Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Downtown dining revs up with B+B breakfast, Mingo and more

Bar + Bistro

You don’t have to wait for the weekend for Bar+Bistro’s brioche French toast.

Dining developments in Downtown Vegas continue to inch along. The pace may be a little slow, but things are getting very interesting.

Bar+Bistro at the Arts Factory, already dishing up some of the most innovative eats in the original Vegas neighborhood, is expanding its menu to include weekday breakfast from 7 to 11 a.m. starting April 30. Key bites include polenta honey cornbread ($7), inspired by chef Beni Velazquez’s childhood breakfast of a butter-grilled corn muffin; white chocolate toast with honey, jam and sweet butter ($4), fresh-squeezed juices, homemade granola and meatier dishes like the cangrejo omelet ($15) with crab, asparagus, fontina cheese and pickled shallots. B+B does the best brunch Downtown, so breakfast should be an easy transition.

ChowDownTown, the pop-up dinner series helmed by the DineFine team (Jolene Mannina and Josh Clark), has booked its third installment, taking over The Flame Steakhouse at El Cortez on May 16. This classic restaurant venue is quite the space upgrade for ChowDownTown, which has previously taken over Le Thai and a condo at The Ogden. “All the kitchens we’ve worked in have been very small, so doing 45 dishes at once, five or six courses, has been challenging,” says Mannina. “This is the first time we will have a kitchen large enough to do things we’ve been wanting to.” Instead of a single seating, reservations for this four-course, $45 dinner can be made between 6:30 and 9 p.m. by calling 474-3660 or checking in online at Open Table. The latest ChowDownTown news can be found at DineFine.net.

And moving back to the Arts District, the opening of Mingo Kitchen & Lounge (1025 First Ave. #210) is slated for this summer in the Arts Square space under development adjacent to the Arts Factory. This lounge, sip and nosh venue—from the folks behind Mundo—will include an intimate bar with 60 seats, lots of standing space, indoor-outdoor bars and alfresco dining, a perfect place to munch on chef Robert Solano’s chipotle mac and cheese, veggie sliders and other modern American comfort foods and small plates. Partner and reluctant namesake Mingo Collaso said the grand opening will be held around his birthday, Labor Day, but the soft opening is coming in July.

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