The name Wolfgang Puck is synonymous with the best in restaurant hospitality; the ultimate in all aspects of the culinary arts. The famed chef has built a brand that encompasses three companies: Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group, Wolfgang Puck Catering, and Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, Inc. His restaurant, American Grille at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, is one of the crown jewels of Atlantic City.  We spoke to the famed chef about his successful restaurants and future plans.

With Executive Chef Aram Mardigian at the reins, culinary legend Wolfgang Puck has brought his innovative American Grille to Borgata. Guests can indulge in upscale comfort food offerings such as truffle potato chips with Point Reyes Blue Cheese; smoked salmon pizza; and the grilled prime burger with onion marmalade and Vermont Cheddar. The restaurant’s extensive wine list perfectly pairs distinctive wines from around the world with the menu’s delicious American Cuisine offerings.

Guests can choose between an elevated dining terrace that overlooks Borgata’s pedestrian walkway and the perfect setting for people watching, or in the dining room, a sophisticated dining experience complete with an inviting fireplace.

At this point Puck’s career is practically legendary. After starting out in Europe’s finest restaurant he moved to Los Angeles as chef of Ma Maison in West Hollywood.
From there he went on to create his first flagship restaurant, Spago, originally located in West Hollywood on the Sunset Strip. From its opening day in 1982, Spago was an instant success and culinary phenomenon. Spago earned many accolades during its popular eighteen years in West Hollywood, including winning the prestigious James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Chef of the Year, twice, in 1991 and 1998, and the James Beard Foundation Award for Restaurant of the Year in 1994. Puck is the only chef to have won the Outstanding Chef of the Year Award multiple times.

After 15 successful years in West Hollywood, Puck moved to an elegant setting on Canon Drive in Beverly Hills, in 1997. Spago Beverly Hills garnered two coveted Michelin Stars, one of only three Los Angeles restaurants to achieve this accolade.

Puck has changed the way Americans cook and eat by combining classic French techniques with California and Asian influences as well as the freshest and finest ingredients. He has also changed the face of dining in cities throughout the nation, first in Los Angeles, then in Las Vegas, where he was the first star chef to create a contemporary fine dining restaurant, paving the way for other celebrated chefs and the city’s metamorphosis into an acclaimed dining destination.

He went on to open six additional restaurants in the Las Vegas and multiple restaurants across the United States and abroad.  Wolfgang Puck American Grille at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa opened its doors in 2006.

Puck formed Wolfgang Puck Catering (WPC) in May 1998, alongside partner Carl Schuster. The company brings a new level of innovation and inspiration to special event and contract dining services for cultural, corporate and entertainment venues across the country. WPC offers a restaurant-quality experience in a special event setting for such high profile events as the annual Governors Ball, where Puck has been honored to serve as official chef for the post-Academy Awards celebrity banquet for over 20 years, as well as global business summits, film premieres, and presidential galas. WPC also is responsible for operating iconic cultural and architectural venues in major markets around the country, and provides creative, personalized in-house dining for Fortune 100 companies and studios.

The Wolfgang Puck casual dining segment includes a wide variety of concepts in varying venues globally. From airports and universities to hospitals, casinos and street-side restaurants, these concepts include over 50 locations with a portfolio that continues to expand. The menus rotate new, seasonal specials throughout the year, highlighting the local produce of the season, as well as organic options where possible. Locations featuring a bar also include a boutique wine list and cocktails developed by Wolfgang’s beverage team.

Concurrently with his restaurant and catering operations, Wolfgang Puck has made a name for himself as a communicator. His latest endeavor is the Wolfgang Puck Cooking School which launched in 2016 and offers home cooks a comprehensive and ever-growing online collection of instructional recipes, how-to techniques and more. Puck’s syndicated newspaper column, “Wolfgang Puck’s Kitchen,” appears in 30 newspapers in the United States and Canada, reaching more than 5.3 million people each week.

The chef is known to millions of television viewers who see him regularly on Home Shopping Network (HSN), where he demonstrates recipes using his growing line of Wolfgang Puck branded housewares. These include stainless steel cookware, small kitchen electrics such as panini grills, food processors, blenders and electric grills, flatware, cutlery, bakeware, his breakthrough pressure oven and other kitchen gadgets and tools. In addition to his branded housewares, Wolfgang Puck’s consumer products include a wide range of foods. He launched his first line of frozen food in 1987 to meet his customers’ desire to enjoy Spago-quality food at home. Currently available are Wolfgang’s All-Natural and Organic Soups and Estate Grown Organic Coffees.

HOMBRE: How do you feel about the developments at Wolfgang Puck American Grille?
Wolfgang Puck: We are here for ten years already. So it’s not new really but we are very excited. What’s great to see, is that every year the restaurant does better. We just talked to some people and they said, now between Aram (Executive Chef Aram Mardigian) and Anthony (General Manager Anthony Santiago), we have the best team since we started.

Chef Aram Mardigian

H: That must be exciting. How do you keep the restaurant fresh?
WP: I cannot be here all the time and Aram is an amazing chef. I came by today when I arrived and he was doing a cooking class about how to make sausages. He made Chinese style sausages, Portuguese style sausages, he made all these different sausages. And he gave the people a taste and Anthony was talking about beer and you know, everybody was excited about it. It’s only sausage and beer, but Aram made it very interesting. He was inspired, he had the passion for it and it showed.

H: You have so many different restaurants with different themes, how are you able to keep them different and exciting?
WP: It’s like having children. Each one is a little different, but they still have to go to the same school maybe and get baptized or go to the bar mitzvah, or whatever it is. You have to have a certain strain, what we call a culture. But that doesn’t mean they have to cook the same dishes, or that the restaurant has to look the same, it can be totally different. But, quality of food and hospitality have to be first class everywhere. No matter if it’s Chinese food or a steakhouse.

H: What advice can you give those starting out in the restaurant business?
WP: When people ask me, “What are you the most proud of?,” it’s longevity. To have longevity, you have to have great food, great service and great hospitality. I think that’s really the most important thing. I can have the best food, but if the front of the house doesn’t deliver, not many people are going to come back. If a busboy isn’t nice to you and spills coffee on you and doesn’t even say, “I’m sorry,” or maybe suggest that they can pay for sending your pants to the cleaner, if they ignore you, you’re going to say, “this is not a place where I want to be.” So, it’s a team effort and everybody, just like an orchestra, has to play the same notes.

H: On a personal level, what would you say is the key to success?
WP: Success for me would be that once I am dead, my tombstone will read “He was a great father.” And maybe, “and husband too.”

Wolfgang Puck American Grille
1 Borgata Way
Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa
Atlantic City, NJ 08401