Las Vegas has become a top culinary destination thanks in part to the influx of celebrity chefs over the past two decades.
Celebrity chefs Bobby Flay, Gordon Ramsay, Michael Mina and Jose Andres are welcoming new projects to the strip this year.
Michael Mina - Orla
Mina, who has served as chef at the James Beard House, appeared on Hell's Kitchen and Master Chef and cooked for three U.S. presidents, opened his new restaurant, Orla, on Tuesday. Since starting the Mina Group, James Beard award-winning chef Mina has launched more than 30 restaurants including Bourbon Steak, Sorelle, Bardot Brasserie and the self-titled, Michelin-starred Michael Mina, which has locations in San Francisco and Las Vegas.
Orla is Mina's brand-new Mediterranean restaurant at the Mandalay Bay resort in Las Vegas and started taking reservations in December. The menu features "stunning seafood, charcoal-roasted meats, and bright, zesty vegetables."In December, Mina told the Las Vegas Review Journal the menu was inspired by the flavors of his Egyptian childhood and would include items like Urfa chili pepper-dusted bigeye tuna with crisp falafel and whipped tahini, chilled lobster salad with avocado, mango and roasted Nardello peppers and a modern take on a traditional Egyptian fish fry.
Bobby Flay- Brasserie B
After opening the Italian restaurant Amalfi inside Caesars Palace in 2021, he opened his French-style restaurant Brasserie B on Jan. 9.
Flay said guests can expect his signature twists on Parisian-style French fries, unique raw bar selections, a variety of starters and entrees and desserts.
Signature menu items include the Lobster avec Frites features lobster with roasted garlic and lemon butter, the Ribeye Piquant avec Frites with spicy and sweet glaze and chile butter and Flay's take on popular dishes such as Eggs Royale, a variation of Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon and lemon chive hollandaise.
Brasserie B also features an extensive cocktail menu, an L-shaped, 20-seat bar and an enormous raw bar with a lit canopy.
Gordon Ramsay - Gordon Ramsay Burger
In December, Lee Bennett, the global culinary director for Gordon Ramsay Restaurants said the restaurant has a standard playbook upon entering new markets.
"Whenever we go into a new market, we look at the local market and see if there's something that needs to be incorporated into the menu," Bennett said. "But also, what we tend to find is that guests want something different than what's available in the local market. So, we stick to our core signatures first. We find our guests expect different flavors then, post-opening, we listen to guest feedback and adapt if needed."
Ramsay's "specialty" Truffle Burger is just one of the menu's starting lineup burgers that range from the Hell's Kitchen Burger to the Southern Yardbird, a ground chicken patty with sharp cheddar cheese, bread-and-butter pickles, and mustard BBQ sauce.
Jose Andres - e
Chef Jose Andres is renowned for his decades of experience as an award-winning chef. He is busy opening two restaurants in Las Vegas this year.
A new location of his renowned Mediterranean restaurant Zaytinya is scheduled to open at the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace this year. With locations in Washington and New York City, Andres opened a South Beach location in November.
Meanwhile, staff at e are working now to open later this year at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. The restaurant has started taking reservations. The creative tasting menu of Spanish avant-garde dishes is served around a steel-topped bar with seating for nine.
In addition to his new Vegas restaurants, Andres has several popular restaurants on the strip, including Jaleo, China Poblano and Bazaar Meat at The Sahara.
