Ready. Set. ACTION!! The New CW Chef Video Series Spotlight On: Executive Chef/Owner Gina Marinelli of Las Vegas La Strega and Harlo Steakhouse Offering fantastic voyeur-flavor between CW and some of brightest culinarians in the industry, The CW Chef Video Series, produced by The Chefs’ Warehouse, shines a light on what’s hot and happening now, with tightly edited video bites featuring chefs in their killer venues, bespoke kitchens, and CW ingredient recommendations.
In its most recent installment, The CW Video Series was thrilled to zone in on Executive Chef/Owner Gina Marinelli of Las Vegas diamond venues La Strega and Harlo Steakhouse. Harlo Steakhouse, the location of the CW video shoot, is Marinelli’s latest culinary touchdown and officially opened this past November in stunning downtown Summerlin. CW Magazine was thrilled to join in on the action and share what we found.
“As a woman in this industry, you definitely have more to prove.”
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Chef Marinelli (Winner of Eater’s Chef of the Year 2019) with an emerging television presence (The Globe, 2021, Discovery Channel) and ever-climbing chef/restaurateur trajectory, dove into the deep-end of culinary as a dishwasher after graduating from college and briefly working in sales. During a road trip that began in Orlando, Florida in search of a prime culinary city to plant roots, Marinelli dined at Michael Mina’s restaurant in Las Vegas and was suddenly hooked. ‘‘Right there. It was just over. I didn’t care where I was living. I didn’t care how much it would cost. I didn’t care about anything. I just wanted to work there. Fortunately, the restaurant pulled me in right away and I’ve been in Las Vegas ever since.”
After working at D.O.C.G Enoteca at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, and almost abandoning her Las Vegas culinary career to to live in Italy, Marinelli was offered the partnership for La Strega. ‘That was my moment. I had been on the strip for a long time and knew I had to take that shot. You only get these shots once.’ Gina shared. Marinelli, who credits her father Rodney Marinelli, NFL defensive line coach for the Las Vegas Raiders for her unbeatable work ethic, is inherently modest, and very much about supporting and promoting the success of others. ‘I am very happy to teach and nurture anyone who shows up and wants to learn. That’s what it’s all about,’ Gina shared. When asked specifically about women in culinary, Marinelli offered, ‘As a woman in this industry, you definitely have more to prove. They are waiting for you to quit. I’m very proud to see all the young women coming up as executive chefs and pastry chefs and getting the accolades they deserve. I know how hard it is. The industry is hard, period. Even if you take gender out of the equation, it’s just a difficult lifestyle to live. It’s brutal and you’re under heat. But it feels good to have all these young women thank me for being a shoulder for them. I just tell them “Don’t cry in the kitchen. Don’t let them see you cry. They don’t get that you are just angry and frustrated. They misinterpret crying for weakness and you don’t want that.’’
