VEGAS DINING NEWS: Vanderpump’s Fashionably Late Opening, Netflix & Chili, Golf Slices

Posted on: October 30, 2024, 04:40h. 

Last updated on: October 30, 2024, 04:56h.

Corey Levitan Read More

Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Restaurants, Las Vegas Myths.

Pinky’s, the third Las Vegas Strip eatery from reality TV star Lisa Vanderpump, will hold its grand opening party on December 5th. That date is via the Las Vegas Review-Journal, though it may not represent the date it opens to the public.

As we reported last August, the $3.5 million restaurant — which will occupy nearly 7,000 square feet in the former Purple Zebra bar space at the Flamingo — was scheduled to open this summer. No reason for the delay has been provided.

The former “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” and “Vanderpump Rules” star, whose nickname is “Pinky,” opened the Cocktail Garden at Caesars Palace  in 2019, followed by Vanderpump à Paris at Paris Las Vegas  in 2022.

All her restaurants are operated by Caesars Entertainment, which may be attempting to corner the Las Vegas market on celebrity restaurants. (Gordon Ramsay is about to open his seventh Strip restaurant to be operated by Caesars on his behalf. Gordon Ramsay Burger will also open at the Flamingo and, like Pinky’s, is also four months behind schedule.)

Psst … Don’t Order the Squid Game

Netflix Bites will be a pop-up residency lasting for one year at the MGM Grand. Slated to open early next year in the casino resort’s former Avenue Café space, it will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner dishes inspired by popular Netflix series such as “Bridgerton,” “Stranger Things” and “La Casa de Papel.”

The first Netflix Bites operated from June 2023 through June 2024 in LA at the Short Stories Hotel and was booked months in advance.

This will mark the second Las Vegas pop-up collab between Netflix and MGM Resorts. Chef Truck parked itself at the Park MGM last year as a cross-promotion for the movies “Chef,” and the subsequent “Chef Show,” which starred Jon Favreau and chef Roy Choi.

Viva Las Vegan

Las Vegas nabbed seven of the spots on Yelp’s annual list of Top 100 Vegan Spots in the US. They finished as follows:

10. Tarantino’s Vegan, which serves plant-based Italian
16. No Butcher, a deli and sandwich counter featuring meatless meats and nondairy cheeses
51. Garden Grill, a Mexican joint that began as a pop-up
57. ChagaRoot, which specializes in mushrooms
74. Daikon Vegan Sushi, a Japanese/Thai sushi spot
80. Tacotarian, the Vegas-born Mexican meatless favorite.
91. Down to Earth Plant-Based Cuisine, which serves comfort food.

None of the winners is located on the Strip. This is unexpected, particularly because Crossroads at Resorts World has won multiple top accolades — including best vegan restaurant from VegNews magazine last year, and a spot on the 15 “Restaurants That Defined the Past Decade of Eating,” according to Esquire magazine’s food and drink editor in 2019 — though both accolades were for the brand’s LA location.

Dining Ins & Outs

When Swingers Las Vegas opens at Mandalay Bay on November 8, more people may line up for one of its restaurants than for its four golf courses. Golf they have elsewhere in Las Vegas, but not Emmy Squared Pizza.

A cult favorite since opening its first location in Brooklyn in 2016, Emmy’s serves “frico”-style crusts (quasi-burned with cheese). The brand currently operates 28 locations across the US.

The Codfather, a favorite fried fish & chippery among British tourists, has reopened after closing this summer. (In a Facebook post, the owner blamed water, heat and power problems.) Its new location is just four doors down from the original, in a larger (and hopefully better powered) space at 2895 N. Green Valley Parkway in Henderson.

Hawaiian restaurant chain Mo’ Bettahs recently opened its third Las Vegas location at 3340 St. Rose Parkway, Suite 100, in Henderson.