Arts District spot Palate serves up cuisine with color

The Arts District is growing and changing so quickly that a restaurant like Palate—located on one of the neighborhood’s busiest corners, downstairs from an increasingly popular music venue—can escape notice. There are lots of nightspots competing for attention in the 18b, and you might’ve walked right by Palate thinking it was part of Swan Dive. But if you happen by on a Sunday afternoon, the whole picture changes.

Roll-up doors open Palate to the street, allowing the sounds of live music and conversation to spill out. Walk through the doors, and the dominant colors of this kitchen and bar—the purple and burgundy of its velvety chairs, the golden hue of the chandeliers, the tall orange barstools and the spots of greenery popping out of the ceiling—really pop in the diffuse late-morning light. A server guides you to a seat and hands you a menu; if they ask if you’d like a coffee liqueur shooter as an aperitif, say yes.

Just like that, Palate has activated most of your senses. The brunch menu will take care of the rest. There are multiple entry points—garlicky sourdough shrimp toast ($19) topped with a sunny-side egg, scallion sauce and furikake; West Coast oysters ($28) with a finger lime mignonette; a little gem salad with heirloom carrots, red pearl onions, crispy shallots, watermelon radish and avocado with an umami dressing ($16) and other indulgences. Or you could go sweet with a tofu parfait with seasonal fruit and granola ($11) or banana bread French toast with banana pastry cream, sunflower seed brittle and chantilly ($22), among other options.

By now, your coffee shooter is long gone, so give some serious consideration to jumping the “all-day mimosas” or “all-day rosé” trains ($28 each). Or order up a Bloody Mary ($14) created with a housemade mix, or peruse Palate’s wine, beer or cocktail lists, all of which have respectable depth, breadth and, in the case of the mixed drinks, ambition. The Smokin’ Section cocktail ($16)—a coconut-washed, smoked whiskey beverage with coffee, mushrooms (!), cinnamon raisins and chocolate bitters—looks appropriately brunchy.

If you brought a few friends—which is easy to do, given Palate’s airy dining room and large tables—order one of Palate’s boards, which include a Mary’s free-range fried half-chicken ($48) with kimchi mac, roasted carrots, biscuits and jam; or a caviar board with potato rosti, cornbread, yuzu crème fraîche, lobster roe salad, truffle gribiche and egg whites, with your choice of Hackleback ($99) or Russian Osetra caviar ($150).

If you’d like to keep it simple, Palate offers straight-up breakfast dishes worthy or trying even if you’ve ordered other plates. The benedict, composed as mini towers of potato rosti, poached egg, overnight tomato, truffle gremolata and garlic hollandaise ($18), is a delight, as is the Humboldt Fog frittata with tomato, smoked onions and watercress ($18) and their pork belly breakfast with kimchi fried rice, sunny eggs and “pickled things” ($23). Our advice to go in large numbers and try a little bit of everything. Put those all-day mimosas to their best possible use.

PALATE 1301 S. Main Street #110, 702-778-8181, palatelv.com. Wednesday-Thursday, 3-10 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 3 p.m.-midnight; Sunday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

For photos and more details visit LasVegasWeekly.com