Food, Beautiful food

Local chefs, mixologists to take starring role at downtown festival

The culinary component of this year’s Life is Beautiful Music & Art Festival will be all about Vegas, baby, and more than 70 of its restaurants.

“The guiding principle for the lineup and the curation was really focusing on a local theme,” said Lee Flint, festival food and beverage director. “We’re taking a look within the community at people who have been supporting the festival since the very beginning and putting them in the forefront.”

That means Justin Kingsley Hall, chef at The Kitchen at Atomic and a local restaurant veteran, will lead The Cookout, which will be on the main festival grounds. Hall will be joined by a rotating schedule of well-known local chefs: Brian Howard of Sparrow + Wolf, Johnny Church of Golden Entertainment, Khai Vu of District One Kitchen + Bar, Mike Minor of Border Grill, Hemant Kishore of the soon-to-open Toddy Shop, Roy Ellamar of Harvest and Vincent Rotolo of Good Pie. They’ll be doing live-fire cooking with a new menu every day, with each dish available only until it’s sold out.

Bryant Jane and Lyle Cervenka of Starboard Tack are curating The Cocktail School, which will have nine sessions by prominent mixologists.

Some of the Las Vegas restaurants participating in the festival haven’t officially opened. Following a Sept. 22 brunch by Josh Smith of Bardot Brasserie, those with All-In festival tickets, at $2,495 plus fees for the three days, will get a sneak peek on the afternoon of Sept. 23 at the NoMad restaurant expected to open at Park MGM by the end of the year. They’ll also have access to a Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer pop-up and a rotating cocktail experience by The Dorsey, Rosina and Electra Cocktail Club of The Venetian.

Festivalgoers who have V+VIP tickets, at $1,195 plus fees for three days or $495 for a single day, will get an exclusive look at Eataly, which is scheduled to open at Park MGM this winter. Eataly Las Vegas Chef Nicole Brisson will be joined by Eataly USA chef Fitz Tallon on the Snack Attack level by Starboard Tack, serving tiki cocktails.

Holders of VIP tickets, at $655/$295, will have access to pop-up restaurants from La Strega, Echo & Rig and Masso Osteria.

Flint said both NoMad and Eataly also will be represented in the Culinary Villages. Among the more than 50 food trucks and booths will be those from The Black Sheep, Cornish Pasty Co., Cousins Maine Lobster, District One, Fuku Burger, Masso Osteria, MTO Cafe, Nacho Daddy, Naked City Pizza, RM Seafood, Rx Boiler Room, the soonto-open Rooster Boy Cafe, Scotch 80 Prime, Shiraz, STK and Truffles N Bacon Cafe.

Alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages will be available throughout the festival, which will cover 18 city blocks.

Flint said it’s all about celebrating the vibrant culinary life of Las Vegas.

“It’s driven by people in the community … putting forward the most exciting experience,” he said. “Everything we do is kind of hinged on that.”

For tickets, which also include general admission at $295/$135, and a full schedule, go to lifeisbeautiful.com.

It’s driven by people in the community … putting forward the most exciting experience.

Lee Flint

Life is Beautiful food and beverage director

Krystal Ramirez Thai basil shrimp ceviche from The Black Sheep, left; seafood spiedinis with burnt lemon from La Strega, center; and oxtail fries from District One Kitchen + Bar.

Chase Stevens Las Vegas Review-Journal Follow @csstevensphoto Life is Beautiful attendees are ready to sample the food in Culinary Village during the 2015 event in downtown Las Vegas.