Cote’s DNA was always drenched in the Las Vegas party restaurant vibe. The original New York location features an almost fully black dining room defined by its wraparound cocktail bar and gleaming pink neon sign featuring the word “cote” (Korean for “flower”). Kim took things up a notch with Coqodaq, a fried chicken restaurant in New York that blended amber tunnel lighting and illuminated walls designed by David Rockwell. Rockwell’s work also imbues the vast Las Vegas space, with a crow’s nest DJ booth, “skybox” private dining rooms on the upper floor meant for VIPs and celebrities, and the ovoid bar at the entrance.
The visual feast is a stark contrast to Nobu, which was once the go-to spendy dining room for audiences like Cote’s. Nobu’s Zen-influenced rooms made Nobu Matsuhisa’s Japanese lounges the gold standard for older millennial and Gen X diners, helping the restaurant grow from a New York City original to a now 56-location-strong global empire. While Nobu was never quite a clubstaurant, it feels like it’s relinquishing the baton to Cote as the next powerful, see-and-be-seen dining experience founded by an Asian American restaurateur who successfully blends celebrity cool with best-in-class food.
At the Cote party, I spoke with superfan Brandon Alwadish, who had flown to Vegas and donned a sharp tuxedo for the opening. Though most of the invitees were media, industry friends, and celebrities, Alwadish (who operates a steak e-commerce business and runs a popular Instagram account highlighting grilled beef) got on the list after visiting Cote New York over 100 times in the past few years. His fandom reminded me of another diner I met in Las Vegas, a colorful sushi lover who claimed to dine at Nobu Scottsdale every week. As someone who rarely becomes a regular at restaurants due to the need to try new places, I’m surprised by this kind of allegiance to expensive hot spots. I imagine Alwadish and the well-heeled sushi diner aren’t one-offs. Nobu and Cote engender an extreme level of loyalty.
At the party, Nas played hypeman for Kim, while Dr. Dre danced on the main floor to Paak’s performance. Revelers ate bite after bite of caviar-topped beef tartare, truffle-laden wagyu sandwiches, and dry-aged chunks of grilled beef, or they picked at the raw seafood bar loaded with oysters, shrimp cocktail, chilled lobster, and king crab legs that must have an unimaginable retail price. The next evening, Dre, Nas, and Paak went home, but the show at Cote started all over again, a sensory feast the restaurant will put on night after night.
Nobu may have created the genre, but Cote, a Champagne- and martini-tinted extravaganza of Korean barbecue, could only ever reach its full potential on the Las Vegas Strip. It feels like it’s only a matter of time until it’s immortalized in a rap song.
Eater’s coverage of Cote Las Vegas was produced with assistance from Cote and the Venetian Resort. All editorial content is produced independently of those organizations. Read more about Eater’s ethics policies here.
