Echo & Rig steakhouse expanding to Henderson

Ten years after opening in Summerlin at Tivoli Village (anchoring that architectural capriccio during its rough early years) — and about five years after bringing the ribeye cap to the capital of California — Echo & Rig Butcher and Steakhouse is launching its first Las Vegas expansion at The District in Henderson.

The restaurant, scheduled to launch in December, occupies about 8,800 square feet (8,000 interior, 800 terrace) at the west end of Village Walk Drive in the space that formerly housed the Elephant Bar. Last week, chef-owner Sam Marvin gave the Review-Journal an exclusive tour of the new Echo & Rig, still under construction. Here are some highlights:

— Work began on the restaurant about six months ago. Marvin said he had received offers over the years to debut another Echo & Rig, in Vegas and out of state, but The District was the right fit. “The developer really wanted us to be here.”

— The restaurant seats about 130 in the dining areas, 45 at the bar and 40 on the terrace.

— As in Summerlin, the butcher shop lies to the right of the entrance, with dry-aged cases and butcher tables and a butchery program that supplies the restaurant. The butcher shop has windows to the street.

— A circular bar, with banquettes embracing the curve, lies to the left of the entrance. The bar features a green velvet curtain that can be drawn around the bar.

— Tony Abou-Ganim, one of the world’s leading bar professionals, is fashioning the cocktail program. Tobin Ellis, the acclaimed bartender and bar designer, is creating bar flow (as Marvin put it) that incorporates large equipment from Ellis’ bar equipment line.

— A wall of ceramic accordion tile marks the entrance to the kitchen (which had a grease trap but otherwise required extensive build-out). The chef gushed about the custom grill area featuring a charcoal smoker, a wood-fire oven and two wood-fire grills with grates that can be raised or lowered, Santa Maria-style.

— Instead of using popular flavored hardwoods (hickory, say), the grills are fueled with red oak, as in Santa Maria, on the Central Coast of California. “It has high temperature, high char,” Marvin said. “It burns with the flavor of fire, not the flavor of hickory.”

— The menu at the new Echo & Rig will be similar to the original but not a replica, the chef said. The beef program showcases “every cut I think is worthy of being cooked here.” A given cut might be sourced from different ranches in different styles: wagyu, barley-finished, grass-fed, corn-finished.

— Marvin sources carefully and in person. “I’ve been to every ranch. I’m assessing the cattle, the feed, the treatment of the animals,” he said. “All the things that make a difference.”

— The cost of the new Echo & Rig is more than $2.5 million, the chef said.

— Although Marvin is known in Vegas for a steakhouse, a classic American form of dining, his background includes a stretch of cooking in Europe, at renowned restaurants like Georges Blanc in eastern France and Moulin de Mougins on the French Riviera.

Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ItsJLW on Twitter.