Rumors Confirmed — Mike Minor and Kent Hartman Are Opening Bandito

As Eater Vegas rumored back in January, Border Grill alums Kent Harman and chef Mike Minor are about to make their return to a restaurant in Las Vegas. The duo teams up to open Bandito Latin Kitchen & Cantina, heading to East Flamingo Road between Howard Hughes Parkway and Paradise Road in late 2016 or early 2017.

Harman tells Eater Vegas that the restaurant will sit on the former site of the original Piero’s as well as the former Fog City Diner. The full-service, sit-down restaurant fills 4,000 square feet inside with a bar anchoring the space and an open kitchen. “We don’t want to hide anything. We’re putting everything out where people can watch it be cooked and smoked,” Harman reveals.

A 2,000-square-foot patio is accessed by two big garage doors.

“Bandito has been something Mike and I have been working on for the past year,” Harman says in a press statement, adding that the Mexicue restaurant will serve lunch, dinner and late at night.

For the past two years, Minor tested out his barbecued Mexican dishes on Truck-U Barbecue, his food truck he opened after leaving Border Grill. Look for burnt end burritos with Oaxacan barbecue aioli, cole slaw, duck fat fries and Monterey Jack cheese; smoked chicken enchiladas with Oaxacan string cheese, caramelized onions, mole Colorado, cotija cheese and crema; and al pastor sopes with crispy corn masa, al pastor meat, guacamole and habanero pineapple salsa. Tacos, salads, ceviche and a seafood paella all make the cut at Bandito. Harman says all of the recipes will be created exclusively by Minor.