marlene karas/viewExecutive Chef Roland Levi runs Six Tables, located at 2110 N. Rampart Blvd. There are only six tables, and the menu changes nightly.
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They told them it couldn't be done. How could they expect to have a successful restaurant with only six tables?
But chefs Roland and Gail Levi asked themselves how could they not succeed? After all, they were experienced chefs who had prepared meals for Princess Diana, former House Speaker Tip O'Neill and United Kingdom Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Ten years and five thriving restaurants later, the Levis have introduced their brand of dining to Summerlin, opening Six Tables in October.
"There's a French saying, 'gajure,' " Roland Levi said. "It means, You've got to have guts."
The Summerlin location marks the couple's sixth Six Tables restaurant. It is located at 2110 N. Rampart Blvd., on the southeast corner of Lake Mead Boulevard. It operates on a reservation only basis and its seating is precisely at 7 p.m.
Key to the operation is having diners come at the same time to maximize efficiency.
"Everyone told us, 'You'll never get them to do that,' " Gail Levi recalled.
Not only did patrons do that, they told their friends to do that, too. Now, the restaurant is filled every night, the Levis said.
After diners are greeted with a glass of champagne and hors d'oeuvres, Roland Levi introduces himself as the host chef and recites his training, along with the evening's selections.
The six-course, prix fixe menu offers a choice of five entrees, such as chateaubriand bearnaise, duckling a l'orange and baby rack of lamb. Side dishes follow the season for the freshest ingredients. French wines accompany the $80-per-person meal.
Dishes are served on various patterns of bone china, found on the couple's antiquing trips. The couple has one serving dish that's 110 years old.
"We want you to have the feeling that you're invited into someone's home, not someplace that sends you to the bar with a buzzer until your table is ready," Roland Levi said.
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman took his wife, Carolyn, to Six Tables soon after it opened on the fringe of Summerlin.
"When we were there, my wife and I felt like we were back on our honeymoon," he said.
It's not just the intimate, candlelit ambience that keeps diners coming back. It's the magic Roland and Gail Levi work into the cuisine, they said.
The Belgium-born Roland Levi, 68, trained at L'Ecole Culinaire des Arts et Metiers in Brussels. In the 1970s, he came to America and settled in Birmingham, Ala., where he met his wife. They teamed up to form a successful personal chef service. Word spread of their talent and the couple was soon enticed to New York City, hired by an investment bank as corporate chefs, Roland Levi explained. He said they prepared meals for the business elite of New York City, which often included visiting dignitaries and international figures.
Three years later, the Levis opened their first Six Tables restaurant in Dunedin, near St. Petersburg, Fla. That was in 1998. Word spread with their first newspaper mention, and combined with word of mouth, they were continually booked.
The couple added other restaurants across the U.S. Those establishments are now operating under licensing agreements with hand chosen chefs.
The latest Zagat survey named Six Tables one of America's Top Restaurants in the country, something it has done consistently since 2004. It's a fact the Levis happily point out to those who told them that it couldn't be done.
For more information on Six Tables, call 256-2060.
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