Photo via Relish's Facebook
When you throw back a bowl of lobster pho or sit down to an omakase sushi dinner at artsy desert festival Further Future this spring, you'll have Jolene Mannina to thank. She's queen of the Las Vegas festival scene, upping dining options for Further Future, First Friday arts walk, The Great Las Vegas Festival of Beer, and Rise Festival—and that's just a bit of her resume. This business owner and all-around badass made her mark with food truck throwdowns and pop-up dinners and is now the city's go-to for food curation. Here she lets us in on a few of her Las Vegas favorites.VICE: What are a few of your food staples, and are there any new places you're excited about?
Jolene Mannina: I'm a big fan of Chef Justin Kingsley Hall. He launched SLO-boy in collaboration with the Goodwich, and I do a lot with those guys. The food is amazing, the daily specials are amazing, and they use great product. He also buys from local farmers down here. It just opened and it's awesome. I do a lot downtown but I try to get around all over the place. Other Mama is amazing. We'll do District One in Chinatown a lot. If I'm drinking, I still love going to Herbs & Rye and Velveteen Rabbit. I love Atomic Liquors. The cocktails are great but the staffs are a really big deal. They're all really amazing bartenders with great personalities. Where do you take out-of-towners to have a distinctly Vegas experience?We try to hit the local spots. People are so familiar with The Strip. Most people have been to town and that's where they've hung out. The Strip is amazing—it has amazing restaurants—but we're promoters of downtown. I try to get people down here and take them to Carson Kitchen and Glutton, have a cocktail at one of the local places around the house. Besides that, we love to show off Chinatown. The food is amazing. Anything from Inyo and District One and China Mama and Chada Thai [& Wine]. There's a world that everyone should visit, and that's in Chinatown when they come to Vegas. I like to bop around and get several little bites in one evening. What are the best food trucks at the moment?
Definitely TruckU Barbeque. Mike Minor does an excellent job; his food is solid. I also like Dragon Grille for Asian fusion and Truk-N-Yaki for Japanese burritos. How do you sell Vegas to people who are skeptical of its food scene?
It's not a hard sell. It's an easy lineup to see before you even get here. You've got the pick. You can have anything from amazing Italian, to Asian, to steak or whatever. We have the top chefs here, and the chefs who work beneath them are amazing. That's the easy piece. The hard piece is to make people realize we've got really great food off the Strip. The locals know, but that's why we try to take them on tours and all that fun stuff, where they can get that community feel. Is there one thing the city does better than other cities?
Hospitality. We give great service and we care. We are a platform for it. There are a few cities that do it really well. I'm from New Orleans and hospitality is a big deal, but you go to a lot of places where it's an afterthought. Anything else? Any other recommendations you want to throw in?
The Sand Dollar Lounge is a dive blues bar recently taken over by industry professionals. It has great live music, a well-stocked bar and food trucks outside. Brooklyn Bowl is a gem of a venue. And off the beaten path, Carlito's Burritos is great for New Mexican.Read the entire VICE Guide to Las Vegas here.
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Jolene Mannina: I'm a big fan of Chef Justin Kingsley Hall. He launched SLO-boy in collaboration with the Goodwich, and I do a lot with those guys. The food is amazing, the daily specials are amazing, and they use great product. He also buys from local farmers down here. It just opened and it's awesome. I do a lot downtown but I try to get around all over the place. Other Mama is amazing. We'll do District One in Chinatown a lot. If I'm drinking, I still love going to Herbs & Rye and Velveteen Rabbit. I love Atomic Liquors. The cocktails are great but the staffs are a really big deal. They're all really amazing bartenders with great personalities. Where do you take out-of-towners to have a distinctly Vegas experience?We try to hit the local spots. People are so familiar with The Strip. Most people have been to town and that's where they've hung out. The Strip is amazing—it has amazing restaurants—but we're promoters of downtown. I try to get people down here and take them to Carson Kitchen and Glutton, have a cocktail at one of the local places around the house. Besides that, we love to show off Chinatown. The food is amazing. Anything from Inyo and District One and China Mama and Chada Thai [& Wine]. There's a world that everyone should visit, and that's in Chinatown when they come to Vegas. I like to bop around and get several little bites in one evening. What are the best food trucks at the moment?
Definitely TruckU Barbeque. Mike Minor does an excellent job; his food is solid. I also like Dragon Grille for Asian fusion and Truk-N-Yaki for Japanese burritos. How do you sell Vegas to people who are skeptical of its food scene?
It's not a hard sell. It's an easy lineup to see before you even get here. You've got the pick. You can have anything from amazing Italian, to Asian, to steak or whatever. We have the top chefs here, and the chefs who work beneath them are amazing. That's the easy piece. The hard piece is to make people realize we've got really great food off the Strip. The locals know, but that's why we try to take them on tours and all that fun stuff, where they can get that community feel. Is there one thing the city does better than other cities?
Hospitality. We give great service and we care. We are a platform for it. There are a few cities that do it really well. I'm from New Orleans and hospitality is a big deal, but you go to a lot of places where it's an afterthought. Anything else? Any other recommendations you want to throw in?
The Sand Dollar Lounge is a dive blues bar recently taken over by industry professionals. It has great live music, a well-stocked bar and food trucks outside. Brooklyn Bowl is a gem of a venue. And off the beaten path, Carlito's Burritos is great for New Mexican.Read the entire VICE Guide to Las Vegas here.