VEGAS DINING ROUNDUP: Big Chef Leaving Las Vegas, Wasting Away Again?, MGM Closes Café

Posted on: September 13, 2024, 11:10h. 

Last updated on: September 13, 2024, 11:20h.

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

Sin City is bidding farewell to Chef Roy Ellamar, who exits on September 21 to open a new eatery at Graton Resort & Casino in Sonoma County, Calif.

Chef Roy Ellamar leaves Las Vegas with an impressive track record but lingering questions. (Image: summerlin.com)

Ellamar made a huge name for himself by opening Harvest by Roy Ellamar at the Bellagio in 2015. Then he made heads scratch six years later by departing the restaurant, which continued operating without him or his name.

Similar unanswered questions remain after the celebrated culinary maestro founded Fine Company at Downtown Summerlin and ditched that eight months later.

This billboard for a new Margaritaville appears in this (fairly poor) rendering proposed for the Riviera site on the north Strip. (Image: BPS Partners LLC)

Parrot-headed Back to Vegas?

A billboard depicted in a rendering of a mixed-use development proposed for the former Riviera site has parrot heads chirping because it includes a billboard for a new Las Vegas Margaritavlle, in addition to a thrill ride with coconut-shell swings.

This is probably wishful thinking since the whole project itself seems to be. But, as Vital Vegas points out, the late singer Jimmy Buffett’s eatery has suggested that the brand would return to Sin City.

Dining Ins & Outs

The Avenue Café, a brunch spot at MGM Grand, will close permanently after business on November 17. MGM says its replacement will open in February 2025, though it’s keeping mum on just what that will be.

Sugarcane Raw Bar Grill is now reopened at the Venetian, following a remodel that closed it in June.

Bank Atcharawan, the sommelier, chef, and restaurateur who brought Las Vegas restaurants including Chada Thai & Wine and Lamaii, will open a Thai fusion restaurant called Jipata at 3460 Arville St. this fall, according to What Now Vegas.

Andy Zhoa and Maya Kwong, the restaurateurs behind Las Vegas Chinatown’s Xiao Long Dumplings, plan to open a second location at 6945 S. Buffalo Drive, according to building permit paperwork.

Downtown’s Good Pie pizzeria will open a second location on October 14 at 835 Seven Hills Drive in Henderson, in the same storefront previously housing Angelina’s Pizza.

Crab N Spice is adding a third Las Vegas location for its All-You-Can-Eat Seafood Boil, including king crab for $32. It will debut in Chinatown, at 3455 Arville St., this fall.