Aaron Lee and Mallory Gott, owners of Winnie & Ethel’s Downtown Diner, react after being announced as winners of The Great Las Vegas Coffee Shop Giveaway at Vegas Test Kitchen, downtown, Thursday, May 19, 2022.
Friday, May 20, 2022 | 2 a.m.
Just days after they decided to get married in December, Aaron Lee and Mallory Gott decided to take another plunge together.
The newly engaged couple, who were already toying with the idea of opening a restaurant, entered a contest to win a startup coffee shop.
As fate would have it, their 1940s diner concept, Winnie & Ethel’s, took the top spot in The Great Las Vegas Coffee Shop Giveaway.
The competition, similar to the TV show “Shark Tank,” was organized by J Dapper, a Las Vegas real estate developer and owner of the downtown Huntridge Shopping Center.
The diner will be where the old Huntridge Pharmacy and adjacent lunch counter were once located, near Maryland Parkway and Charleston Boulevard. It is scheduled to open sometime late this year or early next year.
“I feel really honored,” Gott said. “We had so many people help us with this. Aaron had a fantastic group of chefs who worked with us on the concept.”
The name for the restaurant comes from the first names of the grandmothers of Gott and Lee.
Estimated to be worth about $950,000, the prize package includes a furnished and equipped 3,000-square-foot space, three months of free rent and signage provided by the YESCO company.
Lee, a sous chef at Esther’s Kitchen, and Gott, who owns an event design firm called G+A Associates, live about four blocks from the site of the new diner.
“A lot of people might think this diner will have the checkerboard floor and the blue countertop,” Gott said. “It’ll be a little different vibe than that, a little older. It’ll be intended to be a place where customers walk in and feel at home.”
Dapper, who owns Dapper Companies, said close to 80 individuals or groups entered the contest. A panel of judges whittled the entries down to six finalists.
Of those six, Winnie & Ethel’s and a similar concept for a restaurant called Dinette Luncheonette stood out, he said. So, instead of choosing just one winner, Dapper decided to crown both.
“They’re both going to be amazing,” Dapper said.
The Dinette Luncheonette will go in at the Dapper Companies’ development called The Bend, which is under construction in the southwest part of the valley, near IKEA, Dapper said.
The idea for the dinette, a 1960s-type diner, came from Jerad Howard, owner of Vesta Coffee Roasters in the Las Vegas Arts District.
Howard’s ownership group includes Nick Della Penna and Trent Jones, owners of the Great Greek Mediterranean Grill franchise.
“He had the concept in his mind and was looking for some operating partners,” Della Penna said of Howard. “To have this kind of backing, hopefully the Dinette will become a pretty big name in town.”
Dapper said the extra winner would make for a “bigger investment” than planned, but the contest was such a success, he was happy to make it.
“There’s something about giving back to the entrepreneurial restaurant community. A lot of concepts fail, but I really feel like, with this, we’re putting people in a great position for success,” Dapper said. “The likelihood for success is very high with these two and, if it works out for them, it pays off for us too.”
Along with YESCO, other sponsors of the contest included the architecture firm RAD Studio, AAA Bar and Restaurant Supply, SYSCO, Emser Tile and the Humblewood Company, which makes furniture.
Meadows Bank agreed to fund a $5,000 working capital account.
Dapper said Chuck Brennan, CEO of Dollar Loan Center, has agreed to purchase thousands of dollars of gift cards for Winnie & Ethel’s.
Along with Dapper, local restaurant owners and chefs Cory Harwell (Carson Kitchen and Butcher & Thief), John Simmons (Firefly, Tacos & Beer, and Graze) and Marc Marrone (Graffiti Bao and SkinnyFATS) judged the entries.
