Santa Fe Station chef teaches Boy Scouts to cook

Anthony Santori is the room chef of buffet and catering at Santa Fe Station, but in his spare time, he’s a Webelos den leader and a Boy Scouts assistant Scoutmaster. For the Webelos, he cooks for the boys and their families.

“My years of experience have helped me cook for a mass quantity of people in a timely manner and do it safely,” he said. For a recent Webelos campout in Utah, he prepared omelets in bags with sausage patties and pancakes for breakfast, hamburgers, hot dogs and potato salad for dinner. “It’s more of a giant backyard barbecue,” he said.

The Boy Scouts do their own cooking, so Santori is an observer and adviser as the Scouts devise the menu, shop, cook and clean. “I’m just there to make sure they’re doing it safely and to food standards,” he said. “Training and working with team members helps me relate to the boys. I know how to show someone how to cut and sauté.”

A native of Northern California, Santori got his culinary training at Santa Rosa Junior College in Santa Rosa, California, and Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Las Vegas. He started with Station Casinos at the Fiesta Rancho in 2005 and then left to help open the buffet at the M Resort. Stops in California and Hawaii followed, and he returned to Las Vegas, and Station Casinos, in 2013. He’s since worked at Sunset Station and Barley’s Casino & Brew Pub and Santa Fe Station, where he was named to his current position a year ago.

Review-Journal: Always in your fridge at home?

Chef Anthony Santori: Milk, eggs, medium Cheddar cheese. Probably anywhere between five and 10 different kinds of hot sauces. My family (including his wife, kids ages 13, 10 and 7 and his sister-in-law) loves hot sauces.

Currently obsessed with?

I’ve found this really cool website (scriptoscreen.tumbler.com) where they have scenes from movies that are acted out. and down below have a rolling of the script. It shows the differences between scripts and movies.

Newest Las Vegas discovery?

I took my family to the Neon Museum a few weeks ago; I always wanted to go and never went. I appreciate more the history of Vegas than I did.

Favorite indulgence?

I just like a good bacon cheeseburger. I would sell my kids for a good bacon cheeseburger.

I never eat …

Sour cream. Can’t do it.

Favorite brunch at home?

Italian sausage, eggs, French toast, hash browns.

Best tip for home cooks?

Don’t forget to season.

What are trying to do with the Santa Fe buffet?

Because we’re a locals casino and people come in multiple times a week, I’m trying to raise the quality by changing the offerings so they can see we can do other things — build-your-own sliders, adding different soups to lunch, theme nights.

Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Follow @HKRinella on Twitter.