Well-orchestrated kitchen key to casual dining in Atlantis steakhouse

Every workstation in the kitchen of the new Atlantis Steakhouse at Atlantis Casino Resort Spa is strictly governed by a plan, hand-drawn by Chef de Cuisine Dan Bauer, that details the locations of everything from squirt bottles to containers of Roquefort dressing.

The goal, Bauer says, is to ensure that everything is in arm's reach and that cooks don't reach across one another to get supplies.

Bauer's workstation plans are just one manifestation of the careful planning that surrounded the new Atlantis Steakhouse, which opened a couple of months ago.

The atmosphere in the completely remodeled dining room of the 160-seat restaurant is calm and relaxed as servers attend to the needs of diners.

Inside the kitchen on a buys night, Bauer says, "It's controlled chaos."

Executive Chef Robert Katausky says design of the new restaurant and its kitchen sought to emphasize the control and reduce the chaos.

In the redesigned kitchen, chefs cook at four stations one at a broiler, one at a deep fryer, one at a griddle and one at a station equipped with pans for sautees and side dishes.

Behind them, an expediter keeps track of orders and assembles diners' meals portions of them flow from each of the work stations.

A challenge to the finely tuned operation, Katausky says, comes when diners order a dish to prepared tableside steak Diane, for instance, or shrimp scampi.

As a cook is working tableside, chefs in the kitchen are keeping a close eye on the clock to ensure that the other orders arrive just as the tableside presentation is complete.

The newly designed kitchen also includes new pantry and cold-food lines. That's important, Katausky says, because servers at Atlantis Steakhouse aren't responsible for cold products preparation of salads, for instance and they can spend more time in the dining room with guests.

Atlantis executives have described the steakhouse as the capstone of improvement projects totaling more than $100 million during the past three years work that was preceded by several years of planning and design.

They've said the investment is necessary to keep the Atlantis entertainment and hospitality offerings fresh, even in the face of an economic downturn.

A spokesman for the property said the investment has helped Atlantis grow its share of the market through the downturn.

"From the new rooms, to Spa Atlantis and now the Atlantis Steakhouse, our guests are letting us know that all the hard work is paying off. We're getting a lot of repeat guests, which is showing us that we're doing something right," said Spokesman Ben McDonald.