No longer just the land of the endless buffet, Las Vegas has reinvented itself as a global culinary capital. It is now home to many world-class restaurants and celebrity chefs.

For Kerry Simon—who Rolling Stone magazine dubbed the Rock ‘n’ Roll Chef for all his rocker friends and fans—it’s all about keeping it simple, fresh and making it taste good. That philosophy has propelled Simon to two successful Vegas restaurants: Simon at Palms Place and KGB (Kerry’s Gourmet Burgers) at Harrah’s, as well as a win on Iron Chef America and his LA Market restaurant being featured on Hell’s Kitchen. 

All this started with a teenaged Simon wanting an electric guitar. To get that guitar, he took a summer job at Little Caesars Pizza in Chicago. He experimented with recipes from Julia Child’s cookbooks during the midnight hours, and eventually worked with his mentor French chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. He still plays the guitar today.

Why Las Vegas?

I realized 10 or so years ago that Las Vegas was the pinnacle for cooking. It was the new city, like Chicago or San Francisco or New York. It was the up-and-coming place where I could do something different and make a difference.

When you started cooking, your cuisine was dubbed wild food. What is that?

At that time, it was whatever was on the market. Now, it’s more like whatever food you can get close to home that is naturally grown or as organic as possible.

You’ve cooked for the Rolling Stones, David Bowie and Debbie Harry. What was that like?

Debbie Harry was probably the first one, and it was very intimidating. But I went about it very Zenlike. I was like, “Try not to think about it and produce what I do.” And David Bowie, he got engaged [to model Iman] in my kitchen [at the Edwardian Room in the Plaza Hotel in New York], and he invited me to his house.

I was so flattered we connected like that. Pretty wild.

Where Kerry Simon eats in Vegas when he’s not the one cooking: Firefly Tapas Kitchen & Bar