Kerry Simon, a former Iron Chef Americacontestant, and winner died after a two-year battle with multiple system atrophy (MSA), according to the Las Vegas Sun. He was 60 years old at the time. Simon revealed in 2013 that he was suffering from multiple system atrophy, a condition that has symptoms comparable to Parkinson’s disease. He died at the Nathan Adelson Hospice in Las Vegas.
Simon had been in a coma for two weeks owing to pneumonia and was receiving hospice care, but according to Leach, he had continued to work as a chef, organizing meals and menus. Kerry was a celebrity chef and restaurateur from Las Vegas, Nevada. Simon was also known as the Rock ‘n’ Roll Chef, a moniker bestowed on him by Rolling Stone.
At his eponymous restaurant, Simon at Palms Place in Las Vegas, he was the executive chef and proprietor. Simon LA in Los Angeles, Simon Prime in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and KGB and Carson Kitchen in Las Vegas were among his other restaurants.
Kerry Simon was born in Philadelphia on June 17, 1955. Simon, a native of Evanston, Illinois, graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1981 and, at the age of 34, was appointed executive chef of the Edwardian Room, a restaurant in New York’s Plaza Hotel. After winning Iron Chef in 2005, he became well-known.
Simon worked at restaurants like La Côte Basque and Lutece after college before becoming the personal chef for celebrities like John Addey and Saul Steinberg. Ivana Trump (@ivankatrumo) appointed Simon as the executive chef of the Plaza Hotel’s Edwardian Room in 1989, and Rolling Stone named him one of the year’s top personalities in 1991.
Simon participated in Iron Chef America in the second episode of the 2005 season, challenging and defeating Cat Cora in Battle Hamburger. He served as a judge in the Iron Chef America competition. In addition to Iron Chef America, he has also been on Hell’s Kitchen and on an episode of the Fine Living Network’s What Makes It Tick.
With his modern take on traditional comfort food, Simon is credited with laying the groundwork for today’s vibrant culinary landscape in Las Vegas: crab cakes with papaya slaw, the greatest and most memorable mac and cheese, twice-baked banana bread with tempura bananas, pristine ahi tuna with fresh wasabi, and incredible meatloaf, according to Brock Radke of Las Vegas Weekly.
In 2001, Elizabeth Blau (@elizabethblau) and Peter Morton approached Simon about partnering in a restaurant bearing his name and exhibiting his cuisine, which resulted in the launch of Simon Kitchen & Bar at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in October 2002. Esquire magazine named the eatery one of America’s Best New Restaurants.
