Las Vegas is set to come out of Covid-19 better than ever

CNN Matt Villano • Published 14th April 2021

Surprisingly, the food scene in Las Vegas has grown during the pandemic.Perhaps the most notable addition: Al Solito Posto, the newest restaurant from chef James Trees.Trees, a James Beard award finalist last year for his work at Esther’s Kitchen in the city’s Arts District, opened Al Solito in the suburban neighborhood of Tivoli Village as a place for Las Vegas residents to get classic Italian dishes such as the chicken parmesan and rigatoni alla vodka they might find on the East Coast.

“For a lot of my customers with ties to the East Coast, the food [at Al Solito] is like the stuff their grandmother used to make,” said Trees. “In a lot of cases, these are people who haven’t gone out to a restaurant in a year. They’re ready. They’re resilient. They’re hungry to get back to lives they had before.”Other notable additions to the dining scene in and around town include Din Tai Fung, a dumpling-and-noodle house at Aria that is famous for its Shanghai-style soup dumplings filled with Kurobuta pork; Delilah, an Art Deco-themed supper club at the Wynn; Vegas Test Kitchen, a pop-up restaurant incubator in downtown Las Vegas; and Milpa, a healthy Mexican restaurant near Spring Valley with hearty roasted vegetable bowls, tetelas and tacos.