Taste

Peyote brings New American flavors to the Downtown Las Vegas dining scene

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Santa Maria tri-tip with fried fingerling potatoes, corn salad and more at Peyote
Photo: Anthony Mair / Courtesy

Corner Bar Management has built a portfolio of Las Vegas bars and lounges around a specific framework of head-turning art, stylistic finishes and sexy, vibrant energy. Everything about the company’s new restaurant, Peyote at Fergusons Downtown, reflects that aesthetic, including a lush cactus garden blooming outside and drawing visitors in with a Palm Springs vibe.

The difference is the dining, and it’s a major departure.

“[We’ve] traditionally done bars and nightlife and have stayed away from food for a very good reason. I’m scared to death of serving a plate of food to somebody,” Corner Bar founder Ryan Doherty says. “I have friends in the restaurant industry [and they] run impeccable restaurants, and it’s really hard to get that stuff right.”

Doherty recruited a dream team of Downtown culinary stars to create Peyote, starting with hospitality entrepreneur Jolene Mannina, founder of Vegas Test Kitchen and Secret Burger. Her extensive experience creating innovative food events was a natural fit.

“I’m all hospitality. I love it,” she says. “I love taking care of people. That’s why I produce so many events. I like things to constantly be activated.”

Her longtime collaborator Justin Kingsley Hall, chef and partner at Main St. Provisions, joined the Peyote team next—“obviously a perfect fit,” Mannina says. “[He’s] someone that would embrace it and add this lovely education and story with his food.”

Every story Kingsley Hall tells is based on the “history of where I’ve been,” he says. His formative years in California and visits to Baja and Tijuana inform the open-fire cooking at the heart of Peyote’s offerings. “You have this whole California-style barbecue that a lot of people don’t realize exists … this rich history of oak-wood fires, cuts of meat and other comforting dishes.”

Peyote’s seasonal New American cuisine is also pleasantly full of gluten-free and plant-based options. The restaurant serves breakfast, brunch and dinner, with standout dishes including the creamy, almond milk-based Carolina Gold rice risotto ($18), seasonal heirloom tomato tart ($14) and bourbon-tossed grilled heritage pork chop ($26).

The Santa Maria tri-tip steak ($70) feeds two-to-six people and is cooked over an open fire as diners lounge on a vast and brilliantly lit patio.

“Anytime you have a fire, you know it’s a situation where people want to gather and hang out together,” Kingsley Hall says. “You have amazing cacti everywhere, you have the grill and the light show [artist Keegan Arthur Olton] has put together. It’s this whole backyard feel.”

Peyote opened in September in the former La Monja space at Fergusons on Fremont Street and has already generated significant buzz. Some community members have voiced a desire to see the restaurant’s name change; Peyote is actually a spineless cactus native to Mexico and Texas, and some indigenous tribes have been known to use it in sacred religious ceremonies.

Doherty says he’s aware of a name-change petition and has consulted several tribes, including the Paiute tribe and Wisconsin’s Oneida tribe, on the matter. He says Peyote’s name will remain but invites people who feel strongly about it to visit him at the restaurant to express their opinions. “I’m happy to listen and have a conversation about it,” he says.

PEYOTE 1028 Fremont St., 725-210-0306. Wednesday-Thursday, 6 p.m.-midnight; Friday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-midnight.

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Tags: Dining, Food
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Amber Sampson

Amber Sampson is a Staff Writer for Las Vegas Weekly. She got her start in journalism as an intern at ...

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