Jean Philippe Aria Las Vegas
I was suddenly saddened to find out that Jean Philippe is no longer in Las Vegas. His Patisserie Shops in the Bellagio and the Aria offered some of the finest pastries in the country. After twenty years he has left the Las Vegas Strip. In 1997 Jean Philippe won the Meilleur Ourier de France Award (Best Pastry Chef in France). Soon after he became executive pastry chef of the Bellagio Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas. He was the brainchild to adding to the Bellagio the BIGGEST CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN in the world (it’s still there). He also competed and helped win several World Pastry Championship Competitions for the United States. He was later to becoming the executive pastry chef to the Aria Hotel/Casino as well. (but later left to pursue his own business idessert in San Diego). For years and years I’ve been visiting Vegas and the Jean Philippe Pastries have always been an indulgent special must do treat to look forward too on every visit here……..Best and prettiest pastries I’ve tried in the country….like no other……If Jean Philippe’s Desserts were a stone they’d be a diamond. If they were a car they’d be a Bugatti.
On my recent visit I saw this in the Bellagio. These pasties look nice but ain’t no Bugatti.
Bellagio Patisserie Las Vegas NV
As soon as I saw the Pastries I knew instantly it wasn’t Jean Philippe. My heart sank. While these pastries look lovely they just aren’t on the level that Jean Philippe are……..They are not a Bugatti…….they are more like a shiny new Ford Fusion. I was hoping that maybe someone that worked for Jean Philippe maybe was making the pastries with his recipes so I did purchase two to sample……a key lime and a hazelnut……..wow….worse than I thought……Tasted not as good as a Ford Fusion…….(in fairness the key lime was better than the hazelnut)…….The hazelnut tasted more like a Pinto and I don’t mean Pinto Bean…I mean Ford Pinto……
Got very sad…….. It was like someone clubbed me in the knees with a BIG Forking Bat.
WhyyyyyyyWhyyyyyWhy…..
No longer is the casino graced with Masterful Edible Sculptures Grace the Aria or the Bellagio. Here are a few of the past Creations I enjoyed. They were so classy…the best…award worthy. ……..fine art. Something special to enjoy. A reason to enjoy Las Vegas more. To me this is what Las Vegas is suppose to be……
Jean Philippe Aria Las Vegas
This is hand worked Chocolate Art.
Jean Philippe Aria Las Vegas
Hand Worked Chocolate Art.
Hand Worked Chocolate Art.
Hand Worked Chocolate Art.
Hand worked chocolate art.
Hand worked chocolate art.
I’m sorry now I didn’t photo what I saw in the display case so you all out there can see the difference. Instead of these masterful creations what they put out in the display case was just cardboard cut outs in March 2018. I didn’t think it was worth a photo at the time.
Here are only a few of what used to be.
Jean Philippe in the Aria Las Vegas NV A very detailed and deletable Lemon Meringue individual pie …the best!
Jean Philippe Bellagio Hotel/Casino Las Vegas – the most amazing Blueberry Cupcake anyone could imagine.
I remember trying other varieties over the years I know I tried the Key Lime, Something Chocolate and Chocolate Cupcake, something Hazelnut, a Fruit Tart. The desserts were very memorable that’s why I can remember them years later. But I’d go back and usually have the Lemon Meringue. I only had the Blueberry Cupcake once and it was a new favorite. It was the most layered and detailed cupcake in the whole world and it really did taste like a blueberry (one of the most difficult of flavors). I don’t remember everything but the cake was hallowed out and brushed with something delicious and then filled with a delicious I think blueberry cream and then had another layer of something like blueberry chocolate and then a thin layer of maybe blueberry filling and then stuffed with perfect cake the was topped with another 3 or 4 things……topped off with a chocolate blueberry….that all taste amazing!!!!! I never had anything thing like this anywhere before. That’s just the blueberry……everything else was detailed just the same……..I never had any other dessert anywhere with such flavors and layers anywhere.
Another thing that’s gone now and that is only a sweet memory. I am hoping that the Bellagio and Aria are just between Executive Pastry Chefs and hope that a new Pastry Chef will be hired.
It will never be the same but I do know other great pastry chefs are out there.
Although it’s a good-bye to Jean Philippe in Las Vegas it’s also can be a Hello to Jean Philippe in San Diego with a more casual concept. Say Hi to www.idessert.com some sort of customized dessert concept.
