Country superstar with emotional connection to Vegas opening Strip restaurant

A Las Vegas country music mystery has been solved. Jason Aldean is opening a restaurant on the Strip.

A person with knowledge of the project, who was not authorized to speak publicly, confirmed that the country music superstar would be launching Jason Aldean’s Kitchen + Rooftop Bar, saying that the restaurant would occupy 10,000 square feet at 63 Las Vegas. Ocean Prime, the sleek steak and seafood spot, sits atop 63.

Clark County records indicate a cluster of building permits for a “Vegas Country Music Restaurant” at 3716 Las Vegas Blvd. South, the address of 63 Las Vegas. The restaurant construction is valued at about $9.8 million in the applications.

Earlier speculation had been that another country music star, Morgan Wallen, might be opening or involved with the restaurant, but in statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a representative for Wallen said that the musician was not opening a bar and restaurant at 63 or anywhere else in Vegas.

Aldean also has Kitchen + Rooftop Bar locations in Nashville and Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and in Pittsburgh. The Review-Journal is awaiting comment on the restaurant from a principal of 63.

On Oct. 1, 2017, the singer-songwriter was performing at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival when a gunman began firing into the crowd, resulting in 60 deaths and hundreds wounded. After the shooting, Aldean wrote an emotional Instagram post in which he expressed sorrow for the victims and their families.

The person with knowledge of the project did not know about the menu in Vegas. The restaurants in Tennessee and Pennsylvania show a mix of Southern comfort food, including Nashville hot chicken salad, Jason’s mac &cheese (cavatappi, chicken, pepper jack sauce, beer, bacon), grandma’s pot roast, a pork and beef meatloaf, and Mama Aldean’s peach cobbler.

Visit jasonaldeansbar.com.

Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram.