Next time you’re ravenous and unsure where to eat in Las Vegas, save some room for Neon Feast, a new restaurant app curated by some of the top food experts in our city.
“Given what the industry has been through, what I would like to do is address the community that researches where they eat … then put their asses into seats at restaurants they’re going to enjoy,” says founder Al Mancini, known around town for his signature mohawk and his years as one of the Valley’s most prominent food writers.
He launched Neon Feast in February in response to what he observed after years working in Las Vegas food media. “It was getting really frustrating to see [expertise] being replaced by crowd-sourced information,” he says. “That sounds great until you realize everybody’s voice isn’t equal, that actually the loudest, and the nastiest, and the most frequent voices got all the attention, not the most knowledgeable voices.”
Mancini created a survey of more than 100 restaurant categories and sent it to the “people I would call when I’m researching an article,”—journalists, chefs, restaurateurs and Instagrammers. Among the expert contributors: Vegans, Baby founder Diana Edelman, chefs James Trees and Rick Moonen, pizzaiolo Chris Decker and longtime local TV host Dayna Roselli.
Recommendations flooded in, but “not everybody’s opinion counted equally in every category,” he explains. “If Colin Fukunaga, who founded Fukuburger, is one of only two people who recommended a burger place, that’s probably going to get on my list. Whereas if it wasn’t him, it might have taken five or six people.”
The app features more than 400 restaurants, categorized by neighborhood, cuisine and the user’s interests. Looking for a restaurant with a breathtaking view? Neon Feast serves up plenty. Need a good doughnut shop? Neon Feast has a handful.
You also can’t buy your way in. Neon Feast offers premium features such as reservation connectivity and a concierge button, but restaurants must be recommended for inclusion. Targeted outreach for specialty lists like Black-owned, LGBTQ-owned and women-owned restaurants is under way, Mancini says, adding that expert check-ins and app updates will take place every couple of months.
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