Andrew Zimmern Talks about His Love Affair with Vegas

Las Vegas Weekly spent some time with Andrew Zimmern while he was in town to film Bizarre Foods. His view of Vegas, a city he’s visited every year for 30 years, has certainly changed.

“?if you were a famous chef in New York you would have your No. 2 guy with you in New York so you could have the days off and the No. 3 guy would run the satellite restaurant out here. Now you have your best people out here, because you have to. Everyone always famously says the hotels throw all this money at the chefs. The hotels now are interviewing chefs. You’ve got to come with financing to play ball. The competitive environment has spawned a maturity in the food scene here that is emblematic of the city.”

Most interesting? Zimmern talks about how Vegas let out his evil side.

“I’m sort of an evil cherub—but there was a period in my life when I was a very bad, naughty man, and Vegas was the perfect place for me during the worst parts of my life. And I’ve had some fantastic parts of my life here. ? There’s an allure here that most cities don’t have. There’s also a personality to this city that a lot of places don’t have.”