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Following an Eater tradition, we asked a group of restaurant journalists, bloggers, and friends of the site to weigh in on the year in food. Their answers to the annual Year in Eater survey will be revealed in several posts. Now, headline predictions for 2022.
Rob Kachelriess, Las Vegas Writer for Thrillist — I think plant-based dining will continue to evolve with more compelling dishes and concepts. I also believe the movement toward natural, low-intervention wines will move forward with sommeliers replacing some of their common California labels with smaller European producers. On the down side, we’ll see “Strip prices” show up more often in off-Strip neighborhood restaurants, which doesn’t reflect greed as much as the current economic realities.
Emmy Kasten, Vegas Magazine — Vegas’s Restaurant Renaissance Goes Global
Ken Miller, Las Vegas Magazine — Strip restaurants to partner with local dispensaries to provide unique cannabis-flavored dishes.
Philip Tzeng, social media food blogger at LasVegasFill — “Massive lines form out of (insert restaurant name) overnight due to viral TikTok post the day before”
“Garnish is extremely overrated”
“Patrons forcefully escorted out of Delilah for refusing to put their phones away”
Scott Roeben, Vital Vegas — Naturally, I anticipate many of the restaurant rumors I’ve shared to be confirmed! Beyond the Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg restaurant at Paris, also need to see confirmation of a new Gordon Ramsay concept in the former Flavors buffet space at Harrah’s. I also predict further unfortunate news from Resorts World about restaurant changes. This resort has nearly 40 food and beverage venues, it doesn’t seem sustainable. We also have to see some announcements about the restaurants at Bally’s. Several have closed, with no replacements announced. If Bally’s becomes Horseshoe, that could shape the next generation of restaurant offerings (and Ole Red from Blake Shelton certainly fits the theme). There are going to be more stories about the challenges Las Vegas restaurants face related to staffing, as so many are leaving the service industry for a variety of reasons. Service levels are suffering in many cases, and the treatment of servers and bartenders has taken a nosedive, probably related to sustained anxiety from the pandemic.
Bob Barnes, Las Vegas writer for Gayot.com and freelance food and beverage writer — There will be more breweries opening in Southern Nevada, as this community of about 2.7 million people has not yet reached the saturation point for craft breweries. We currently have just over 20, compared to San Diego with a slightly larger population (3.3 million), and more than 150 breweries.
Louiie Victa, Eater Vegas photographer — Las Vegas Restaurants continue to thrive with record breaking numbers in 2022.
Al Mancini, host of the Food and Loathing podcast — If I could predict the future, I’d gamble more.
Susan Stapleton, editor of Eater Vegas — More people of color open restaurants that everyone actually writes about and frequents.
Fewer people frequent restaurants owned by white men in Chinatown.
Publications hire more diverse voices to write content about the restaurants all over Las Vegas.
