<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">One thing that I find interesting, is the point that celeb chef are "sell outs." Reading the history of big time cooking in america, reveals a lot of poor, tortured, artist that didn't have a way to generate global publicity for their food. To say that these past-greats wouldn't have done the same thing (open a restaurant in vegas) is moot because it wasn't possible then. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>An excellent point. I quite agree.
To answer Erik's: I like to frequent the 'little guy' to, and do so, especially in the fine dining arena, pretty frequently. But it isn't hard to have quality control with a far-flung empire -- Puck has done it, as has Flay, Bayless, Mina, Palmer, Trotter, Keller, Fenniger/Milliken, and many others -- it's all about hiring the right people, as in any business that grows beyond what a single person can manage.
Notwithstanding what one probably sees on D,D & D (I have not seen it, I am making an assumption), there is far less out there on the lower end of the market that is, imo, very remarkable. Not nothing, mind you, but much less than one might think. There are many great stories, and many cool places with interesting characters or palpable ambience, but when it comes to the actual food or food items, well, not so much, not at least compared to the number of D, D, and Ds and Q joints extant. Since I'm one that eats at a few hundred of these places every year I wish it weren't so but, to me, it is.