Ari Sobel

"We are excited to offer our loyal customers this unique pairing dinner with Mr. Vanagas," said Ari Sobel, director of food and beverage at Rampart Casino.

"The wines of J. Lohr are bold and artistic so we chose a menu to complement its creative quality," said Ari Sobel, food and beverage director at the Rampart Casino.

Rampart Casino's Ari Sobel finds adventure in food.
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Ari Sobel was drawn to the bright lights of Las Vegas seven years ago when he signed on for the management apprenticeship program at Rio.The city has fed his insatiable appetite ever since."I eat it all," says the 36-year-old chef.

"There's adventure in food," Sobel adds.
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Ari Sobel offers his recipe for roasted rack of lamb."It's pretty straightforward, and it gives you a great result," Sobel says.
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Growing up in Tampa, Florida, Sobel got his start when he was just 13.

He and a friend stuffed hot dogs in buns at Tampa Stadium, former home of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers."We liked having a little money in our pocket and being with the guys," Sobel says."We learned a lot about hard work and respect."As a 17-year-old junior in high school, he started his own catering service.Sobel and his staff served food at weddings, bar mitzvahs, and anniversary parties.

Sobel has earned a degree in culinary arts from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, and a degree in hotel administration with a concentration in properties design at Cornell University School of Hotel Administration in Ithaca, New York.

He has worked with famed Las Vegas chefs Jean Louis Palladin, Michael Demers, and André Rochat, as well as Cannery Resorts' Executive Director of Food and Beverage Luc Akellino.After working at the Rio, where he managed the Carnival World Buffet, he started as a shift manager at Cannery Casino Resorts, owner of Rampart Casino.For the last two years, Sobel has been responsible for the operation of Rampart's restaurants and bars and manages a staff of 300 managers, chefs, cooks, kitchen workers, bartenders, and servers.

Rampart, an upscale neighborhood casino 15 miles northwest of the Strip, is located in Summerlin.Among the restaurants Sobel manages is the Carmel Room, a fine-dining steakhouse.Menu items include a crab cake appetizer, rack of lamb (see recipe) or porterhouse steak entrées, and crème brûlée or Grand Marnier soufflé for dessert.Dinner averages $50 per person.The Rampart Buffet serves lunch for $8.99 and dinner for $11.99, and prices at the Promenade Café average $9 per person.

Sobel did the conceptual design for Cannery Casino's Vino's Ristorante & Deli, as well as for the restaurants and bars at the Meadows Racetrack and Casino, Cannery Resorts' new property near Pittsburgh.He also is helping to design the restaurants planned for Cannery Resorts' Eastside Cannery, which will replace Nevada Palace Hotel and Casino on Boulder Highway, with construction beginning in January.

Although his heavy workload has nearly taken Sobel out of Rampart's kitchen, he says he cooks several times a week at home.His favorite dishes,seared tilapia with banana rum sauce, tortellini with white truffle oil and fresh herbs, and meat loaf with mashed potatoes,are indicative of his eclectic tastes.

With the birth of his daughter, Zoë Elizabeth, in April, Sobel is focused on his role as a family man. With his wife of five years, Christina Drum, and daughter, Heather Marie Ward, 17, Sobel now stays home more often than he scours the Strip for a new favorite restaurant.But he still sees Vegas as the same exciting city he and Christina moved to in 1999.

"I like the chaos," Sobel says.