Chef Jack Huxtable is no stranger to the Las Vegas culinary scene –specifically, “Sin City’s” often competitive steakhouse restaurant circuit. Before his current tenure at the excitingly themed Excalibur resort as “Specialty Room Chef” for The Steakhouse at Camelot, Huxtable held the same position at Cravings inside the tropical themed Mirage, just down the famous Las Vegas Strip. And, prior to The Mirage, he played his role as Specialty Room Chef with great successes at Conrad’s and Steakhouse 46 at the Flamingo, as well as at Bally’s Steakhouse. Stretching back even further, Huxtable was Executive Chef for the Holiday Inn in Aruba, and Specialty Room Chef for the Sage Room and Seafood Grotto at the picturesque Harvey’s Lake Tahoe in Nevada.
This soft-spoken, professionally-mannered artist of cuisine was born and raised far away from the dazzling neon lights and seductive nightlife of Las Vegas in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. While still in High School, Huxtable began cooking professionally at several restaurants and for a resort in the Berkshires area. Attending and graduating from the popular Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, Huxtable went on to train with Jean Morel at L’Hostellerie Bressane in Hillsdale, New York. He relocated to San Diego to work at Hotel Del Coronado before accepting a position with Holland America Cruise Lines aboard the M.S. Prinsendam. Huxtable’s contract with Holland America ended abruptly when the ship sustained an unfortunate fire accident in the Gulf of Alaska and eventually sank – from Alaska Huxtable made his way to Los Angeles, where he began working at L’Ermitage Hotel with Jean Grondin, The Regency Club with Joachim Splichal and La Serre with Jean Pierre Pieny.
It was at this point that Huxtable began to long for his own kitchen to lord over; he left La Serre for a Chef position at Sheppard’s at the Sheraton Harbor Island in San Diego, and eventually traveled back North to act as Executive Chef at the Los Angeles Music Center in the Dorothy Pavilion before making his way to the sexy island of Aruba where he became Executive Chef for the Holiday Inn Resort and Beach Club. It was at this point of his career that Huxtable entered his Nevada tenure, returning to the U.S. to take a position as Room Chef at Harvey’s Lake Tahoe and then onto the City of Entertainment – or of Sin, depending on perspective – where he worked for Park Place Entertainment at Bally’s as the Specialty Room Chef for Bally’s Steakhouse and at the legendary Flamingo for Conrad’s.
Alas, it’s Huxtable’s experience with the MGM Resorts group in Vegas which truly showcases this talented chef’s skills and culinary abilities. Once a member of the MGM family, Huxtable became Specialty Room Chef for Cravings inside the volcano-embellished Mirage resort before acquiring the equivalent Specialty Room Chef position he currently enjoys at Excalibur’s Steakhouse at Camelot.
With bold, brash flavors emanating from the steak, seafood and variety of overtly American creations served up for anticipatory guests of the Zagat-rated Steakhouse at Camelot, Jack Huxtable has found a home…and come full circle.