VEGAS RESTAURANT ROUNDUP: Top Chefs’ Retro Inactive, Major Food Hall Cooked

Posted on: June 19, 2024, 02:54h. 

Last updated on: June 19, 2024, 02:54h.

The Sundry Food Hall at the UnCommons residential development in southwest Las Vegas is closing on Saturday, June 22, a little over a year after it opened.

The Sundry drew crowds smaller than its big plans. (Image: Sundry Food Hall)

“The Sundry was created through a bold, imaginative vision to bring a cosmopolitan food hall to Las Vegas locals,” said Patric Yumul, CEO of Table One Hospitality, in a statement.

“Unfortunately, we will no longer be able to serve the community as we envisioned.”

When it debuted in June 2023, the 18,000 square-foot experiment in upscale residential dining featured 15 restaurants, including Shotaro Kamio’s sushi spot, Mizunara, and Smitten Ice Cream, both of which closed last month without giving a reason.

Now we know.

Top Chefs Canceled

‘Top Chef” stars Bryan and Michael Voltaggio pose for a publicity shot. (Image: MGM Resorts)

Also closing is Retro, the ’80s and ’90s-themed restaurant from “Top Chef” stars Michael and Bryan Voltaggio. Its last day is June 29.

However, this closure was planned since the eatery — which occupies the beloved former Aureole space at Mandalay Bay — was a pre-planned “one-year culinary residency.”

After Michael won “Top Chef’s” Season 6 (with Bryan coming in second), the brothers built a culinary empire that now includes modern seafood restaurant Estuary at CityCenterDC’s Conrad Hotel and the Voltaggio Brothers Steak House at MGM National Harbor.

Dining Ins & Outs

Jay Bird’s Chicken may be about to open its first Las Vegas location at the Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian, according to an unconfirmed report by What Now Vegas. Jay Bird’s is a Nashville hot chicken concept founded in 2019 by Chef Jay Bogsinske with the Willd Thyme Restaurant Group in Long Beach, Calif. It now has multiple California locations, as well as one each in Sedona, Ariz. and St. George, Utah.

Plans for a new Mexican restaurant, Casa La Lucy, are in the works for 61 W. Utah Ave. #121, in the Arts District.

Coco’s African Chicken is planning a move from 4972 S. Maryland Parkway to bigger nearby digs at 4660 S. Maryland Parkway.

The House of Blues inside Mandalay Bay will debut a weekly horror-themed brunch at 11 a.m. on Sunday, July 28. Via a press release, the venue calls it a “one-of-a-kind Vegas brunch experience” in which ghoulish characters interact with and try to scare the guests. General admission is $59 through Ticketmaster.com.

The team that opened the Sand Dollar Lounge in 1976, as well as the Sand Dollar Downtown in 2022, will launch La Casa de Juliette Mexican Cocina this summer at 7585 Norman Rockwell Lane in Centennial Hills.

The Southern Nevada Health District shuttered Dippin Dots and Lea Lana’s Bananas on June 17. Both are kiosks located at the Cowabunga Canyon Waterpark at 7055 S. Fort Apache Road, and both scored 5 demerits. Also closed by the Health District, with a score of 30 demerits, was Lao’s Thai Street Food at 860 Twain Ave. #122.