VEGAS RESTAURANT ROUNDUP: Michael Mina Returns to Mandalay for Seconds, Resorts World Planning Rosé Slushery

Posted on: August 16, 2023, 07:39h. 

Last updated on: August 17, 2023, 12:45h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Restaurants, Las Vegas Myths.

James Beard Award-winning chef and restaurateur Michael Mina is set to open his second restaurant at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino. Eyeing a winter opening, Orla will serve seafood dishes from a number of global cuisines, including Mediterranean, North African, Western Asian, and European.

Chef Michael Mina
Chef Michael Mina is opening a second restaurant at Mandalay Bay. (Image: MichaelMina.net)

The restaurant replaces Fleur, the beloved French regional steakhouse opened at the hotel by Chef Hubert Keller in 2005.

Mina also operates StripSteak at Mandalay Bay and, of course, Michael Mina at the Bellagio.

Rosé wine, maligned for decades by Baby Boomers and Gen-X as classless, is having a moment with Millennials and Gen-Z, who now choose it above all other vinos. (Image: charlotteobserver.com)

Days of Wine and Frosés

Resorts World will host the Las Vegas debut of the Co-op Frosé & Eatery.

The slushery, specializing in frozen rosé wine (get it, frosés?) will open this fall and operate out of kiosks on the casino floor and an Airstream at the pool. On offer will be 50 rosé slushies in a rotating seasonal selection of about 10 at a time. Sandwiches will also be available, for those who eat.

In a way, the fast-growing chain is coming home, since the idea for its signature menu item came from the giant cocktail slushies seen on the Strip for at least two decades.

The co-op has outlets across the Southeast and two famous retired NFL quarterback investors. In Knoxville, Tenn., that’s Eli Manning. At Resorts World, it’s Sam Bradford.

Dining In & Out

A year and a half after reality TV personality Brett Raymer and Chef Anthony Monte opened Stallone’s Italian Eatery, their Silverado Ranch restaurant with no connection to either Sylvester (or even Frank) Stallone, they’re opening another, next to the sportsbook at Santa Fe Station Hotel and Casino. Raymer created one of Animal Planet’s longest-running shows, “Tanked,” which followed his work as a Las Vegas-based builder of custom fish tanks.

Leoncito, described as “a modern Mexican restaurant,” will open in October at Red Rock Resorts, in the space formerly occupied by Hearthstone Kitchen & Cellar.

Chef Joel Ott debuts Joel’s Chophouse on August 31 at the Ahern Luxury Boutique Hotel (formerly the Lucky Dragon). The eatery occupies the second-floor space formerly known as Chef Marc’s Italian Steakhouse, and Ott now occupies Chef Marc (Sgrizzi)’s job as the hotel’s executive chef.