SkinnyFats Restaurant, A Locals Favorite, Is Worth the Search

This new Las Vegas restaurant has been a hit with locals, and it’s likely it’ll open another location downtown in 2014. It’s a little tricky to find, but well worth seeking out, even if you’re staying at a hotel on The Strip.

As the name implies, the “hook” of SkinnyFats is that it divides its menu into two parts: “Skinny” for the healthy side and “Fats” for the, well, more indulgent side. SkinnyFats calls it the “happy” side of the menu, but you know what they mean.

SkinnyFats is in a peculiar location, in what amounts to a commercial park, just across the I-15 freeway from Mandalay Bay. The address is 6261 Dean Martin Drive, Las Vegas, NV. It’s south of Larry Flint’s Hustler Club, if that helps. From what we hear. Allegedly.

Chances are you’ll pass right by the first time you try to visit, but after you’ve tried the food, you’ll never forget where it is.

SkinnyFats isn’t big, so there’s likely to be a wait when you visit. You order at the counter and your food is delivered to the table by friendly, enthusiastic staffers. Yeah, we tend to hate enthusiasm, too, but at SkinnyFats, it seems to work.

The restaurant’s eclectic menu comes from two chefs, Josh Green and David Lani.

Green has a pretty impressive resume, including stints at Mandalay Bay’s Aureole restaurant, the former Boa Steakhouse at Caesars Palace and the also-closed Daniel Boulud Brasserie at Wynn, among others. Lani, too, has been around, with gigs at Postrio in the Venetian and the aforementioned Aureole at Mandalay Bay.

The result of their culinary experiences is a range of offerings described as “a melting pot of cultural favorites with thoughtful ingredients and savory flavors.” We just call them tasty as hell. See the full SkinnyFats menu.

Our favorite item had to be the Chix on Broadway sandwich, from the “happy” side of the menu, of course.

This tempting sandwich has a breaded chicken breast on a brioche bun with cheddar cheese, lettuce, bacon, tomato, red onion and lemon aioli.

Also tempting is the Cheeseburger Benedict, a half-pound Angus burger with lettuce, tomato, pickles, cheddar, avocado, red onion and a fried egg.

We hear the healthy options on the SkinnyFats menu are great, too, but you’ll have to try those for yourself. This isn’t that kind of blog.

SkinnyFats also has a healthy (as well as not particularly healthy) selection of shakes, smoothies, floats and juices.

We like the glasses at SkinnyFats, as they alert you to happy you should be, depending upon how much shake you have left in your glass.

The desserts are weird and wonderful, with a Sunday’s Sundae that will mess with your head. Our Sunday’s Sundae had three deep-fried waffles over vanilla ice cream, with berries, whipped cream and chocolate sauce.

Find out more about SkinnyFats on their official site, and treat yourself to a look at SkinnyFats on Instagram. Somebody has some serious food photography skills at this joint.

We understand SkinnyFats is closing in on a downtown location, and we suspect another success in the making.