The highly anticipated Stubborn Seed, the Michelin-starred Miami Beach restaurant from Top Chef winner Jeremy Ford, is slated to open soon at Resorts World, targeting early spring. It’s an eclectic offering diving into a sea of those at this vast hotel, a modern fine-dining experience joining a Las Vegas Strip that has been stocked with seemingly similar dining destinations for decades.
But is Stubborn Seed similar? Ford’s passionate approach to food has created a national standout, and he’s ready to do it again in Las Vegas, as he shared recently during a Weekly interview.
Have you had previous opportunities to open a restaurant in Las Vegas?
There’s been stuff throughout my career that popped up, but it was years ago and we didn’t have the infrastructure we have now with our partners. Now it’s at the point where we have really good teams in place at restaurants, so now’s the time, more than ever.
Why is Stubborn Seed the right concept to make your Vegas debut?
When I really think about what drives me, the passion in my heart and soul, Stubborn Seed was my first restaurant on my own, the first to get a Michelin star, and it’s just a cool concept. It’s a very fun high-end experience but you can still come in with jeans and no one will look at you weird. It’s a chill version of fine dining, a little more approachable, and we’re excited to bring our style there.
Every operator makes a few tweaks when they come to Vegas, but not every restaurant has a Michelin star. What’s that process like for you?
You know, there are a lot of great restaurants around [Las Vegas]. I went to Sparrow + Wolf and had an amazing dinner, and I went to Guy Savoy too. A lot of restaurants do tasting menus and have that level of service and care and love for the guest, and I really saw it. It seems like a pretty open spectrum of what’s out there, with flavors from around the world integrated into some really diverse menus, and that’s why I think Stubborn Seed is a good fit. You’re going to get a 10-course or a five-course menu with flavors that have African or Caribbean influence, they may have a Haitian-style flavor profile or be a dish with French technique and Italian roots. I’ve been doing this 25 years and been exposed to a lot of Indian cuisine, and I use a lot of those spices. I just love exciting flavors, and there’s nowhere more exciting than Vegas. So we think we’ll stand out with bold flavors and spices, dishes that are exciting to the palate, bright citrus, something very fun for the guest to experience.
Your spot is in a very convenient corner of Resorts World, which should be nice.
We’re right across the hall from Carversteak and we love the fact you can drive up to the valet and go straight in. That’s one of the most important things, because as much as we’re there to give everyone in the hotel a great experience, really the roots and soul of Stubborn Seed is being a neighborhood restaurant. Summerlin is 20 minutes away and we want to make that easy if someone doesn’t want to do the full resort thing, they can go straight to the restaurant.
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