During an aboriginal greeting sojourn to the Westside’s Obodo Collective municipality workplace past August, cook Kwame Onwuachi had immoderate thoughts connected the authorities of Las Vegas dining.
“There should beryllium much Caribbean restaurants connected the Strip,” helium said. “Seeing yourself connected a sheet of nutrient is besides representation, and I don’t deliberation we should hide that.”
Fast guardant to April, erstwhile the James Beard Award-winning cook opened his archetypal West Coast edifice astatine the Sahara, the unsocial steakhouse Maroon. After establishing acclaimed New York City edifice Tatiana and Washington, D.C.’s Dōgon, helium has present added the archetypal important beingness of African and Caribbean flavors astatine a Strip resort.
Maroon patties, crispy Chilean oversea bass, rum-aged steak and piri piri chop salad
Photo by: Wade Vandervort
A smoky-sweet aroma hangs successful the aerial from the infinitesimal you measurement inside. It’s the fragrance of marinated and dry-rubbed meats roasting successful custom-built jerk pits. Maroon’s full ambiance vibrates connected a wavelength of sexy. A slow-burn soundtrack of R&B—Joe’s “I Wanna Know,” Wale’s “Lotus Flower Bomb”—sets the temper similar a precursor to the main event: the food.
Onwuachi’s Nigerian, Jamaican and Trinidadian upbringing leaps disconnected each plate. The Maroon patties ($40) are affluent bites of oxtail and Ossetra caviar, truffles and parmesan rounding retired an exceptionally decadent starter.
Don’t adjacent deliberation astir skipping the sauces. Maroon’s formation of condiments ranges from tangy saccharine to fire-pit smoky, but Onwuachi doesn’t play astir his spice. It’s a buildable benignant of heat, lingering aft each bite. Maroon’s steaks are besides rum-aged, offering a hint of sweetness with a molasses glaze. It each pairs perfectly with the steakhouse’s Caribbean-infused sides similar crawfish mashed potatoes ($18).
Your palate is successful for a clang people successful adventurous eating each night. Bowls of bluefin tuna, hamachi and braised octopus ($42) get with saltines and brightly acidic sauces. The agnolotti ($32) comes stuffed with peppery curried goat and a vibrant velouté sauce. And Maroon’s piri piri chop crockery ($32)—a signature the cook loves to power up astatine each of his restaurants—took months to develop. Beautifully dressed with Green Goddess marinade, spicy curry sauce, parmesan, yellowish tomatoes and gooseberries, this leafy enactment of creation has crunch and complexity.
Onwuachi’s braised oxtails, a Jamaican staple, look passim the menu, successful his oxtail Wellington ($120), which feeds two, and the curry shrimp fried atom ($72). But if you’re genuinely craving Caribbean cooking—the benignant rooted successful the bequest of the Jamaican Maroons who inspired the restaurant’s name—order a rack of lamb ($70) oregon 16-ounce pork tomahawk ($75) straight from the jerk pits.
Dining astatine Maroon offers a sensation of civilization seldom seen anyplace successful Las Vegas. Onwuachi cooks from a spot of representation and home. It’s evident adjacent erstwhile you bid thing arsenic elemental arsenic plantains, arsenic servers mildly punctual you the determination pronunciation is really “plantins.” Tiny details similar that connection a model into Onwuachi’s culinary world, 1 we’re happily surviving in.
MAROON BY KWAME ONWUACHI Sahara, 702-761-8888, saharalasvegas.com. Sunday-Thursday, 5-10 p.m.; Friday & Saturday, 5-11 p.m.
Click HERE to subscribe for escaped to the Weekly Fix, the integer variation of Las Vegas Weekly! Stay up to day with the latest connected Las Vegas concerts, shows, restaurants, bars and more, sent straight to your inbox!
English (US)·