Learn cooking techniques from some of the Strip’s top chefs

Hands-on cooking classes from a Michelin-starred chef and an internationally recognized pasta guru, in their own restaurants, highlight the third annual Signature Series at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas.

As in previous years, kitchen experience or culinary knowledge is not required.

“We absolutely want to provide tips and techniques to anybody, really,” said chef Joseph Leibowitz, the hotel’s senior vice president of culinary operations.

“If you have no idea how to make pasta, then this is going to be an opportunity to learn,” Leibowitz said, referencing the “Passion for Pasta” class with Chef Evan Funke inside his Mother Wolf. “If you’re comfortable making pasta at home and maybe want to understand and learn a new technique or a different type of pasta, this is going to be your opportunity to learn. If you’d just like to come and enjoy great food and have some beverage pairing with it, we’re going to be able to surprise you with that, as well.”

The Signature Series launches at 1 p.m. Saturday with “Discover Dim Sum.” The three-hour class will be led by Michelin-starred chef Richard Chen and his team at Washing Potato.

“It’s a little bit intimidating, but it’s actually really simple,” Leibowitz said of making dim sum. “I think that’s what people really enjoy about the class.”

Leibowitz said the chef “does a great job of explaining the nuances and the simplicity” of putting together a har gow (shrimp dumpling) or a shumai (pork and shrimp dumpling).

Admission is $175 per person, reflecting the intimacy of the class. Signature Series offerings are intended for 15 or fewer people.

“We have some sort of hands-on, experiential moment in every one of the classes,” Leibowitz said. “People don’t want to listen to (up to three hours) of somebody just kind of going over things. They want to be a part of it. They want to feel it. They want to touch it. They want to smell it.”

That doesn’t mean every participant will make everything on the menu. A class like April’s “Art of the Grill,” led by Don’s Prime executive chef Patrick Munster, might entail putting together a marinade or a dry rub versus grilling up an expensive cut of meat.

“We’ll ask for volunteers, and usually there’s always, like, four or five people who 100 percent want to do it,” Leibowitz said. “And then there’s half the class who’s extremely petrified to even want to attempt to come up.”

Not every class revolves around food. Among the returning favorites are “Mums & Moms,” in which participants learn to create Mother’s Day floral arrangements, and “Mindful Reset,” the interactive wellness session scheduled for August. Every class will have some type of food component, though, even if it’s a canape service.

Of this year’s new Signature Series classes, Leibowitz said he’s most looking forward to June’s “Cigars and Spirits.”

“You’re going to get a really good understanding of how to roll a cigar, what goes into the cigar, the making of the cigar,” he said. “And then really understanding what pairs best with the cigar itself.”

For tickets and more information, see fontainebleaulasvegas.com.

Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4567.