I know some of the cooking, but this is totally a new experience, and kind of a new start. My kids have given me the OK to come back to the Strip. They're saying, `Go ahead, dad, go back in there and plug away, try to flourish, and be happy.' "

Chinois opens daily at 11:30 a.m.


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