Chefs cook 1-night-only dishes at Las Vegas food festival
Vegas Unstripped, a locally organized food festival celebrating Las Vegas chefs, was created in 2018 in reaction to Vegas Uncork’d, a longtime event created by out-of-towners featuring celebrity chefs on the Strip.
Vegas Uncork’d is defunct, but Vegas Unstripped returns Oct. 14 to the Arts District (location to be revealed later). This year marks the first full-strength Unstripped since 2019, following pandemic cancellation in 2020, social distancing limitations in 2021 and cancellation in 2022 because of restaurant labor and supply challenges.
Thirty of the city’s leading chefs will present one-night-only dishes prepared just for the event. The dishes will be accompanied by craft cocktails from top bars, live entertainment, art experiences and more.
“Each year, the message of Vegas Unstripped evolves a little bit but really remains the same: to show Las Vegas locals the strength of our city-wide culinary scene, and to show visitors and the world that Vegas food means more than an outpost for celebrity chefs,” said event producer Eric Gladstone of The Feast of Friends, a Vegas media, marketing and events agency.
“We can’t say that Las Vegas is a great culinary city if we don’t build up our own heroes.”
Participating chefs to be announced
Chefs will personally serve the distinctive dishes they are creating. For the first time, in 2023, chefs who cook on the Strip will join their off-Strip colleagues. Chefs and their staffs donate their time, as do most of the event staff. Nearly all the expenses of chefs and restaurants, Gladstone said, are covered by event revenue.
Participating chefs will be announced in the coming weeks.
Net proceeds of Vegas Unstripped benefit local charities, Gladstone said. In past years, those have included Project Real, which educates youth about law and constitutional rights, and Safe House, which provides shelter to abused women and children.
Tickets are $150 (plus a fee) in advance from vegasunstripped.com. Sales are limited to about 1,000 attendees, who must be at least 21. A small number of tickets will be sold day of at a higher price.
Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram and @ItsJLW on Twitter.
