The Sundry Debuts In Vegas With Matt Horn’s Kowbird And Much More

When chef Matt Horn heard about The Sundry, a dining collection and food hall at the massive 40-acre $850 million UnCommons mixed-used development, he realized it was time to open his first Las Vegas venture. It didn’t take much convincing because Horn was approached by Patric Yumul, CEO of TableOne Hospitality, which was co-created by empire-building chef Michael Mina. Horn knows Mina from the San Francisco Bay Area, of course, and they’ve discussed collaborating on multiple projects.

“So when they brought this to me and told me that it was going to be a food hall, the first thing I thought was this would be a really great opportunity to get my food in the door in Vegas,” says Horn, who’s known for Oakland’s Horn Barbecue and Kowbird and is working to open Oakland burger joint Matty’s Old Fashioned this summer. “And given the type of project it was, it only made sense that it would be Kowbird. But now that we’re putting Kowbird there, it also opens up the door for a lot more projects in Vegas.”

The Sundry, which officially opens June 12, isn’t just another food hall. The 18,000-square-foot culinary destination is home to two full-service restaurants (San Francisco chef Shotaro Kamio’s Mizunari hand-roll bar/izakaya and the resurrection of Los Angeles chef Ray Garcia’s B.S. Taqueria) and 13 stands, many of which are from prominent out-of-town operators. The stacked lineup at the off-Strip food hall in Southwest Las Vegas includes an outpost of LA chef Ria Dolly Barbosa’s Filipino gem, Petite Peso, plus a new Indian spot called Dhabi Ji from the team (Alejandro Medina and Rajat Parr) behind Santa Barbara’s Bibi Ji, the second location of Vegas Arts District smoked-meat boss Bruce Kalman’s Soulbelly BBQ, Robyn Sue Fisher’s San Francisco scoops mainstay Smitten Ice Cream and much more, including plenty of booze options.

“The people in the food hall are amazing creators,” Yumul says. “We wanted to be able to surround ourselves with authentic personalities who would ultimately contribute to something that was far greater than what we could do on our own.”

At Kowbird, guests will be able to enjoy Horn’s beloved honey bird, wings, tenders and chicken sandwiches. Horn’s also working on chicken and waffles and other new items. Given the talent of the team at The Sundry, in a city full of hospitality professionals, Horn is excited about trying out some new recipes at a food hall that encourages chefs to expand their range.

“I grew up here in Las Vegas and I had always traveled to Santa Monica or San Diego or New York,” says Yumul, who returned to Vegas after living in the San Francisco Bay Area for 15 years. “I was always jealous of the type of culture that the neighborhoods had, between food and arts and style and everything. I always wanted that for Vegas, and it’s always been strip malls and casinos. Obviously, the community has grown. The Spring Mountain corridor is rich with operators and great experiences. But I’ve always wanted to be able to contribute to the community in a way where we’re able to have authentic stories being told through food.”

Yumul and Mina, who’ve operated and consulted on other food halls and who are enamored with the culture of European food markets, also set out to eliminate some of the “pain points” for customers. For example, eating at many food halls with a group of people can involve spending most of your time standing in different lines. Or if you’re a family, one parent has to wait at a table with children while the other parent runs around to get food,

“It’s an experience that’s kind of filled with anxiety,” Yumul says.

At The Sundry, there are QR codes that allow visitors to order from multiple stands at the same time. The food then gets delivered, on proper plates and with proper silverware, to your table.

“What we really focused on was making sure that people could be as social and as convivial as they wanted to be, without having to stand in all these different lines,” Yumul says.

Orders, including takeout and delivery, will be fulfilled by one main kitchen. And the complex has 15-minute parking and a pickup valet with different containers for hot and cold food.

Like the chefs at the similarly minded Topanga Social in Los Angeles, Horn sees The Sundry as an opportunity to build his brand and potentially license his restaurants in numerous cities. It’s also a way for him to try out new systems and technology that he can implement in Oakland.

“In Oakland, we have our cashiers and our front-of-house staff,” Horn says. “What I’ve learned is we want to incorporate these new systems and going the QR route and using the mobile ordering displays and that sort of thing. It allows us to implement different changes in our business as we grow. As we do continue to grow, we want to be innovative.”

The options for growth, not surprisingly, do include the possibility of opening Horn Barbecue in Las Vegas. He says he recently took a couple meetings to discuss this.

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