Courtesy of Isaac BrekkenOne of the country's biggest—and celeb chef-studded—food festivals in the country is coming right up: Bon Appetit's Vegas Uncork'd kicks off Thursday and runs through Sunday at various venues around Sin City.
Ahead of the festivities, we wrangled some fun facts to share about the participating chefs—who have a combined 84 Michelin stars and, hello, 750 years of experience—to whet your appetite. Take a bite of these tasty morsels about...
Mary Sue Milliken: This American chef and star of Too Hot Tamales was born in Michigan, and went by the childhood nicknames Little Mary Sunshine or Menna Nuncie (aww!). She's a Pisces, on the cusp of Aquarius, and says her favorite color is "always changing—today it's periwinkle, which are yummy to eat, too!" Past jobs include guest chef on a cruise ship—and her first food job in a doughnut shop at 14!
Michael Mina: This Egyptian-born chef started cooking professionally at 18—at the Space Needle in Seattle. He opened his first restaurant at 22, and now has 18 of them. He averages five hours of sleep nightly—at the most—and favors Grey Goose and soda for an after-work refresher. Kitchen injuries include stitches in a finger and palm, numerous burns (including one time he burned half his right leg), and once, he knocked himself unconscious after hitting his head in his restaurant Aqua—ouch!
Gordon Ramsay: Born in Scotland, Ramsay moved to England at 5. He now has 27 restaurants and has received (OMG) 11 Michelin stars. He says Paris is the best city for food in the world—and name checks 50 Shades of Grey as his favorite non-cookbook tome. Naughty!
Guy Savoy: For his first job, this French chef worked as an apprentice with the chocolate maker Louis Marchand. He now has restaurants in Paris, Las Vegas, Singapore and Doha. He's eaten at El Bulli five times, and twice at McDonald's.
Michel Richard: This chef comes from a baker father, and started cooking professionally at 14. The most expensive item on his restaurants' menus is foie gras with caviar and black and white truffle. He owns hundreds of monogrammed chef's jackets, thinks New York is the best eating city in the world, and claims Singapore Airlines has the best airplane food.