Las Vegas’ top 10 restaurant openings and closings of 2024
As 2024 ends, we mark 10 noteworthy restaurant openings and 10 noteworthy closings in the past year in Las Vegas, out of dozens of such debuts and endings.
The list features establishments that launched by Dec. 6 or permanently ceased operations by that date (as opposed to closing temporarily or relocating). We considered only standard restaurants, not pop-ups, food trucks or caterers.
Here’s to all the Vegas flavor in 2025.
OPENINGS
■ Bazaar Mar: Celebrated chef José Andrés brought his fifth restaurant to the Strip with the August launch of Bazaar Mar. The restaurant offers tasting menus that showcase the chef’s way with seafood and meat: Hokkaido sea scallops crudo, Maine lobster croquetas, tacos filled with jamon Ibérico de bellota, whole fish “José’s way” and more. The companion Bar Centro serves coffees and pastries during the day, then moves to caviar, cocktails and other items during the evening.
On the main level of the Shops at Crystals, thebazaar.com
■ Bramàre: Bramàre (brah-MAR-aye), which launched in July, comes courtesy of Evan Glusman and Constantin Alexander, principals of Batch Hospitality, which also owns Table 34. The moody restaurant — dark charcoal tones, veneered brick, black suede banquettes — offers a modern take on Italian cooking. Expect cashew and Calabrese sausage pizza, coxcomb pasta in mezcal pomodoro, thickly sliced porchetta with roasted vegetables and a spirited cocktail program.
3900 Paradise Road, Suite H, bramare.com
■ La Casa de Juliette: The buzz on Casa de Juliette, which debuted in July in Centennial Hills? It’s one of the best restaurants in years to open off Strip. The team behind the Sand Dollar Lounge and Sand Dollar Downtown created Casa de Juliette, so you know the cocktails shine (must-try: pineapple margarita). The menu ranges broadly and expertly: romana salad, Julie’s enchiladas, pescado a la talla with red and green salsas, vampiros de Juliette tostadas and more.
7585 Norman Rockwell Lane, lacasadejuliette.com
■ Emmitt’s Vegas: After a wait of almost 2½ years, the steakhouse from NFL great Emmitt Smith finally opened in February on the Strip. Emmitt’s occupies the ground floor of a 30,000-square-foot space (at last word, upstairs will house a separate Emmitt’s concept). A brawny 44-ounce tomahawk steak takes pride of place on the menu. The name Emmitt’s is burned by laser into the bone, then torched to bring the letters into relief. The butter cake is a Smith family favorite.
In Fashion Show mall, emmittsvegas.com
■ Mae Daly’s Fine Steaks & Whiskeys: Richard Femenella, a longtime Vegas hospitality executive, debuted Mae Daly’s in July downtown. The restaurant takes its name and inspiration from a famous saloonkeeper during Prohibition-era Vegas. Among the standout dishes: oysters Rockefeller with Pernod sabayon, lobster Thermidor, filet mignon au poivre flambéed with Frey Ranch whiskey from Northern Nevada, and made-to-order chocolate or Grand Marnier soufflés.
2211 Las Vegas Blvd. South, maedalys.com
■ Orla: Chef Michael Mina, who lives in Vegas, celebrates Mediterranean cooking and the flavors of his Egyptian heritage at Orla, which opened in January. Some dishes to look for: marinated bigeye tuna with crisp falafel and whipped tahini, chilled lobster salad with blistered peppers, a modern take on a traditional Egyptian fish fry and black harissa-grilled lamb chops. The breads, spreads and pickle service is also not to be missed.
In Mandalay Bay, michaelmina.net
■ Ortikia Mediterranean Grill: The centerpiece of the restaurant (ortikia means “quail” in Greek) is an open kitchen featuring a live-fire grill and rotisserie, a wood-burning oven and a display of chilled fresh seafood, with seating for viewing the action. Creamy taramosalata alone is worth a trip. Shrimp à la Grecque, whole fish (grilled or salt-baked), and rotisserie chicken acquit themselves nicely. Ortikia also offers happy hour and late-night menus. It launched in June.
In Green Valley Ranch, ortikiagvr.com
■ Palate Las Vegas: When Palate opened in May, a sort of kooky glamour entered downtown, what with Palate’s purple velvet chairs, red velvet throne chairs, swaggy crystal chandeliers, a sleek (and very ably staffed) bar with orange bucket seats, and a tree rising in the center of it all. But there’s nothing kooky about the modern American menu. Don’t skip the biscuits of the day, the duck board with duck four ways, and the Friday fried chicken and Champagne specials.
1301 S. Main St., Suite 110, palatelv.com
■ Pinky’s by Vanderpump: Pinky’s, which debuted in early December, nods to the nickname of Lisa Vanderpump, the restaurateur and reality TV star. Flamingos abound, including a painting of La Lisa riding a giant pink bird. Pink accents join greens and golds for a tropics meets Emerald City meets art deco feel. The menu of elevated American classics runs to upright deviled eggs with fancy toppings, wagyu sliders with dill tots and the stylish sips for which Vanderpump is known.
