VEGAS RESTAURANT ROUNDUP: José Andrés’ 5th and 6th Strip Eateries, Tao Group’s Cathédrale, RIP Stripburger

Posted on: April 4, 2023, 08:20h. 

Last updated on: April 4, 2023, 08:20h.

Las Vegas apparently can’t get its fill of José Andrés, who plans to open his fifth and sixth restaurants on the Strip in the coming months. A third outpost of the celebrity chef’s Mediterranean eatery, Zaytinya, is expected to debut first at the Forum Shops at Caesars. Andrés also announced that he is opening a restaurant at The Shops at Crystals in Aria Campus (formerly CityCenter), though no details about that restaurant were revealed.

Andrés — the Spanish chef often credited with bringing the small-plate tapas concept to America — debuted Zaytinya in Washington D.C. in 2002, followed by a second location last year in New York. Zaytinya (Turkish for olive oil) spotlights flavors from Turkey, Greece, and Lebanon. He already operates Jaleo, China Poblana, and é by Andrés at the Cosmopolitan, as well as Bazaar Meat at the Sahara.

No timeline was given for the new restaurants, but they are expected by late 2023 or early 2024.

Tao Bows New Chow

Tao Group is doing what it does best — finding a Vegas home for clubby upscale Manhattan dining experiences centerpieced by large sculptures. Its latest is Cathédrale, a French-Mediterranean coastal restaurant from the Lower East Side.

Overseen by executive chef Jason Hall and Tao Group Hospitality’s chief culinary officer, Ralph Scamardella, the menu includes an omelet filled with crème fraîche and caviar, a whole Dover sole with lemon caper butter, and a 22-ounce prime aged ribeye with rotisserie leeks.

When it opens May 1 at Aria, guests will enter the 266-seat restaurant through a tunnel lit by flickering candles, then pass through a metal beaded chain canopy, to find a monumental ceiling installation looming over the main dining room.

Comings & Goings

Stripburger & Chicken has closed, ending 16 years of unparalleled Las Vegas Strip people-watching on the first floor of the Fashion Show mall. There is unconfirmed speculation that Emmitt’s, a new steakhouse from NFL legend Emmitt Smith, could replace it … China Mama, at Spring Mountain Road and South Jones Boulevard in Chinatown, is temporarily closed due to a non-injury kitchen fire caused by cooking equipment that wasn’t turned off.

The Venetian has hired Ryan Labbe to operate, and ultimately reinvent, its Dorsey, Electra, and Rosina cocktail lounges. The founder and CEO of Las Vegas’ 81/82 Group, Labbe opened Barbershop Cuts & Cocktails in the Cosmopolitan … Retro by Voltaggio, the temporary first Las Vegas restaurant from “Top Chef” stars and brothers Michael and Bryan Voltaggio, will open May 3 and is now accepting reservations. The one-year culinary residency supplants Charlie Palmer’s Aureole at Mandalay Bay, which closes for good on April 14.

Source: casino.org