The people will have their paella again — and more.
Valencian Gold, which began its run in July 2019 as a fast-casual spot offering Paella for the People, emerging in August 2021 from the pandemic as a widely praised full-service restaurant featuring tapas and live-fire paella, then shutting its South Rainbow Boulevard space about a year later, never to reopen, is returning.
Valencian Gold is planned to debut sometime in 2027 in the Arts District of downtown Las Vegas, said Jeffrey Weiss, its chef-owner and James Beard Award-nominated cookbook author.
“I really wanted to reopen Valencian Gold — that was always the plan. I wanted to bring it to the Arts District. It always felt like the spiritual home where the concept belongs.
“I have learned the art of paella at the elbows of the paella maestros in Valencia; I have worked all over Spain,” Weiss continued. “I want to create something bigger, badder, bringing together a team that builds something very special, that speaks to the roots of what I learned in Spain, what I love about Spanish hospitality, what I love about Spanish restaurants.
“This is the version of Valencian Gold that I always wanted to see it become.”
Secret, for now
Weiss declined to say where in the Arts District the latest version of Valencian Gold would be located, and City of Las Vegas business license and building permit records do not currently list the project. The old Valencian Gold encompassed about 1,800 square feet; the new restaurant will be significantly larger, Weiss said.
Wood-fire paella will anchor the new Valencian Gold, joined by vibrant vegetable dishes, charcoal-grilled seafood and meats, a tapas bar, vermouths and Spanish cocktails, and what the chef called “late-night conversations over one more bottle of wine, whimsical art and design, and the beautiful chaos that happens when food, drink, music and people collide.”
Valencian Gold also teased its reopening with a Wednesday Facebook (@valenciangold) post. “Some fires,” it reads, “never go out.”