French chef found home on the range in Las Vegas Valley

      Growing up in France, Georges La Forge was fascinated with images of the Wild West.
      Little did he know that as an adult he would be a restaurateur who pioneered French cuisine in Las Vegas.
      La Forge, who is executive chef and owner of Pamplemousse, 400 E. Sahara Ave., as well as Hippo & the Wild Bunch, 4503 Paradise Road, came to Las Vegas 35 years ago to be near a "Lido de Paris" showgirl he had met in Paris.
      After working at a number of Strip resorts, La Forge opened Pamplemousse in June 1976 in what had been a massage parlor. It was the first French restaurant in town; Andre's followed shortly after.
      More than 20 years later, Las Vegas cuisine has grown in sophistication, causing La Forge concern for his business.
      "Now we have so many great restaurants in town. I was worried my business might go down, but it hasn't," he says. "Our advertisement advertisement is done more by word-of-mouth. We have always had repeat business."
      Business picks up during conventions, he says, and "sometimes we have reservations a year in advance (from conventiongoers)."
      Pamplemousse, which seats 80, is done up in French Provincial style, and has been at the same location since it opened.
      Born in North Africa of a schoolteacher mother and architect father, La Forge's mother became ill and the family had to move back to France when he was 9 years old.
      When he was 14, La Forge had dreams of becoming an architect like his father, but that involved using a lot of math. "I hated math," La Forge says. "I'm a more manual person than an intellectual person."
      So he learned cabinetry and at night worked as a dishwasher in a Nice restaurant. A year later he was a line cook, peeling potatoes and cleaning pots.
      Three years later he was in the cabinetry business, but by age 20 La Forge decided it was time to fulfill his military obligation. He served two years in the French air force in South Africa. When he came back he decided to go to work in Paris, a city he had never visited before. There he learned the restaurant business at a hotel school.
      But after a little more than two years in Paris, La Forge was fed up with the traffic and the high-pressure lifestyle.
      "I couldn't take it anymore," says La Forge, "so I decided to go to an open country, and Las Vegas was ideal."
      Although unable to speak English when he arrived in Las Vegas, today he's fluent in both languages.
      "I had to learn English, so I had to start at the bottom," La Forge says. "I didn't mind, I was 24 years old, I was young. I was a busboy for five weeks (at the Riviera)" before advancing to waiter and then captain. "When you're forced to learn, you learn fast."
      La Forge also worked at the Desert Inn, Caesars Palace, MGM Grand Hotel and the Tropicana.
      The Pamplemousse menu has a variety of dishes -- salmon and other fish, duck, rack of lamb, New York prime rib, lobster tails and veal. There are three or four recipes for each item, La Forge says.
      In addition, there are 10-12 a la carte items, including shrimp scampi, soft-shell crab and fettuccine.
      "We work mostly with what we find fresh at the market," La Forge says.
      While La Forge is the restaurant's executive chef, Oziel Gonzales is chef in charge of day-to-day food preparation in the Pamplemousse kitchen.
     
     CANARD MARTINIQUAISE
     (Duck With Bananas)
     
      1 large duck
      2 shallots or 1/2 small onion
      Water
      1 bay leaf
      Salt and pepper, to taste
      2 ounces Myers dark rum (divided use)
      1 ounce Cream of Banana liqueur (divided use)
      2 pinches cinnamon
      1 banana
      Flour
      2 ounces unsalted butter
      3 serving spoons cooking oil
      Debone the duck, separating the breast (leave the skin on). Leave just part of the bone in the drumstick. Cook the legs for approximately 25 minutes in a 350-degree oven until crisp and well done (the breasts will be cooked just before serving).
      Cut the carcass and remaining bones and brown in a casserole with chopped shallots or onions. Cook until brown, add 4 cups water, bay leaf, salt and pepper and let reduce by 1/4 cup of base. (Duck base can be substituted by Knorr brand Demi-Glace or brown sauce, both found in grocery stores).
      For the sauce, combine duck stock, 1 ounce rum, 1/2 ounce Cream of Bananas liqueur with salt and pepper and cinnamon.
      Prepare the banana slices by rolling them in flour and sauteing for 2 minutes in a little butter.
      When ready to serve, rub the duck breast with a little cooking oil, salt and pepper on both sides and pan-fry in a nonstick pan. Cook skin side first for 5 minutes. Turn over and cook the other side for 2 minutes. Remove all excess fat from pan.
      Flambe with 1 ounce of rum and deglaze with 1/2 ounce of Cream of Banana liqueur. Remove the breast and slice it at an angle in thin slices, fan the slices on the plate over the sauce and place a banana slice between each slice of meat. Present the leg in the middle of the plate and garnish with white or wild rice and green vegetables. Makes 2 servings.