Las Vegas has spent decades assembling some of the world’s most recognisable culinary talent, often without receiving the same recognition as other great American dining cities. Now that equation is beginning to shift. Michelin returns to Vegas this year after a long absence, the James Beard Foundation is again paying attention, and some of the country’s most talked-about chefs and restaurants increasingly have ties to the Strip.
Drink Las Vegas arrives at an interesting point in that evolution. The new four-day festival from MGM Resorts and events company a21, debuting September 24-27, has plenty of big names, but the more compelling proposition is what happens when you put them together. The programme ranges from large-scale tastings to dinners, wine and spirits experiences and gatherings of just 20 or 30 guests, where Dan Bernbach, senior vice president of entertainment development and strategy for MGM Resorts, says diners will actually have time to interact with the chefs and mixologists.
Drink Las Vegas has plenty of big names, but the more compelling proposition is what happens when you put them together
MGM has a rather extraordinary bench from which to build it. Bernbach says the company operates more than 450 food-and-beverage outlets across its portfolio, making it one of the world’s largest restaurant operators, even if few people think of it that way. Drink Las Vegas also gives MGM an opportunity to reach outside its own restaurants, bringing in talent and producers for collaborations that would be difficult to experience anywhere else.
And despite a first-year lineup stacked with chefs, the name of the event is intentional. Brett Friedman, founder and CEO of a21, says future editions will build out programming around the wider mixology and sommelier communities.
These are five experiences that make the inaugural edition particularly interesting.
Five top events for foodies at Drink Las Vegas
A Night of Excellence with the James Beard Foundation
Friday September 25, Aria Yucca Pool
If there is one event that captures Las Vegas’s renewed momentum as a dining destination, it may be Friday night’s partnership with the James Beard Foundation. Celebrity chefs Tom Colicchio and Tiffany Derry host a tasting at Aria’s Yucca Pool alongside a lineup of Beard-recognised chefs and mixologists, each serving the food and drink that helped put them on the organisation’s radar. The walk-around format offers the chance to sample a broad swath of the festival’s talent in a single evening. Having James Beard so prominently involved also feels particularly fitting at a moment when Las Vegas is once again getting serious attention from America’s culinary establishment.
Island Alchemy: A Tribute to Caribbean Cocktails & Cuisine
Friday September 25, Primrose at Park MGM
Paul Carmichael and Tristen Epps-Long bring two distinct perspectives on Afro-Caribbean cooking to Primrose at Park MGM for one of the weekend’s more intriguing collaborations. Carmichael is behind Kabawa, the New York restaurant that was named No. 1 on The New York Times’ 100 Best Restaurants in NYC list and No. 14 on North America’s 50 Best Restaurants, while Epps-Long arrives fresh off a Top Chef win. Kabawa bartender Pepper Stashek will build rum-forward tropical cocktails around each course, with the restaurant’s sommelier Eitan Spivak also joining the evening.
Hundred Acre Presents: The Vintner’s Table
Saturday September 26, Jean-Georges Steakhouse at Aria
Hundred Acre wines are difficult enough to come by. Getting founder Jayson Woodbridge himself around the table is considerably more unusual. Woodbridge joins Jean-Georges Vongerichten at Jean-Georges Steakhouse for a dinner that starts with Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay from his Summer Dreams project before getting into the serious Napa Cabernet: Morgan’s Way, Ark, Dark Ark and several vintages of Wraith. Woodbridge generally leaves consumer-facing events to his team, but a longstanding relationship with a senior MGM executive helped make this one happen, according to Bernbach. He counts the dinner among the weekend’s experiences he is most excited about. For wine lovers, it is easy to understand why.
Gymkhana After Dark
Saturday September 26, Gymkhana at Aria
There is no reason a food festival in Las Vegas should end after dinner. From 11pm to 1am, Gymkhana turns its new Aria outpost into a late-night party with passed bites and a cocktail programme that is already one of the restaurant’s strengths. The two-Michelin-starred London import has brought some wonderfully unexpected Indian ingredients behind the bar. The Bagheera is a highlight, mixing Lost Explorer Espadín with lime, Bansura peppercorn and a chutney made with chaprah weaver ants. The ants provide the heat in what drinks something like a particularly complex Spicy Mezcal Margarita. This is precisely the sort of after-hours programming you’d expect to see in a city that never sleeps.
The Best of Rip Van Winkle
Saturday September 26, The Vault at the Bellagio
Pappy Van Winkle hardly needs help generating demand. An occasion to sit with six expressions in front of you at once could create another level of frenzy, however. This hour-long tasting inside The Vault at Bellagio pours the 10, 12, 13, 15, 20 and 23 Year side by side, turning the chance to taste such scarce individual bourbon bottles into an opportunity to actually compare them. That alone makes it one of the weekend’s more compelling propositions for whiskey drinkers. When asked which events he was personally most looking forward to, Bernbach singled out this tasting and the Hundred Acre dinner as two that could offer genuinely once-in-a-lifetime experiences for lovers of food and drink.
Drink Las Vegas is taking place across MGM Resorts in Las Vegas on September 24-27. For more info and tickets visit drinklasvegas.com
Drink Las Vegas is produced by a21, parent company of Club Oenologique, in partnership with MGM Resorts International
