Brioche at Caesars Palace offers taste of Guy Savoy for the rest of us

Guy Savoy, whose eponymous restaurant at Caesars Palace is considered one of the top toque tickets in Las Vegas, is arguably best known among foodies around the world for his artichoke and black-truffle soup, which is served with toasted mushroom brioche and black truffle butter. But soup-to-go tends to get a little messy.

And general manager Alain Alpe said the brioche itself is the subject of frequent requests, so Savoy’s team is featuring other varieties of it at the appropriately named Brioche, a grab-and-go spot that opened recently near Caesars’ main valet entrance.

It’s not just plain ol’ brioche, the rich bread that gets its tenderness from a surfeit of butter and egg. Brioche’s menu currently features sweet varieties such as exotic (coconut frangipane, diced dried pineapple and ginger), almond and candied fruit, Nutella and banana, peanut butter and jelly and cinnamon, while savory flavors are onion confit, prosciutto and cheese, and bacon, cheese and jalapeno. There also are Brioninis — basically, Brioche’s version of panini — in vegetarian, chicken pesto and prosciutto, tomato and cheese.

There’s another reason that mitigates against selling the grab-and-go soup, Alpe said: It’s priced at $75 on Restaurant Guy Savoy’s a la carte menu, while the food at Brioche runs $2 to $14 (with brioche priced at $4.95 each, three for $14 or six for $24. Madeleines are $2, Brioninis $13 and $14).

The Las Vegas Brioche actually had a forerunner, Gout de Brioche (“taste of brioche”) which is a few blocks from Savoy’s Paris restaurant.

“It opened about three years ago and has been very, very successful,” Alpe said.

Last year, the team decided to do something similar at Caesars Palace. They approached Caesars management about the plan and did the first tasting in November.

“It took a few months,” Alpe said. “That’s the only thing I was very particular about. It’s like eating a taste of the restaurant for people who can’t afford to come over here.”

Sebastien Polycarpe, pastry chef at Restaurant Guy Savoy, said he used some of the same flavors offered at the shop in Paris.

“And then we just played around with the chef, to arrive at something that we know American people would recognize and love to try,” Polycarpe said. So far, the most popular have been peanut butter and jelly, cinnamon and Nutella and banana among the sweet flavors, and prosciutto among the savory. The most popular sandwiches, he added, are vegetarian and chicken pesto.

And the Caesars Palace Brioche offers something the shop in Paris doesn’t: coffee. After hearing that visitors didn’t think the resort offered a good coffee shop, Alpe said, they decided to offer a coffee program at Brioche. Alpe wanted what he considered the best, Coperaco, a boutique roaster based in New York. Brioche offers a house blend plus cafe au lait, lattes, cappuccinos and mochas in two sizes, espresso, iced coffee, hot tea and cocoa, priced from $4.50 to $7.50 (bottled water and San Pellegrino sodas and Champagne, wine and beer also are available).

“So now we’ve got an excellent product and the best coffee there is,” Alpe said.

And Polycarpe promises the flavors won’t get stale. He plans to experiment with some new ones at the end of the summer, and possibly introduce special brioche for Halloween and Christmas.

Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Find more of her stories at www.reviewjournal.com, and follow @HKRinella on Twitter.