In the Flamingo, caesars.com
■ Spring by China Mama: This spot, the most fine-dining oriented of the five China Mama restaurants, launched in May. The marquee offering is a spring wrap built with thin wheat pancakes, fillings (meat, vegetables, eggs), and condiments. The components arrive on a trolley, and the server assembles the first two wraps; after that, you assemble your own. Duck and tofu soup with delicate broth and dan dan noodles in a drier style nicely supplement the wraps.
4480 Paradise Road, Suite 700A, springbychinamama.com
CLOSINGS
■ Chinglish Cantonese Wine Bar: Chinglish, which combined wine culture with modern Cantonese cooking, closed suddenly in June. Kitty Lam Heck and Ken Heck, and chef Po Fai Lam and Anna Lam, opened the restaurant in December 2020 in Boca Park. Ken Heck said Chinglish could not match salaries paid by casinos to skilled Chinese chefs, something that contributed to the closing. The family is planning to open a noodle bar, Hot Noods, in 2025 in El Cortez.
■ Crown & Anchor British Pub: After serving customers for almost three decades, Crown & Anchor shut its doors in early July. The restaurant debuted on East Tropicana in 1995. The 24/7 spot drew folks around the clock for fish and chips, bangers and mash, and soccer viewing. A then-20-year-old Brandon Flowers of The Killers caught his girlfriend cheating on him at the pub; the infidelity inspired him to finish “Mr. Brightside,” the band’s biggest hit.
■ Forte Tapas: This neighborhood spot for tapas and Eastern European comfort food closed in March after almost 15 years. The restaurant, on South Rainbow Boulevard, opened in August 2009, with the menu inspired by owner Nina Manchev’s Bulgarian heritage. Manchev cited the economy as the reason for the closing. “It’s just been very hard to keep up. It’s not working out financially. Food prices are up. Everything is going up, up, up.”
■ Kitchen Table: For almost a decade, Kitchen Table served breakfast and brunch with a twist in its Henderson dining room. The restaurant was known for dishes like foie gras and apple skillet cakes, granola-crusted French toast and a ribeye Philly sandwich with jalapeño cheese sauce. Kitchen Table closed in May after its lease ended. Chef-owner Javier Chavez said he hoped to reopen the restaurant elsewhere.
■ Margaritaville: The restaurant, after the famous song by Jimmy Buffett, shut its 30,000-square-foot space at the Flamingo on June 1 after the lease expired. The restaurant was known for its tropical flora, “dockside” seating, and a menu of margaritas and Caribbean-inspired dishes. Margaritaville belonged to a hospitality group that encompasses not only restaurants, but also hotels, resorts, cruises, residences and an official online store.
■ Peyote: This modern Latin spot opened in September 2021 and became one of the star restaurants of downtown Vegas. After initial confusion about whether the restaurant was shutting temporarily to remodel or closing altogether, the owner, Corner Bar Management, confirmed the late April closure. The menu featured dishes like ceviche of the day, roasted cauliflower in Mexican romesco and grilled chicken thigh marinated in black garlic sauce.
■ Picasso: Chef Julian Serrano led Picasso in Bellagio for almost 26 years, guiding the opulent French restaurant to a pair of Michelin stars. The restaurant sent out its last seared scallops in potato mousseline on Aug. 16; its closing ranks as the most significant in Vegas in 2024. Picasso debuted when the property opened in October 1998, with Serrano and several other celebrated chefs launching restaurants in the late 1990s that changed how people dined in Vegas.
■ La Popular CDMX: The much-heralded La Popular CDMX, from a Mexico City and California restaurant group, debuted at the Palms in June 2023; it closed in September, a little more than a year after opening. The restaurant did not return requests for comment on the reason for the closing. La Popular was known for its spicy street corn salad, aguachile with tiger prawns, and tacos al pastor with meat sliced from the trompo spit in the middle of the dining room.
■ The Sundry Food Hall: When The Sundry debuted in June 2023 at UnCommons, its 18,000 square feet encompassed 15 purveyors, including restaurants from big-name chefs out of Vegas, L.A. and the Bay Area. When the hall closed a year later in June, only one of the original 15 remained. Table One Hospitality, creator of The Sundry, issued a statement that did not provide a reason for the shuttering of what had been one of the most anticipated Vegas food launches in years.
■ 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: When Lost Spirits Distillery at Area15 closed in April, so did its 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, a crazy-cool, boundary-pushing, oceanic-steampunk restaurant inspired by the Jules Verne novel of the same name. There was a “submarine” lounge (with portholes framing fish with human faces) and a long communal table where diners gathered for 16 dramatically presented courses, including wagyu “whale” and a pig’s head carved tableside.
Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram.
