Exclusive: Roy Choi Expanding From L.A. to The Las Vegas Strip

The transformation of the Monte Carlo resort into the Park MGM and NoMad Hotel next year has found the final piece for its dining scene. Famed Los Angeles fixture chef Roy Choi will debut his first Las Vegas restaurant inside the resort, with the hotel and casino betting large that his culinary star power will draw a young and affluent crowd.

Yet to be officially announced, little information is currently available at this very early stage, but an estimated $3 million has recently been allocated for the construction costs alone. Long anticipated to be expanding to Las Vegas, late last year Choi and business partner Paul Pruitt made an initial early move by creating a local company, 14 Grand Hospitality.

The revamped Strip hotel and casino will be run by MGM Resorts in conjunction with the Sydell Group, the force behind L.A.’s The Line Hotel, already home to Pruitt and Choi’s vegetarian concept Commissary and the Pot lobby bar and Cafe, which serves a fusion of Taiwanese, Korean and Latin American flavors. The type of cuisine Choi plans to import to Las Vegas has yet to be announced, but the high price of construction suggests a full-service venture.

Launched to fame by his Korean- and Mexican-inspired food truck Kogi BBQ, Choi currently operates Chego!, A-Frame, Alibi Room and Locol. The highly ambitious chef continues to search for new ways to expand and even shared with Culture magazine, “when cannabis becomes legal you can bet I’ll make a dope ass weed coffee shop for sure tho.”

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