Sugar Factory American Brasserie Returns to the Las Vegas Strip

Sugar Factory fans, brace. The restaurant version of the celebrity-friendly brasserie is about to return to the Strip.

Sugar Factory American Brasserie plans what owners describe as “its largest and most lavish restaurant and retail complex to date” in early 2016 at Fashion Show mall.

The 19,000-square-foot restaurant sits on the plaza at the front of Fashion Show, currently under construction with a $1.5 million Kona Grill and a $1.1 million Davidoff Cigar Bar joining the fray.

Sugar Factory co-owners Charissa Davidovici and Tom Recine are building this newest version out with the owners of the legendary TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Calif., Donald Kushner and Elie Samaha. So aside from a candy store, restaurant and chocolate lounge, along with celebrity-endorsed Couture Pops, that means Hollywood debuts right on the Las Vegas Strip.

“For us, this means having a premier location,” Recine tells Eater Vegas. “Sugar Factory at Paris was wildly successful. It was one of the top five to 10 restaurants volume-wise on the Strip. We’ve had many guests asking when we’re opening again. We really searched the Strip for the right spot.”

Sugar Factory at Paris slowly converted into Hexx Kitchen & Bar when the partners in the business decided to split to make way for the new concept. Plans for another at the Galleria at Sunset were scraped to concentrate on this behemoth.

The main dining room for this Sugar Factory American Brasserie takes up 12,500 square feet with an additional 3,500 square feet for the retail store, all on the first level. While candy has always been the calling card, this location will debut the brand’s new chocolate line. Guests can also get homemade ice cream, gelato, freshly made doughnuts, fudge-covered pretzel sticks, milk chocolate-covered Oreos, Rice Krispies treats and more here.

Recine emphasizes that each Sugar Factory has its own “flavor.” For example, San Francisco has salt water taffy. Miami has paella. “We have many variations that make us unique in every market.”

For Las Vegas, that means a chocolate lounge, the crowning jewel on the second level of the restaurant that can be seen up and down the Strip. The 3,000-square-foot, open-air Chocolate Lounge sits under a “gazebo of white twinkling lights,” designed after a scene from Twilight. Inside find chocolate fondues, wine, champagne and liquor pairings. As with all things Vegas, the prices range from $28 to $1,000. Guests can go simple with a tasting for two or over-the-top with a Dom Perignon champagne, Dominican dark chocolate, a gold-chocolate sphere and more.

Sugar Factory is working on the menu, but this location won’t be open 24 hours like the former version at Paris Las Vegas. Look for pan-roasted Pacific salmon, filet mignon, pizzas, pastas, salads, fresh seafood, steaks, sandwiches, burgers and more. Yes, breakfast options such as waffles, omelets, pancakes and crepes are on the agenda. And, yes, those crazy desserts such as the King Kong sundae with 16 different scoops of ice cream, milkshakes and overstuffed ice cream sandwiches return.

Davidovici says this location will also pull out all the stops for parties. “We’re well known for throwing birthday parties.” That means a deejay booth and a truss descending from the ceiling with confetti cannons.

The restaurant’s 36-ounce alcohol-infused smoking candy goblets return as well with flavors such as Lollipop Passion infused with coconut, pineapple and melon flavors draped with candy necklaces and swirly lollipops and the White Gummi with floating Gummi worms. A Blow Pop martini finished off with a Pop Rocks rim and Blow Pop in the glass, as well as the S’Mores martini with a combination of chocolate, marshmallows and a graham cracker rim round out the menu. Guests can also pick up drinks at a daiquiri bar right on the plaza.

Sugar Factory’s latest restaurant opens in the Meatpacking District in New York in the next month. Miami’s location opened with reality personality Kylie Jenner on hand and “thousands standing in line,” Recine says. A second Miami location opens on Lincoln Road in the next six months. Orlando and Washington, D.C., are on the agenda, as well as Manila, the capital of the Philippines, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. “We’re really focusing on making the Las Vegas location a premiere spot,” Recine says. “We want to be back in the biggest and best way.”