Perhaps one of the most difficult restaurants to open in Las Vegas? The three-meal restaurant, serving breakfast through dinner from early in the morning to late at night. The workhorse of the dining scene in Las Vegas was once meant to be all things to all people, feeding gamblers late at night, tourists still waking in their home time zone and hankering food, and even ensuring that a casino had a food option open all the time.
While many resorts still have mediocre cafe options at these three-meal restaurants, that changed when Society Cafe opened at Encore Las Vegas. A more elegant approach to breakfast through dinner emerged, with Kim Canteenwalla (now with Honey Salt and Andiron Steak & Sea in Downtown Summerlin) helming the kitchen. The former executive chef at the MGM Grand made Society Cafe a must-dine destination instead of an after-thought.
Now the definition of a three-meal restaurant changes again with the introduction of NoMad Bar, the Eater Award winner of Restaurant of the Year in 2018. Chef Daniel Humm and restaurateur Will Guidara bring a battery of accolades for their New York version of the restaurant, a tried and true sensibility with elegant touches to the menu, and a sumptuous decor that redefines the dining scene in Las Vegas yet again.
Guidara tells Eater Vegas that NoMad Bar, along with its swanky sister NoMad Restaurant, tries to keep that magical feeling of the entire dining experience as diners move through the hotel, the casino, and even the pool opening this spring at NoMad’s branded experience. “When you get out of car and in the grand NoMad space, it’s one cohesive experience. It’s really unique.”
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To be clear, NoMad Bar is meant to define elegance alongside those bacon-wrapped Humm dogs with black truffle, clever ice cream sandwiches, and steak fries, but it adds an element of fun to dining as well. A Steinway piano brings jazz to the bar. Large-format cocktails served in a giant chalice for six add to the theatrical experience. NoMad even brought in Leo Robitschek, the bar director for parent company Make It Nice since 2005, to create the cocktail menu here.
Guidara describes the eclectic menu as “delicious accessible food. You can have a bunch of drinks and enjoy yourself.”
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From the carrot tartare and black truffle tart to the hot and cold oysters and mixed fry, diners here will find a playful yet carefully executed menu that only exhibits why the sister bar in New York earned a Michelin star. The NoMad French dip swaps out shaved chicken and adds Gruyere and a horseradish cream for a twist, while a lobster pot pie is meant to be shared by two.
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At breakfast, that means avocado toast with a soft-boiled egg and sunflower seeds; a breakfast burrito brimming with suckling pig, eggs, potatoes, spinach, and chile de arbol; lemon poppy seed pancakes; a mushroom omelet accompanied with goat cheese and spinach; and an English muffin sandwiched with duck sausage, aged cheddar, and scrambled eggs.
Oxblood red velvet chairs and sofas decorate the space, some elevated as they approach the commanding bar, while an Austrian velvet and sheer curtain, custom made by Rosebrand, cloaks the bar by day as diners roll in for breakfast.
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• Eater Awards 2018: Announcing the Las Vegas Winners [ELV]
• All Coverage of NoMad Bar [ELV]