Matt Meyer is ready to take things to the next level, and if you’ve ever dined at his Henderson restaurant Served Global Dining, you should be excited about what’s coming.
Served was all about huge flavors and maximum satisfaction, whether it was breakfast, lunch or dinner. “That’s still going to be my philosophy on cooking and the way I cook. It’s always going to be like that,” he says. “It’s always going to be as much flavor as I can possibly muster and get into something, but now I’m trying to be a bit more focused with our brand and what we’re offering, so it can be cohesive. But I can’t think of food any other way.”
The 138° burger
The new focus brings 138°, a “craft chophouse” concept set to open September 30 in the former Served space on Horizon Ridge Parkway. The name is inspired by the ideal temperature for finishing a great steak (and maybeby an old Misfits song) and the cuisine is galvanized by Meyer’s careful effort to work with elite purveyors for the highest quality product.
“Once we started [with Served] here, I started really getting into sourcing high-quality proteins, and it just blossomed from there,” Meyer says. “I was facilitating these relationships with smaller ranchers and boutique producers, and the more I got into it, the more I realized what I wanted to do.”
So 138° will serve beef from Lund, Nevada’s Perigo Hay & Cattle, where the chef and owner has spent a lot of time learning about the product and what makes it special, but his new restaurant will also run an in-house dry-aging program to ensure each cut reaches its peak.
“We don’t have one ribeye from one ranch; we have several different options, like a bone-in ribeye from Five Dot Ranch in [Northern] California or a grass-fed option from Stemple Creek Ranch [in Tomales, California],” Meyer points out.
There will be a la carte steaks with optional sides, but the menu also includes composed dishes like seed-crusted lamb loin with Anson Mills’ Carolina Gold risotto and rapini, and duck breast with a mole sauce and a mezcal beurre blanc. Meyer has expanded his repertoire into vegan dishes in a much more meaningful way—and he’s excited about that—but Served fans will still get their over-the-top burger fix at 138°. The house-ground burger will use that Nevada beef, topped with Brie, confit shallot, Parmesan crisp and Meyer’s take on A1 sauce.
He’s elevating the overall experience, too, moving into fine-dining territory while keeping things comfortable for loyal diners. “It’s a hard line to walk, but we are moving into a direction where the food is elevated and the space is elevated, but we still want to be approachable for those guests who have become loyal customers in the previous five years,” Meyersays. “We still want to be that place where people feel comfortable, and we don’t want to be stuffy or pretentious.”
138° 1450 W. Horizon Ridge Parkway #C205, 702-272-0839, 138restaurant.com. Hours TBD.
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