What’s up with Carson Kitchen’s massive swear jar?

The purpose of swear jars usually is to make people use a little less of the blue-tinged language, but the one at Carson Kitchen doesn't work that way. And that may explain why it tends to be stuffed, and why seeing a $100 bill in it isn't unusual.

Cory Harwell, who co-owned the restaurant in downtown Las Vegas with the late chef Kerry Simon and continues as co-owner of Simon Hospitality Group, said the jar came about when he was developing the restaurant with Simon, and the health and stamina of the rock 'n roll chef were beginning to fail.

"It really was me sitting in his kitchen and working on recipes with him overseeing me," Harwell said. "There were times I'd put up plates of food that were really good, and times they weren't so good."

They'd have friends in for tastings as well. A frequent comment when a dish succeeded, Harwell said, was "Holy, s---, that's good."

"One of us literally said, 'You've got to put a dollar in the swear jar for every time somebody curses in favor of the food," he said. "It was a passing joke."

Then came the night before the opening and Harwell probably was in the mood to swear. Some of the furniture he'd ordered for the restaurant just didn't turn out to be a good fit.

"I was livid at first," Harwell said. "I ended up having to go to Pier One and Cost Plus to find stools to get open. I saw this big giant glass jar, and thought, 'I'm going to surprise Kerry and do this swear jar, and put it on the counter to get a giggle out of him.' Our guests responded so well that it's something that will be up there forever."

Harwell said they've gone through three jars in the 15 months the restaurant has been open, because there's no way to get the money out without breaking it. When one fills, the money's divided up between the back-of-house staff.

"The people who don't normally receive any gratuities," he said. "That doubles as their tip jar."

Which leads to those $100 bills. Harwell said sometimes a large party will attempt to tip the cooks, "and they'll say, 'Give us a "Hell, yeah, and put it in the swear jar." ' "

While the group has three other restaurants (none of them in Las Vegas), Harwell said he doesn't plan to spread the tradition.

"I think if we do it somewhere else, it becomes contrived," he said. "I was just trying to get a giggle out of my partner, and it turned into something that's really kind of cool."

Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Find more of her stories at reviewjournal.com, and follow @HKRinella on Twitter.