A&E

Pine Dining at Mt. Charleston Lodge continues with local creativity and phenomenal views

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Guests enjoy the outdoors at a recent Pine Dining event.
Me + The Company / Courtesy
Genevie Durano

Summer is winding down, and if you haven’t had a chance to attend the culinary event of the season, you still have a couple of weeks to do so. Pine Dining, the pop-up chef series taking place on Mt. Charleston in a temporary structure where the Lodge used to be, has been the hot ticket for the Valley’s food and nature lovers.

Christina Ellis, general manager of Ellis Island Casino—which owns the Lodge and the adjacent cabins—felt the pull of nostalgia for the storied spot, which burned down in 2021.

“It was so devastating when we lost it. Now we are tasked with this wonderful opportunity to create what the next generation of Las Vegans are going to think of when they think of Mt. Charleston Lodge,” she says. “We wanted to do right by the Mt. Charleston community and provide something a lot bigger for the community and beyond.”

Ellis’ vision was a series of unique weekend dining experiences curated by some of the best chefs in town while the Lodge is in the process of being rebuilt. The participating chefs—which in the past six weeks have included James Trees, Justin Kingsley Hall and Nicole Brisson—have been given free license to be as creative as they want with the menu, with proceeds from each event going to a charity of their choice.

The Labor Day weekend lineup includes a pizza extravaganza on September 3 and an Italian sit-down communal dinner on September 4 with Gina Marinelli of La Strega and Harlo. Todd English of Olives, the Pepper Club and the Beast will close out the cookout series on September 10 and 11.

“I’ve known the Ellis family for years. We have a Metro Pizza inside Ellis Island, and we’ve had a connection with them for 20 years,” says Chris Decker of Metro Pizza, who will be collaborating with Ismaele Romano of Via Focaccia, Michael Vakneen of Pop-Up Pizza and Giovanni Mauro of Old School Pizzeria and Monzú for Saturday’s event. “Christina is an amazing person who loves this community and loves great food. When she was talking about this idea of Pine Dining, I was like, wow, what an amazing vision.”

Decker and his fellow pizzaiolos are planning to serve more than just pizza, though there’s certainly plenty of that. For his part, Decker will make a Margherita pizza from yellow cherry tomatoes he found in a small farm in Watsonville, California, with burrata, purple basil and orange oil. A second pizza, with portobello and shiitake mushrooms dipped in a sake, mirin and soy sauce glaze before being roasted and topped with toasted sesame seeds, sesame oil and scallion, is sure to turn heads, Decker says. Both are one-off creations that can only be experienced on this day.

For her Sunday Chef’s Table Dinner event, Marinelli is excited to get her staff out of their kitchens and into the elements.

“We wanted to reflect on that Northern Italian feel, because we will be in the mountains,” she says. “We’ll be making mortadella with some gnocco fritto and caviar. We’re going to do a touch of seafood in there to represent La Strega, and we’re going to do northern-style pasta and rabbit cacciatore.”

The Sunday supper will be served on one long table, with some courses individually plated and the last course served family style, when guests have gotten to know each other a little better while enjoying the mountain views, Marinelli says.

This conviviality around food, where strangers become family around the table, is just the kind of vibe Ellis seeks. It’s what prompted her family to acquire the Lodge in 2018 in the first place.

“It’s such a unique property and fits in with the nostalgia,” Ellis says. Pine Dining has been a really cool and unique culinary experience, and these events have just exceeded all of my expectations. It’s been really exciting.”

PINE DINING September 3-4 & 10-11, times & prices vary. Mt. Charleston Lodge, mtcharlestonlodge.com/pinedining.

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