Inside Echo, Las Vegas’s New Retro&Chic Listening Lounge

Food / Drink

Echo Taste and Sound. | Mikayla Whitmore Born from the legacies of Eat and Downtown Cocktail Room, Echo is a warm refuge for audiophiles Natalie Young finally built the kind of space she used to daydream about: a lounge with warm light spilling over leather couches, the crackle of vinyl in the background, and and low-lit drinks designed for lingering. In March, she wrapped the 12-year run of her beloved brunch spot Eat, a cornerstone of the Fremont East dining scene, to focus fully on Echo Taste and Sound, a lounge built around a vintage analog sound system, with bites carried over from Eat, and bar talent from the storied Downtown Cocktail Room. After visiting ESP, a listening bar in Denver, Colorado, Young got the idea to open a vinyl-centric lounge of her own. “I love music,” she says. “I love music more than food.” But after the headache of ongoing road construction in front of Eat, which impeded foot traffic, and the increasing cost of goods, Young planned to just go out with a bang and pivot to something with a lighter lift. “I wanted to just serve hot tea and maybe a bar and some really simple pastries and small bites — and play records,” she says. But then her business partner, Tom McAllister, shared that a space opened up in the new Colorado building on Main Street — and it had a full kitchen. Mikayla Whitmore Echo Taste and Sound. The result is Echo, a retro-cool space framed by warm wood slats and acoustic paneling. Tactile pieces by local artists add texture to the walls, houseplants catch the afternoon sun that peeks between burnt orange curtains. A cozy, living room-style seating area with chairs salvaged from Downtown Cocktail Room, often referred to as DCR, faces Young’s personal turntable setup. Also carried over from DCR is the talent. Before closing the downtown bar last year, owner Michael Cornthwaite introduced Young to his longtime general manager, Jackie Loran. “She’s now my general manager and running the bar program at Echo,” Young says. As a sober owner, Young made it a priority to develop an inclusive beverage menu from the start. Echo’s menu features zero-proof takes on classic cocktails like an espresso martini and more experimental mocktails, like one composed of sparkling citrus and ube. The team of DCR bartenders at Echo also whip up signature drinks like the Glory Days with popcorn-washed bourbon, sherry, and chocolate bitters and the Little Red Rooster with tequila, vanilla sandalwood syrup, and grapefruit soda. Mikayla Whitmore Echo Taste and Sound. Mikayla Whitmore Echo Taste and Sound. The menu at Echo is tight, with light bites meant for sharing. Visitors can expect crisp chips with a trio of dips, marinated chicken skewers, a mix of delicately fried tempura mushrooms, and toasted focaccia topped with garlicky roasted tomato spread. The beloved shrimp and grits from Eat have found a new home at Echo. As for fan favorites like the thick-cut grilled cheese and deep-fried deviled eggs, Young says they might return when the weather cools. For Young, vinyl isn’t just about sound — it demands attention and commitment, like smoking a cigar, she says. It’s a love that began in her childhood, sprawled on the shag carpet, playing Elton John’s Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy over and over and over. Now she fills Echo with jazz, funk, and world music, deftly flipping from Nina Simone to Casey Chapman to Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Mikayla Whitmore Echo Taste and Sound. The main room at Echo features high-fidelity McIntosh gear chosen specifically for full-album playback. Young imported her vintage analog speaker system from home, and a DJ booth glows with the neon green lights of a state-of-the-art suite of McIntosh turntables and amplifiers. In the back, a 12-seat VIP listening room is being acoustically treated and outfitted with a rotating lineup of elite equipment — including vintage McIntosh 75 tube amps and La Scala speakers — for those who want a more intimate, audiophile-caliber experience. In the future, the space will host multi-course dinners paired with guided listening sessions that highlight the character of each setup. Young says fellow vinyl heads often peruse the Moondog Records display, thumbing through the collection of records for sale before walking out with four or five new finds. While Main Street tends to skew younger, especially with the adjacent Swan Dive drawing a late-night crowd, she appreciates that Echo attracts an older audience. “I kind of built something for high-age people, you know, like 40-plus,” she says. Whether seated at the bar beneath artwork that used to adorn the walls at DCR, cozied up into a booth to nosh on Mexican shrimp cocktail, or lazing in the living room setup to watch a DJ — or sometimes Young, herself — man the turntables, Young says that Echo is the place to begin or end the nig