Chef Xue Opens at Virgin, Third Time’s a Charm
Virgin’s Night + Market restaurant closed a couple months back, quietly rebranding to Chow Fun.
Now, Chow Fun has closed and reopened as Chef Xue, a new Asian concept at the off-Strip resort.
The previous concept lasted three months. It was Chow Fun while it lasted.
The physical space hasn’t changed much during this musical chairs exercise, and here’s what the official Web site says about Chef Xue: “Chef Xue serves refined Chinese cuisine in a vibrant and comfortable setting. Be prepared to discover a diverse selection of stir-fried entrees from Chef Xue’s Michelin-rated menu, where everything is freshly prepared with only the finest ingredients.”
The menu is slight at this point, with just 11 items on the menu. Thirteen if you include the green beans and side of steamed white rice.
There are two appetizers, vegetable egg rolls and pork potstickers. Entrees include orange chicken and, well, yeah, that’s pretty much it.
It’s a little murky how this menu is “Michelin-rated,” but let’s not get bogged down in details.
The restaurant’s chef (under the handle “TheVirginChef,” unconfirmed) posted a note on Reddit: “I opened a new restaurant yesterday at the Virgin Hotel, it’s been a bit dead so I wanted to invite everyone to our dinner service tonight from 4PM-10PM. It’s gourmet Chinese food at a great price (everyone can eat for under $20 per person). We’re running a limited menu for our soft opening, but if you come tonight and mention you saw this on Reddit, I’ll hook you up with a free appetizer (potstickers or egg rolls).”
So, it sounds like Chef Xue is doing a soft opening and the menu is likely to expand once the restaurant gets its footing.
The poster on Reddit said, “We’re open daily, but we want to keep a low profile for now because we haven’t been able to get all of our ingredients in from suppliers. Orange Chicken (sorry if that sounds silly) is one of our specialties. I had three people tell me yesterday that it was the best and crispiest they’ve ever had. A ton more special dishes that are not on the menu yet, including very authentic ones from southern China. Stay tuned, please.”
We will sure as damn being trying that orange chicken and white rice.
More to come.
Update (15 minutes later): Fifteen minutes after writing this story, the Chef Xue Web site was updated! We already like this guy. The chef was also thoughtful enough to share the pronunciation of his name (sh-way), which we’re fairly sure will be pronounced wrong by 80% of customers and 98% of Las Vegas vloggers and podcasters. They’re still saying Fontainebleau wrong and porte cochere and Guy Savoy and Bakkt Theater, and it’s not even Bakkt Theater anymore. Don’t get us started. The Chef Xue menu will be expanded to about 30 items, including vegan and vegetarian items, despite our best efforts.
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