Aroma Latin American Cocina moving to Chinatown Vegas

It’s not as if Aroma Latin American Cocina has gone unnoticed — witness chef-owner Steve Kestler’s nod as a James Beard Award finalist, Aroma’s appearance among the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Top 100 Restaurants in Vegas for 2024 and 2025, and its recognition by Yelp as one of the top taco spots in the U.S., again for 2024 and 2025.

At the same time, to experience the chef’s cooking that mingles Latin America, classical training and international grace notes, you had to make the trip to a modest center deep in the Green Valley area of Henderson. Not far for some, a longer trip for most of the Las Vegas Valley.

But that is changing.

Explaining the move

Aroma closed in December in advance of its move to Chinatown, a part of Vegas that is more convenient to reach for more people.

“Four years ago, we had the idea to bring something new and bold to the Green Valley neighborhood. Soon, we learned that most of our customers were coming from outside Henderson. For the last four years, the feedback was that we needed to move to a more central location,” Kestler said in a statement for Neon.

“I felt that Chinatown could be a perfect fit for us — so often, we find ourselves inspired by Asian cuisines to add tones to our dishes, not to mention that Spring Mountain Road hosts some of my favorite restaurants in the city. We are really excited to bring Aroma closer to every point of the city.”

Aroma is going into 3355 Spring Mountain Road, Suite 35, at Polaris Avenue, next door to the Sand Dollar Lounge. Trés Cazuelas Latin Cuisine most recently occupied the space. A February reopening of Aroma is planned.

New dishes at dinner

Kestler opened Aroma in 2021 to showcase the cooking of his native Guatemala and other Latin American cuisines, as shaped by his family traditions and by his time at leading Las Vegas restaurants such as Bouchon Bistro from chef Thomas Keller, Bazaar Meat by José Andrés and EDO Tapas & Wine with chef Oscar Amador.

For Spring Mountain, Kestler said he was working on refining the dinner menu, including 10 new dishes. The lunch and brunch menus, he said, would remain more casual. Hours of service will be 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays for lunch, 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays for dinner, and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays for brunch.

“We are committed to keeping it small, affordable and more personal than ever,” the chef said.

Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram.