Greene St. Kitchen is now open at the Palms.
Sunday, March 31, 2019 | 2 a.m.
If you caught local chef Lanny Chin dominating a recent episode of Food Network cooking competition show “Chopped,” you already know that the Cleveland native has been working his way around Las Vegas for years now and that he brings considerable skills to the table.
You also know that Chin’s family is the source of his inspiration and the biggest influencing factor that put him in the kitchen in the first place.
“We were filming for about 16 hours and it was this emotional roller coaster,” Chin says of his TV victory. “You spend the whole day cooking and being judged and there’s a bit of probing your personal life, too. It’s exhausting. The reward is amazing, way past the $10,000 prize, because the reach of that show is huge. People I know in Cleveland, Chicago, Alaska, all over were sending lots of texts and love.”
Lanny Chin
On the show, Chin got emotional when talking about his family, especially his three children who live in Cleveland. But his grandfather, who worked for years as a chef in the same city, passed away before he could see Chin’s episode air, so this seemingly simple TV experience ended up holding a lot more meaning.
“He worked a restaurant in downtown Cleveland called the Theatrical Grill which eventually closed down and was [rumored to be] a mob front,” Chin says. “For him 30 years ago, being a chef wasn’t was being a chef is now. It was thankless and low-paying and there was a lot of stress and alcoholism and drug use around him. The thought then was if you can’t do anything else, you can work in the kitchen. He never wanted me to be a chef.”
Chin says his grandfather came to realize the perception of the profession had changed over time and eventually wrote a letter expressing how proud he was that his grandson had followed in his footsteps.
A serious work ethic has helped Chin navigate the competitive restaurant world in Las Vegas, where he has cooked at Eat downtown, PKWY Tavern on West Flamingo Road and now with Clique Hospitality working on various venues at the Palms. The newest restaurant at the renovated Station Casinos property, Greene St. Kitchen, provided Chin his biggest opportunity to yet to show Vegas diners what he’s got.
“Coming into Vegas, you find a mix of food and service and throw gaming into the mix, and there’s definitely more showmanship involved,” he says. “Greene St. Kitchen is a totally different concept. All the artwork and the décor is beyond interesting, so different than anything I’ve ever seen. And the food is different as well.”
The dynamic new 5,000-square-foot eatery, where Chin is working with fellow veteran Vegas chef Joseph Zanelli, is focused on Asian fusion but its menu dabbles in a little bit of everything. Shared plates include Philly cheesesteak eggrolls, Thai beef lettuce cups, King Crab tempura and buffalo wings. There are plant-based dishes and raw bar and handroll selections, and entrees include curry-crusted lamb, the “ultimate burger” and a stuffed lobster.
“We do this really amazing lobster pasta that, when you look at it, it has a certain simplicity to it. It just looks like spaghetti and bacon and lobster meat but a lot of time and effort goes into making the lobster cream sauce that’s the core of the dish,” Chin says. “That’s a lot of what we’re doing on this menu, simplicity with a lot of effort behind the scenes.”
Greene St. Kitchen is open daily from 5 p.m. to midnight at the Palms.
