Ralph Perrazzo
BRADLEY OGDEN | Las Vegas

Biography
Ralph Perrazzo, 25, grew up in Long Island, New York. His love for food was instilled at a young age while working in the kitchen with his mother and grandmothers. Those early cooking experiences helped to form his personality both in and out of the kitchen. At the age of 16, Ralph took a job at a local restaurant to earn money for a car, and quickly decided that life in the kitchen was more like fun than work.

Perrazzo attended The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, and on weekends he would take his knife kit and hop a train to Manhattan to volunteer in the city’s top kitchens, including Jean Georges under then-Chef de Cuisine, Gabriel Kreuther. Upon graduation, Kreuther offered him a job. Perrazzo started in pastry, working alongside Eric Hubert (now at Atelier at The Ritz-Carlton Central Park South). Over the course of their two years working together, Hubert fostered his creativity, encouraging him to use his mind along with his hands. To this day Hubert and Perrazzo are pastry sparring partners, throwing new ideas and techniques back and forth.

Ralph joined the team at Bradley Ogden at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in August, 2004. There he has complete freedom to explore his ideas and philosophies in the bake shop. Growing up in an Italian household where great bread is of the utmost importance, Perrazzo is insistent upon preparing fresh bread daily for the restaurant. To ensure a fresh and clean flavor for all of his desserts, Perrazzo vigorously avoids pre-made pastry products such as frozen purees, extracts, food colorings and doughs. The only things he freezes are fresh ice creams and sorbets.

Perrazzo’s ever-changing, seasonal dessert menu at Bradley Ogden appeals to a broad range of tastes. Daily menus include two or three composed dessert tastings, consisting of several mini desserts that are a balance of colors, flavors, textures and temperatures. In addition there is an à la carte dessert menu with simpler, more classic desserts. While he uses everything in season - fruits and vegetables - no one item will appear on Perrazzo’s menu twice. All of his desserts invoke a childhood spirit and are intended to play upon his customers’ sense of nostalgia. “People remember the last thing they eat before they leave a restaurant. I always remind my cooks of that, and it is our job to make sure that memory is a good and fun one.”