Time up for Gallagher’s Las Vegas burger bar
FLIPPING posh burgers in Vegas has failed to be the recipe of success for celebrity chef Conrad Gallagher after it emerged yesterday that his latest restaurant has closed.
Just four months after opening a gourmet burger joint in Sin City, the controversial Donegal man has suffered another kitchen nightmare.
He got off to a rocky start when his PoshBurger Bistro was on the receiving end of some mixed online reviews.
And now the website Vegaseater.com has reported the diner has shut down.
‘ In perhaps one of the shortest tenures of a restaurant helmed by a Michelin- starred chef, PoshBurger Bistro from Irish chef Conrad Gallagher is now closed,’ it reported.
It added that ‘the news should come as no surprise to those who have followed the drama of the restaurant since it opened in March’.
Mr Gallagher – who has left a trail of
The reviews varied wildly
debt across two continents and was declared bankrupt in South Africa in 2009 – moved to America last year where he relaunched himself as a consultant chef.
But even though he was the youngest Irish chef to win a Michelin star – for his Peacock Alley restaurant when he was 27 – the reviews of his new venture have varied wildly.
Among the less favourable write-ups on the website Yelp was this response of one dissatisfied customer: ‘Good luck to anybody else who dares to waste their money at PoshBurger. Note to Michelin-star chef, if you put onion rings inside a cone container, the rings will continue to cook in the steam and get soggy and the breading will fall off the onions! Any other decent restaurant where I’ve enjoyed good onion rings understands this… Poor understanding of Cooking 101? Or an “I don’t give a s***” attitude?’.
Another wrote: ‘Ugh, this was really bad’. But some diners were impressed, with one contributor writing: ‘I loved my experience…The look, feel and flow of the place was cool too. Service was awesome and the manager stopped by a few times. We will be back.’
Another satisfied customer said: ‘Best wild boar burger I have ever had. The service is awesome.’
But it seems this high praise was not enough as other negative incidents, reported just a few months after PoshBurger opened, included complaints regarding the difficulty of using Groupon vouchers and allegations of a ‘server eating a French fry off a plate’.
Only a month after the opening, employees also reported that they were not getting paid, while a local butcher reported he also had bills outstanding.
The 42-year-old chef was cooking in the kitchen of the restaurant while his South-African born wife Candice, worked as a server in the business.
Mr Gallagher had planned to expand his business in Las Vegas.
In 2011, the High Court ordered that the companies controlling both of his Irish restaurants, Salon Des Saveurs on Dublin’s Aungier Street and Super Potato in Sligo, be wound up after they failed to pay €160,000 in taxes. In 2002, his Killiney home was sold by Irish Nationwide Building Society, with the proceeds split between creditors.
Speaking to the Mail last night, Mr Gallagher said: ‘Yes, I can confirm its closure. No other comment.’