Esther’s Kitchen to Move 69 Feet, Chef James Trees to Open French Bistro

By Scott Roeben, on March 16 2022

2 min read 1 comment

Downtown Las Vegas Las Vegas Restaurants

A wildly popular and successful downtown restaurant, Esther’s Kitchen, is moving and expanding.

Fans won’t have too far to go to find the new Esther’s Kitchen location, however, as the restaurant is only moving 69 feet.

A bigger space could also mean a quieter space, of which we would be a fan.

Chef James Trees (who’s also involved with the outstanding Al Solito Posto in Summerlin) says, “Esther’s is moving into a much bigger space. We are so excited to be giving ourselves the space we need to really realize the dream of all we want to do.”

The new Esther’s Kitchen location will be in the space currently occupied by Retro Vegas, a retail store on Main Street, and its adjoining courtyard. The owner of the store is retiring.

The courtyard will be part of the new restaurant, so this 69-foot measurement is legit. Also, please grow up.

Trees continues, “Yes, we are opening a French bistro in the original Esther’s space.”

The new French bistro will be called L’Aristocrat.

The move and expansion of Esther’s Kitchen is a big deal for the Arts District and downtown. It’s also a big deal for Chef James Trees.

Trees says, “I’ll be one of the very few chefs that own their own bricks.”

Esther's Kitchen bread — Come for the bread, stay for the everything else.

Esther’s Kitchen has been a break-out success since it opened in 2018. Read our review of Esther’s Kitchen.

While we visit Esther’s often, we are embarrassed to say we only recently tried what is arguably the best sandwich in the history of planet Earth, the chicken parm sandwich. It’s only served at lunch, which is a travesty. Who gets up that early? It’s Vegas.

Looks like we picked the wrong week to become vegetarian.

We first got a taste of the sandwich at the now-closed Mozz from the aforementioned Chef Trees at Resorts World. It’s better at Esther’s Kitchen. (Guests didn’t know what to make of Mozz, an Italian food stall in an Asian food court.)

The Esther’s Kitchen move and opening of L’Aristocrat are expected to happen within the next year, per the chef. Whatever works, chef, as long as there’s no disruption in the chicken parm sandwich supply chain.

Chef Trees says Esther’s Kitchen should only be closed about two days during the transition. This, we love.

Hat tip to food critic John Curtas for first word of this news. We trust he’ll let us know what he thinks of the French place, as we are solidly in the Italian camp.