‘Top Chef’ Jeremy Ford’s Michelin-Starred Stubborn Seed Heads To Vegas

Stubborn Seed, cook Jeremy Ford’s tasting-menu basking spot successful Miami Beach’s sizzling South of Fifth neighborhood, will unfastened a Las Vegas location adjacent year.

Ford and Grove Bay Hospitality Group scheme to debut Stubborn Seed astatine Resorts World Las Vegas successful summertime 2024. And while Ford knows Las Vegas is wherever a batch of chefs spell overmuch bigger and grander, he’s taking a measured attack to his description .

In Miami, nan Michelin-starred Stubborn Seed has 78 seats betwixt nan eating room and nan bar. In Las Vegas, Ford plans to max retired astatine astir 120 seats.

“That’s benignant of my stopping point,” Ford says during an interview. “I deliberation if you want nan existent Stubborn acquisition to beryllium great, you’ve sewage to limit really large [the edifice is]. We want to springiness you nan champion type of us.”

For Ford (who won play 13 of Top Chef) and Grove Bay co-founders Francesco Balli and Ignacio Garcia-Menocal, Las Vegas is an opportunity to resurrect immoderate top hits while forging a caller way forward. One beloved crockery that Ford plans to service successful Vegas is braised celery guidelines pinch crispy maitake mushrooms and an aerated Dijon crisp. He opened Miami’s Stubborn Seed pinch this crockery successful 2017 and has had galore guests inquire him to bring it back.

Ford is proud of his braised celery guidelines because it proves that plant-forward cooking tin beryllium a delicious and memorable portion of good dining.

“That crockery has won maine 2 competitions wherever everyone astir maine was utilizing caviar and truffles,” he says.

But to beryllium clear, Ford has thing against caviar, truffles and different high-end ingredients. He mightiness moreover put caviar atop nan celery guidelines for VIP guests. What he wants to do astatine Stubborn Seed, which infuses curry leaves into food and uses spices from astir nan world, is weave together galore different influences and flavors.

Like successful Miami, nan 2nd location of Stubborn Seed (which is Grove Bay’s first description extracurricular of South Florida) will service seasonal tasting menus. Ford will proceed to navigator premium nutrient for illustration Crescent duck from nan North Fork of Long Island. (In Miami, he’s made smoked duck pinch foie gras stuffed successful nan breast.) He’ll connection caviar work and top-tier truffles. Ford, who’s put caviar and truffles complete pasta and fried potatoes successful Miami, isn’t nan benignant of cook who will ever settee for shaving summertime truffles astatine his restaurant.

“We emotion truffles, but we don’t usage truffles erstwhile they’re not nan best,” he says. If they’re not Périgord truffles aliases from Australian winters, we’re not going to person them connected nan menu.”

Ford is focused connected bringing successful “every delicious constituent astatine its peak,” whether it’s seasonal seafood aliases chaotic East Coast ramps that mightiness only beryllium disposable for a period and a half each year.

Ford, who’s served dishes for illustration grits grown successful nan aforesaid ungraded arsenic carrots astatine Miami’s Stubborn Seed, besides looks guardant to showcasing California farmers-market ingredients astatine his Vegas restaurant

“Miamians are going to dislike maine erstwhile I opportunity this, but West Coast nutrient is immoderate of my favourite nutrient I’ve ever had,” says Ford, whose acquisition includes stints astatine L’Orangerie and Patina successful Los Angeles earlier he became executive cook astatine Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Matador Room successful Miami. “I’ve worked successful New York, LA, San Francisco. I’ve had a sensation of everybody’s produce. Harry’s Berries, I don’t deliberation there’s a amended strawberry connected nan planet.”

Beyond those California strawberries, Ford is looking guardant to exploring “the unknown” arsenic he develops his Las Vegas menus.

“The find portion of this is what I’m astir excited about,” he says. “I person nary thought what’s successful shop for maine successful Vegas and I emotion that. I emotion being a spot mislaid for a small while.”

This process of discovery, of course, will spur galore caller ideas arsenic Ford evolves his tasting menus. But Stubborn Seed astatine Resorts World Las Vegas will besides person a barroom paper pinch crowd-pleasing a la carte dishes for illustration truffle chickenhearted and a beef rib (smoked and cooked sous-vide, and past served wrong shiso-and-herb crepe tacos).

“I deliberation worldly for illustration that for nan bar, really fun, delicious, crazy nutrient … those things will beryllium connected nan paper astir apt forever,” Ford says.