At the time of this publication (March 2018) Jean Philippe has left Las Vegas.
Everything is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.
The Forking Truth
I agree, so I’d like to know what you think of the Dandelion desserts if you get to try them. I’d recommend them to JP himself and I think he’d love them.
I haven’t been to Vegas in a few years. In preparation for my upcoming trip I discovered that both JP and Payard are gone! I am so disappointed and no longer as excited about my trip… glad to see that I’m not the only one who knows what’s been lost.. thank you for your post, great comparison to Bugatti and Ford! Any chance you’ve found new pastry places in Vegas that you would recommend?
The closest I’ve found was at a restaurant called Twist by Pierre Gagnaire in the Waldorf Astoria. Sadly this restaurant closed during the pandemic. I was told that Pierre Gagnaire will open a different concept in the same spot so I would check that spot out when going to Vegas. I appreciate our shared interest. Vegas really lost something very special.
Hi Mags – Happily, I can recommend two places – Dandelion Chocolate located just around the corner from the Front Desk at The Venetian is a crazy-good chocolate shop with JP-quality chocolate desserts. They were closed for a long time due to the pandemic and are only serving coffee drinks and several kinds of hot chocolate right now, but in February 2022 they expect to be serving dessert again. They had to find a new kitchen space and it took a really long time, but they say the pastries are coming back. They are the only ones I’ve had on the Strip that are as good as JP – but – they are chocolate desserts, not the full range like JP.
The second place is Bouchon Bakery, also at The Venetian. They have beautiful baked goods – not as many JP-type pastries but a commitment to using best quality ingredients. I was able to get two Buches de Noel there this year – one was lemon meringue, the other was chocolate.
I hope you get to try the exquisite chocolate desserts at Dandelion. Happy New Year!
Mags, I forgot something – a French chef named Florent Cheveau, who worked with Jean Philippe at Bellagio & Aria, has opened a cafe off the Strip. It’s called Burgundy Cafe & Bakery, located at 9440 West Sahara Ave. (at Fort Apache Rd.) It’s well worth visiting, and is near a lot of good shopping and dining in the Downtown Summerlin center and surrounding area. Enjoy!
I thank you too Stephanie for the heads up on Burgundy Cafe & Bakery.I’ll have to stop at Dandelion next time. I always liked Bouchon Bakery. It’s always very very good but not close to JP to me. Have a great day! Love the suggestions!
I am so happy to learn there’s someone else out there who knows what’s been lost. Your experience is my experience. I almost cried when I went to Bellagio and learned what had happened – there had been no warning in the local press. I looked at the pastry case and noticed all these new things, but they didn’t look quite right. Then the cashier, the same tall, dark-haired guy who’d waited on me dozens of times over the years, gave me the news. He was diplomatic when I asked him if the new pastries were as good as JP’s. I ordered the Paris-Brest and took it to my usual spot by the windows overlooking the pool and mused about how JP would’ve done a Paris-Brest – certainly not what I was looking at. First of all, it would’ve had six, or even eight, components, not two (choux and filling). While the prices have the remained the same, the quality, as you say, has not.
For a good half hour I was crushed. It must sound silly but if you love pastry you know that this is big.
Huge. Yuge.
The cashier told me about San Diego and something about a boat. I researched it and learned there’s an exquisite JP chocolate shop on a cruise ship that, from what I could glean, sails around the Mediterranean. At least there’s his new dessert concept in San Diego which is a lot more accessible.
I watched The Kings of Pastry, the documentary about the French pastry competition that JP won, twice more after that visit to Bellagio. Have never been to France but apparently there are a number of these insane perfectionist pastry chefs there, with their shops. We had that here in Las Vegas for a few years and now all of them – Lenotre, Payard and Jean Philippe are gone. I’ll probably never get over it.
Las Vegas is always changing but with the loss of the finest pastries from JP each visit will never be as sweet.Those were great pleasures… The Kings of Pastry documentary sounds interesting to me. I knew about the JP casual San Diego shop but I didn’t know about JP shop on a cruise shop. Thanks for sharing that. It helps that someone out there understands feels the loss that I do. Thank You for sharing your comment!
You’re welcome, Laura. After I read your post I read some comments on a couple of review sites and one said it best – we lost the best pastry shop in America. Some people understand.
Thank you so much for writing about JPP.