Rumor: Look for Closing of Bazaar Meat in Next Few Months

By Scott Roeben, on May 20 2024
3 min read 8 comments
Las Vegas Las Vegas Restaurants

We’re hearing Bazaar Meat restaurant, brainchild of chef and philanthropist Jose Andres, is expected to close in the next few months.

This chatter comes on the heels of Andres revealing the name of a new restaurant he announced back in March 2023. Bazaar Mar will open at the The Shops at Crystals, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Zaytinya is set for the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace. We told you Caesars was getting a Jose Andres restaurant way back in 2021.

Bazaar meats different.

Bazaar Meat is considered by many to be one of the best steakhouses in Las Vegas.

The outstanding restaurant has been hobbled by being located at the Sahara casino, whose asshat owner filed a baseless lawsuit against this blog about a rumor related to the resort’s financial struggles, a mistake which cost him substantially more than $95,000 in our legal fees when he and his buffoonish lawyers got their asses handed to them in court. Multiple times. Fun read, not a particularly fun nine months for us.

The First Amendment won, legal bullying lost. Our free speech doesn’t chill, sorry.

Anyway, we haven’t talked about Sahara for several years, because they don’t deserve our patronage or attention (we were the resort’s most vocal fan until the aforementioned asshattery), but a potential Bazaar Meat closure is big news because we’re excited Chef Andres and his team can now throw off the yoke of a toxic casino owner and expand their family of dining offerings in Las Vegas.

Yes, some of the food is served in what our fellow youths call “kicks.”

Andres also operates the well-regarded Jaleo and E by Jose Andres at Cosmopolitan.

Yes, it’s supposed to be “é” (pronounced “ay”) but we don’t do stylistic affectation, sorry. Please ignore our use of the first person plural so we don’t seem like a complete hypocrite, thanks.

Chef Jose Andres made plates smaller and flavors bigger.

We are a big fan of Jose Andres and his World Central Kitchen. The organization was recently in the headlines for horrific reasons. Seven World Central Kitchen workers died in Gaza following an air strike. Yeah, the world is fairly FUBAR at the moment.

Word of the looming closure of Bazaar Meat was passed along by multiple employees, according to a source. The rumor is the restaurant will “probably be gone within three months.”

There has been no official announcement of the closure, nor any confirmation of the rumor. We have not heard back from Bazaar Meat or Sahara about this rumor. We aren’t exactly on speaking terms with Sahara, despite our love and compassion for its employees, so we aren’t holding our breath for a response.

Our fondest wish is when Bazaar Meat closes, they take the Sloppy Joe to one of the chef’s new restaurants. We miss it so.

Update (7/11/24): We hear from our friends at the 360 Vegas podcast Bazaar Meat will reopen at Venetian/Palazzo. Confirmation pending.

Update (8/7/24): A source says Bazaar Meat may have extended at its current location, but the plan is still to close, relocate and reopen at Palazzo. In the meantime, Bazaar Mar has opened at The Shops at Crystals. See the Bazaar Mar menu here.

Update (10/9/24): Our scoop has been confirmed by multiple media outlets. Bazaar Meat will close in 2025 and move to Venetian. We told you, but you don’t listen. The Review-Journal says Bazaar Meat communicated it wouldn’t be closing at Sahara. This is why you need us, as opposed to news releases and the Las Vegas Review-Journal, home of world-class confirming.

Here’s the statement from Venetian: “Bazaar Meat, a celebration of the carnivorous from the acclaimed José Andrés Group, will be moving to The Palazzo at The Venetian Las Vegas. Bazaar Meat, currently located at Sahara Las Vegas, opened in 2014 and following its successful decade-long run will relocate to the home of world-class dining at the legendary Venetian Resort.”

As the kids say, “Boom.”