/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70154260/Chef_Dominique_Ansel___photo_by_Brent_Herrig.0.jpg)
Back in 2013, New York-based pastry chef Dominique Ansel flipped the doughnut game when he introduced the Cronut, a combination of a croissant with its flaky layers and a doughnut, only fried in grape seed oil. Since then, every pastry shop from Las Vegas to Singapore to Berlin tried to duplicate the Cronut, but only Ansel has the secret original recipe that takes up to three days to complete.
Now Las Vegas gets its chance to order them rolled in sugar, stuffed with cream, or topped with glaze when Ansel opens the first outpost of his eponymous bakery at Caesars Palace next to Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill in summer 2022.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23020586/DKA___photo_credit_Thomas_Schauer.jpg)
Dominique Ansel Las Vegas plans to serve more than the Cronut. The DKA (Dominique’s kouign amann) is somewhat like a caramelized croissant with flaky layers inside and a caramelized crunchy crust outside. Surprisingly, it’s the bestselling item at his Soho location in New York City, outselling even the Cronut. The Cookie Shot brings a warm chocolate chip cookie shaped like a shot glass and filled with Madagascan vanilla milk for a riff on milk and cookies. Frozen S’mores come with a center of Madagascan vanilla bean ice cream covered in crispy chocolate feuilletine, and then wrapped in honey marshmallow and torched to order. They come on a smoked willow wood branch to replicate that campfire experience.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23020592/Dominique_Ansel_Bakery___Cronut__2___credit_Thomas_Schauer.jpg)
That Cronut took more than two months and 10 recipes to perfect before it rolled out to the public. Ansel laminates the dough and then proofs it before frying it in grape seed oil. All are made in-house, with a new flavor introduced monthly in each location and never repeated.
In Las Vegas, diners can expect a cafe setting and a retail area.
Ansel joins Bobby Flay with his Italian restaurant Amalfi and Bobby’s Burgers, Giada De Laurentiis with her Pronto by Giada, Lisa Vanderpump with Vanderpump Cocktail Garden, Guy Savoy with Restaurant Guy Savoy, and Gordon Ramsay, who also has Gordon Ramsay Hell’s Kitchen as well as Gordon Ramsay Pub, at Caesars Palace.