The main Los Angeles Gjelinathe forward-thinking sustainable restaurant that has powered Venice’s Abbot Kinney Boulevard since 2008, will open its Las Vegas location of the Venetian December 26.
Gjelina, led by founder Fran Camaj, is a local LA unicorn that has influenced its city’s scenester-chic culinary scene more than any food truck, Erewhon smoothie or Gwyneth Paltrow-approved pasta. With its no-nonsense top-tier cooking, crowd-pleasing pizzas and seasonal vegetarian dishes that change daily, Gjelina has been bucking trends while creating her own. For example, all the reclaimed wood in Gjelina’s LA space has clearly influenced countless restaurants, so much so that Camaj avoided reclaimed wood for his Vegas building.
The Venetian area will be the third Gjelina. (Earlier this month, Camaj also reopened New York’s Gjelina, which debuted in 2023, was popular during the day and then closed after a fire broke out before the restaurant even offered dinner service.) The Vegas Gjelina is also part of a $1.5 billion deal made re at the Venetian, the resort is said to be the largest and most expensive hotel renovation in history. But as always, Camaj and chef Juan Hernandez will focus on maintaining the Gjelina ethos. That means I frequent the LA farmers markets, including the incomparable Santa Monica market, to find the best ingredients.
“There will be pickup and regular driving that needs to happen from the Santa Monica farmers market directly to Vegas,” Camaj tells the Observer. He expects that there will be a product from California heading to the new Gjelina two to three times a week.
Along with wood-fired pizzas and house-made charcuterie, Gjelina’s Vegas dinner menu will feature seasonal vegetable dishes such as kabocha squash with miso glaze, pomegranate, walnut and mint pistou; and refried beans with horseradish yogurt, sherry vinegar, pistachio flour and dill. Comforting main dishes will include orecchiette with beef bolognese and striped sea bass stew with black mussels and asari clams. The lunch menu will feature the same vegetarian dishes as the dinner pizzas while also offering sandwiches such as hanger grilled steak banh mi with pickled vegetables, cilantro and horseradish aioli alongside hearty soups such as one with butternut squash, farro , black kale and chermoula.
With 200-plus seats, Vegas Gjelina is nearly twice the size of the LA original. And unlike in Venice, guests can pair their vegetables with pizzas and cocktails instead of just beer and wine. However, Gjelina lives in Gjelina. Camaj and Hernandez aren’t thinking about dramatic menu changes or a different vibe. Camaj knows that guests in Vegas are often looking to party and have a baller experience, but they’ll have to go elsewhere for caviar bumps or sparklers or liquid nitrogen or a table martini cart. Maybe they’ll be able to get a great steak.
“In Gjelina, during the holidays, there were some events where we had a porterhouse or a tomahawk or something substantial, protein-wise, that was $170 or $190,” Camaj said. “It was obviously, on rare special occasions. In Vegas, there are people who want that kind of food, and I’m sure we’ll provide that more often than just a few times a year. “
Patrick Nichols, CEO of The Venetian, also insists that his resort is not trying to change the essence of Gjelina.
“We like the idea as it is,” Nichols tells the Observer. “For people who want to swim, there will be that opportunity. There’s always that customer in Vegas who wants to do that. But Gjelina coming to the Venetian will be very familiar to people who have eaten at Gjelina in L.A. One thing that makes Fran special is that she is so dedicated to her creations. What made him a great partner along the way is that he knows what he wants, and we are here to help deliver that.”
Gjelina is part of the development of the Venetian restaurant which brings heavy players from all over the country. Next summer, Via Via’s new dining hall will debut with anchors including New York’s Scarr’s Pizza, LA’s Howlin’ Ray’s and New Orleans’ Turkey and Wolf. Then, in the third quarter of 2025, Simon Kim At Cote (born in New York and expanded to Miami and Singapore) and José Andrés’ Bazaar Meat (from Sahara in Vegas) will open at the Venetian.
“I think there’s a familiarity that people like when they come to Las Vegas,” Nichols said. “These are brands they know and can trust. Gjelina falls firmly into that category. This is an LA staple. … I’ve been eating there for over a decade, and there’s just something about how the whole package comes together at Gjelina. It is free. Refined. The food is amazing. It’s always busy.”
The Venetian, of course, already has some of the world’s most famous chefs, including Wolfgang Puck, Thomas Keller and Tetsuya Wakuda. Now it’s adding new energy in the form of restaurants that attract surfers and party-crashing galbis and hypebeasts who want limited-edition shoe pairings at their favorite restaurants (this one’s been released by Scarr’s and Howlin’ Ray’s).
“I think it’s about having the whole collection,” Nichols said. “I think we’re going to expose the Venetian customer to a completely different food and beverage crowd in the food hall. It’s about creating this truly integrated experience at the Venetian. ” This, after all, is why Camaj and Gjelina are here.
“The main reason why I feel comfortable is the commitment and total investment that Patrick and the Venetian made to renovate the whole place,” said Camaj. “We feel very comfortable with their commitment to ensuring that our acquisition will be the same as it is here in LA”
Funny how things turn out: 2008 was a watershed year for Los Angeles restaurants. Along with Gjelina, Roy Choi’s Kogi truck, Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo’s Animal and José Andrés’ Bazaar all opened in LA and changed the food game in their own ways. Choi and Andrés now have a strong presence in Las Vegas, while Shook and Dotolo have turned down offers from casinos. All these brands have had a huge impact, but they have done it by ignoring everything around them and just creating their own way.
“That’s a good question,” replied Camaj when asked if he ever thought that Gjelina was part of the organization that started in 2008. “It has never been asked. To be honest, I’ve lived in Venice since the mid-’90s. I lived half a mile from Gjelina the whole time. I’m still here. The place where my girlfriend turned wife and I lived in the space for two years before it was built. I was very worried, maybe even to a fault, living in my own place right on Abbot Kinney. ” However, sometimes the desire to not change is what makes you stand out.
“We won’t be fixing or changing any of our dishes,” Camaj said of Vegas Gjelina. “But we are very hopeful that we can make a tomahawk or a porterhouse, and we are 16, in the Gjelina style.”
