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Culinary Clash Master Chef Competition Returns to The Venetian for a Second ‘Smack Down’ – Day One

On Friday night, The Venetian and The Palazzo Las Vegas kicked off the second annual Culinary Clash Master Chef Competition at Doge’s Palace. Known as the most outrageous chef competition on the Las Vegas Strip, chefs from the resorts faced off against one another, 16 in total, with Emeril Lagasse himself, serving as one of the judges and Robin Leach as the host. 

Each chef was asked to create a dish from ingredients found moments before in a “mystery basket,” which were then prepared in mobile “food truck” kitchens.

In addition, a new element was added this year, Masters of Mixology, a decidedly spirited competition among resort bartenders, hosted by master mixologist Dale Degroff. During the competition, two teams headed by celebrity mixologists Tony Abou-Ganim and Francesco Lafranconi, led a team of four bartenders. The teams competed in two rounds including a blind tasting and presentation of aperitivo, of which team Team Lafranconi came out on top.

Eight chefs, including Tim Doolittle of Table 10, Levi Hill of Aquanox, Ronnie Rainwater of Delmonico, Stefan Peroutka of Palazzo Las Vegas, Jon Um of SushiSamba, Donna Willey of Taqueria Canonita, Joshua Bianchi of Venetian Las Vegas and Chaisith Crook of Tao, have been selected to move on to round two of the Culinary Clash Master Chef Competition, set to be held tonight night at 7pm Doge’s Palace.

Teams Abou-Ganim and Lafranconi will also return to compete in the last three rounds of Masters of Mixology, set to be held tonight night at 7:30pm at Doge’s Palace.

To learn more about Winter In Venice taking place now through Sunday, January 5, please visit venetian.com.