The Great Recession is mostly a memory now, blurred in the rocket flame of a newly roaring economy and that persistent cyclonic storm of everyone shouting at each other all the time on the internet. But the recession’s effects, visible and invisible, are still with us. One subtle effect it had was to send a seismic psychic ripple through our valley’s dining scene. As John Curtas observes in our annual Restaurant Awards, in the trailing wake of the economic crisis, many marquee Strip restaurants clung for dear life to profitable predictability. Meanwhile, figuring they had nothing to lose, local chefs and restaurateurs chose not to cower, and instead embraced risk and experimentation. The result: a landmark year for neighborhood eateries and fine-dining restaurants well away from the glow of Las Vegas Boulevard.
And that says something nice about us, the diners. The number and type of restaurants emerging from this happy alchemical fizz — and, yeah, the fact that they’re staying in business for, oh, more than six months — perhaps suggest that our palates are maturing and our tastes are getting more adventurous. This year’s Restaurant Awards reflect those changes and, hopefully, mark a permanent strata in our city’s growth and evolution. Here’s to the winners, all of whom never lost their appetite for innovation and excitement.
Andrew Kiraly
Editor