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It is now time — drum roll, please — to announce the winners of the 2019 Eater Awards in Las Vegas. These winners comprise a diverse group of the finest and most interesting chefs, restaurants and bars in the city. They’ve defined this year in dining, and we applaud them.
First, a quick recap: Eater’s local editors in 24 cities nominated candidates for three major categories: Restaurant of the Year, Design of the Year, and Bar of the Year. These awards are geared toward places that have opened in about the past year, or people who have become involved in new ventures or otherwise changed the game in that time, which is why many renowned veterans don’t appear.
Eater editors selected the winners in each category. Without further ado, here’s who came out on top in Las Vegas.
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Restaurant of the Year
Finalists: Hatsumi, La Strega, Lamaii, and Valencian Gold
Winner: La Strega
Chef Gina Marinelli returns to the Las Vegas dining scene with La Strega, the Italian restaurant in Summerlin. Marinelli, who worked with chefs including Shawn McClain, Scott Conant, and Michael Mina, brings dishes from across the Italian peninsula, a tradition she learned from her grandparents, who came from Lake Como and Sicily. It seems like just the restaurant Summerlin needed, complete with a beautiful dining room and lounge.
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Design of the Year
Finalists: Best Friend, Greene St. Kitchen, Mott 32, and NoMad Restaurant
Winner: Best Friend
All things Los Angeles find a home in Roy Choi’s new restaurant Best Friend, the Korean barbecue with LA roots at the Park MGM. Diners walk into a liquor storefront with bar stools for grabbing quick bites or picking up swag. Customers then head into the main dining room through a pink plastic freezer door to find a bar to the right. The dining room in bright colors almost vibrates with its rainbow hues. Plants hang from the ceiling, and a mural from Los Angeles artist Phung Huynh adorns one wall. A deejay booth spotlighting LA artists takes over one wall.
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Bar of the Year
Finalists: The Barbershop Cuts & Cocktails, Hardway 8, Mama Rabbit, Mr. Coco, and Vanderpump Cocktail Garden
Winner: Mr. Coco
Francesco Lafranconi, the former executive director of mixology and spirits education at Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, debuted a luxury cocktail lounge in the Fantasy Tower of the Palms. Customers who take the elevator up to the third floor can order cocktails and bites while enjoying art and live entertainment. More than 30 vermouths, and quinine-based and fortified wines make the menu of the lounge named the retreat for Lafranconi’s dog. Customers receive a cocktail amuse bouche before they even step food in the elevator.