Las Vegas Gets First Black Chef-Led Strip Restaurant
Maroon, under construction at the Sahara, is set to become the first Black chef-led restaurant on the Las Vegas Strip. The venue promises to bring new visibility to Black culinary leadership in America's most famous dining corridor, marking a historic milestone for representation in high-profile restaurant culture.
The culinary force behind Maroon is James Beard Award-winning chef Kwame Onwuachi. Recognized by Time Magazine as one of the most influential people of 2025, Onwuachi also curated a Caribbean-inspired menu for the 2025 Met Gala and was the subject of a Netflix's "Chef's Table" episode. His New York City restaurant, Tatiana, was named number one in the city by The New York Times. The restaurant's name, Maroon, is a tribute to the communities of formerly enslaved Africans who escaped to the mountains of Jamaica in the 17th century. These groups, known as Maroons, developed unique cooking techniques born from survival and resistance, which is the foundational story of the restaurant's concept. Chef Onwuachi explains that jerk cuisine was born from this history, calling it a "dish of freedom." Maroon will be an Afro-Caribbean steakhouse, a concept that will introduce a new flavor profile to the Las Vegas Strip. The menu will be influenced by the four pillars of Onwuachi's heritage: Jamaican, Trinidadian, Nigerian, and Creole. Diners can expect dishes featuring live-fire cooking, jerk rubs, dry-aged cuts, and scotch bonnet-infused sauces. The restaurant, slated to open in early 2026, will be located in the space formerly occupied by José Andrés' Bazaar Meat at the Sahara Las Vegas. A custom-built jerk pit designed with Grillworks will be a centerpiece of the restaurant. While Maroon is the first Black chef-led restaurant on the Strip, the history of Black culinary leadership in Las Vegas includes Jeff Henderson, who became the first African-American Chef de Cuisine at Caesars Palace in 2001. Additionally, Black Entertainment Television founder Robert L. Johnson opened the first Black-owned restaurant in a major hotel-casino, Tres Jazz, at the Paris hotel-casino in 1999. The opening comes as the Las Vegas culinary scene is experiencing a significant expansion in diversity. Once dominated by steakhouses and Italian restaurants, the Strip now features a wide array of international cuisines, and Maroon is poised to add a significant new dimension to this evolving landscape.
