Michael Sandoval is not a famous Food Network personality, but you never know what the future may bring.
The culinary ace at CCSN already is a name to reckon with in the world of Las Vegas cuisine -- he has twice been employee of the year at Malibu Chan's on West Sahara Avenue, he was hired by chef de cuisine Mark Hopper when the Bouchon bistro opened two years ago at The Venetian, and he's already a recipient of several prestigious awards.
The 21-year-old got started just because he wanted an easy grade. As a Centennial High School junior, he noticed that the Area Technical Training Center offered culinary classes. Maybe it was wasn't calculus or quantum physics, but it was more than a guaranteed "A," and Sandoval enjoyed it.
"It was so challenging, it was cool," he said.
And it has given him a career with a bright future.
Sandoval said the urge to learn cooking might have been lying dormant within him for years. His parents, Salvador and Emma, are originally from Guadalajara, Mexico, and Sandoval remembers how the kitchen in their home was an important room.
"My mother is really big in the kitchen," he recalled. "Somebody was always in the kitchen. It was like a meeting place."
Now he has acquired the skills to entice demanding palates. In the San Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef Competition regionals last fall, Sandoval put together a groaning board of pan-roasted breast of squab with a mission fig stuffing, lemon pepper gnocci, Brussels sprouts, cipollini onions, chanterelle mushrooms and a port wine fig jus. In 90 minutes.
The effort earned him a gold medal, congratulations from television personality Robin Leach, and a trip to the finals in Napa Valley, Calif., where he prepared seared loin of antelope with vanilla lobster stuffing, served with a ragout of spaghetti squash, oblique carrots and baby turnips, all atop a black Thai rice polenta with apple jus.
The next day he was given four hours to produce 200 tasting portions of the dish.
Sandoval didn't win, but his sole Florentine and chicken chasseur earned him a silver medal in an American Culinary Foundation competition in San Antonio, and he also was named Student Culinarian of the Year. Last year, he picked up a gold medal at Mandalay Bay in the plated dessert category.
Sandoval laughed when asked about his favorite restaurants around the valley. His friends, he said, sometimes worry too much about what he thinks of such matters.
"I have to remind them, I'm just human," he said. "I go home and eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches."
If he wants a bite while driving home from an evening on the main hot food line at Bouchon, he'll stop at the In-N-Out Burger on Rock Springs at Lake Mead Boulevard.
Sandoval said that he doesn't have a favorite cuisine, but focuses his education in a different manner.
"Mark Hopper told me: specialize in technique and you'll basically master cuisines," he said. "I like learning where the ingredients come from and how they're handled. There is always something new to learn. The other day we brought in razor clams, and I had no idea what they were. They were awesome."
Sandoval said he knew what foie gras was, but he had never understood how it was prepared by force-feeding ducks and geese to produce an oversize, firm liver.
The up-and-coming chef is working toward his bachelor's degree in culinary management by first gaining an associate's degree at CCSN and then attending UNLV.
But even when he has achieved the degree, there will be more steps to climb before he is a certified master chef.
Sandoval said he looks forward to returning to CCSN's North Las Vegas campus to learn the art of pastry preparation from chef Rudi Eichler and classical cuisine from one of his mentors, chef John Metcalfe.
Work at Bouchon keeps Sandoval busy, preparing 200 of the 500 main dishes served per shift.
"At CCSN and Bouchon, Mark Hopper works with my schedule to help me get the education and experience," he said.
Hopper, with 21 years as a chef to his credit, applauded Sandoval's work ethic. "With Mike as young and as talented as he is -- if he is the future of our industry, then that future is in good hands, because he is unbelievably good," Hopper said.
Sandoval said he has always received encouragement and guidance from the CCSN faculty, citing in particular Metcalfe, Jill Mora and Levi Acosta.
"They do wonders for everybody there," he said. "When I reach my dream, they will have been a big part of my formation. They give so much to every student."
He also credited Malibu Chan's with giving him an entryway into the real-world restaurant business.
"It was a great place to start me off, and it built a solid base of ethics," he said.
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