More than a decade after she first starred on The Food Network and nine years after the release of her first cookbook, Giada De Laurentiis is finally putting her name on the door with her first-ever restaurant, Giada, inside The Cromwell in Las Vegas. The space, overlooking the intersection of Flamingo Road and Las Vegas Boulevard South, is full of Giada touches, from the rose gold accents to restaurant’s chairs. Vegas DeLuxe’s Robin Leach chatted with the chef ahead of the restaurant’s opening. An excerpt of that interview is included below.

So here we are, just about a month to go. Run me through the gamut of emotions that you are feeling. Happy, nervous, worried, concerned, exhilarated? Not sleeping at night, sleeping beautifully at night?

All of them! No, I don’t sleep beautifully. Definitely not. I don’t think this is the time to sleep beautifully. I would say that I am exhilarated, on a high for sure—from excitement. I have my very low days, no question, where I just want to bang my head against the wall.

How many hours a day are you going full speed?

Some days are very long. Some days it’s a full 12 hours nonstop—no break. For me, in particular, and I was warned that this could happen, it’s so difficult because I have never done this before. I’m trying to use the right terminology to explain what it is I am looking for and because of the way I see food, and my brand is so different from everybody else, and it has not been done here in Las Vegas before, it is very difficult for people to grasp exactly what I’m trying to say.

What are you trying to say? Are you trying to tell them I want this to be my home and not a restaurant in a hotel?

I want people to feel like they are coming home regardless of whether I am there or not. Nobody has yet been to my home. I should invite all 500 employees on the plane and bring them to L.A. It’s also because a lot of these people haven’t spent a lot of time with me, and that is why I will be here a good solid month and a half to spend time with everybody.

When you and I talked in New York at the Food Network’s 20th anniversary last fall, you gave Bobby Flay a lot of credit for helping you. Are you still getting words of wisdom?

I bounce a lot of things off Bobby and Mario Batali. I’ve actually gone to go see Mario a couple of times since we’ve spoken. It’s like going back to talk to the Godfather when talking to Mario. I tell them the feelings that I’m having and the worries that I’m having and the steps that are happening now, are these right? Is this the way it really does work? Or how can I make it different or how can I make it better? Am I asking too much? Am I on the right path? Those are the types of things I’m asking at this point. Bobby’s been here 14 years, with Caesars, so he really has a strong hold on how this all works.