Dominique Ansel Joins Caesars Entertainment's Elite Circle of Celeb Chefs

If you remember NYC's 'Cronut' craze, then you know the name Dominque Ansel. Now the baker has expanded his food empire in Las Vegas.

New York foodies of a certain age will always remember the Cronut craze of 2013, when the city's most pastry-possessed waited in early morning lines for hours in hopes of snagging a pair of Dominique Ansel's new invention. At the time, they went for $5 each, but plenty resorted to hiring strangers to get in line at 5 a.m. and deliver a pair of the croissant-doughnut hybrids later that morning for $60 or more.

The tiny SoHo bakery went from neighborhood gem to city hotspot overnight, and the now trademarked Cronut has become a culinary icon, topped and filled with a different flavor every single month since its inception nearly a decade ago. In fact, as Dominique Ansel Bakeries have popped up in cities outside the Big Apple since, no flavor has even repeated between locations, which means every month sees brand new creations anywhere Ansel's name graces the storefront. And speaking of new bakeries, his newest just opened at Caesars Palace Las Vegas in late October to a familiar sight, a line of 300 eager customers waiting to taste the goods.

Get Lucky at Dominique Ansel Bakery

Not far from the recently renovated main entrance of Caesars Palace, a multi-million dollar facelift that brings natural light into the now-airy space where one chandelier alone contains more than a million dollars' worth of crystals, the new Dominique Ansel Las Vegas offers plenty of classic standbys, including both the Cronut and the milk and cookie shot, along with impossibly perfect croissants, made-to-order mini madeleines, and a full coffee menu, but keep an eye out for the location's exclusive Lucky 7 pastries. Each delicate creation is a fully edible representation of a luck symbol somewhere in the world, including four-leaf clovers, ladybugs, and fortune cookies, and no two have the same flavor, so you'll want to try as many as you can manage (though they're not small, so you may need to make several visits). Feel free to photograph them before biting in, too. Ansel's beyond obsessed with making sure the presentation matches the quality; as he says about his precious croissants, "They should be made beautifully. You don't eat a croissant to fill yourself up. You eat one to make yourself happy, so it should be perfect." You surely have permission to let the camera eat first, here.

Escape into NOBU

Caesars Palace is the 13^th largest hotel in the world, so you can expect scads of options for room categories ranging all the way up to the 11,000-square-foot villas, complete with butlers that Caesars claims can speak any language in the world (we didn't put that one to the test). If you're looking for some chic exclusivity but your budget doesn't quite include those $35,000-per-night villas with walk-ins larger than city apartments, slip into NOBU Hotel Las Vegas, instead. It's just inside Caesars Palace, halfway between the main entrance and the new Dominique Ansel bakery. The sexy rooms here are outfitted in medium-tone woods with soft grays and stark blacks accenting white linens and curtains, and if robe life is your signature hotel style like it is ours, you'll love both the plush lounging robe in the bedroom closet and the lightweight getting-ready robe found in your spacious spa bathroom. This is the world's first NOBU Hotel, and it's every bit as refined and thoughtful as the Nobu restaurant you'll find downstairs.

Let The World's Most Celebrated Chefs Feed You

You don't even have to leave the Caesars Entertainment family to sample the dishes that have made so many celebrity chefs the international superstars they've become. With the number of properties Caesars encompasses on this part of The Strip, it's practically a complete neighborhood, and all of your favorite celeb chefs live here. Choose your own catch from the fishmonger's daily selection at Amalfi by Bobby Flay and slice your way through beef Wellington at Gordon Ramsay Hell's Kitchen at Caesars Palace; have your roast chicken carved tableside in a replica of the queen of hospitality's own upstate New York dining room at The Bedford by Martha Stewart and sip The Strip's most over-the-top cocktails in the sheer decadence of Vanderpump À Paris inside Paris Las Vegas (grab a champagne to-go for a trip up the Eiffel Tower after, especially fab at night if you want to catch the Bellagio fountains from above); or pack in the pastas and prosecco at Giada, within The Cromwell. Better yet, don't choose, and try them all. Oh, and if you've gorged yourself to the point that you can't quite out of bed anymore, but you still haven't tried every dish you dreamed of, forget Uber Eats and log in to Caesars Eats to order in-room delivery from the menus of many of the restaurants across Caesars Palace, in addition to traditional room service. It's the ultimate indulgence, and you don't even need to get out of your robe.