Peppermill Las Vegas, a James Beard Award-Winning Icon
In the heart of the bustling Las Vegas Strip lies a culinary haven where the aroma of sizzling beef patties mingles with the scent of freshly made pancakes and potatoes. Welcome to the Peppermill Restaurant and Fireside Lounge, a timeless destination where gastronomic delights have thrilled guests for more than five decades.
Owners Bill Paganetti and Nat Carasali brought their legendary service, unwavering quality, and sense of excitement to the Las Vegas Strip in 1972, opening the iconic Peppermill Restaurant and Fireside Lounge. For over 50 years, Peppermill has brought classic American flavors, large portions, and exciting, innovative fare to the Strip. Attracting a clientele ranging from local guests, to tourists, to celebrities like Frank Sinatra, Jerry Lewis, Elvis Presley, Adam Lambert, Anthony Bourdain, and Holly Madison, the Peppermill stands as a monument to exquisite food and friendly service.
In recognition of its exceptional accomplishments, the Peppermill has been honored with the prestigious James Beard 2024 America’s Classics Award by the James Beard Foundation. This accolade – named after James Beard, the iconic American chef, television cooking host, and cookbook author – celebrates locally owned restaurants that embody timeless appeal and culinary excellence reflective of their community.
A native of Portland, Oregon, James Beard’s biography is the stuff of American legend. Born in 1903 to parents who owned a boarding house, Beard grew up around hospitality and food. He left college for a life of adventure, joining a touring theatrical group, traveling the United States, and living abroad throughout the Roaring Twenties. By the 1930s, Beard shifted his efforts, never completely leaving behind the world of entertainment, by focusing on the food service industry with a small shop known as Hors d’Oeuvre. In the early 1940s, Beard published two successful cookbooks. During World War II, he spent some time in cryptography, but his talents in food service and hospitality led to setting up canteens in Brazil, Panama, and France. After the War, Beard combined his love of food with his love of theatrics, appearing on America’s first television cooking show. He spent many years on television and radio, continued to publish books and articles, and opened his own restaurant and cooking schools. Throughout his illustrious career, he was the world’s leading advocate for American food made with fresh quality ingredients.
When James Beard passed away in 1985, the culinary world ensured his legacy would not fade away. The James Beard Foundation, established by Beard’s student Peter Krump, purchased Beard’s New York townhome and began hosting dinners at the direction of fellow culinary and entertainment legends Julia Child and Wolfgang Puck, who would go on to win a James Beard Award for Outstanding Service and whose Las Vegas restaurants like Spago are classics in their own right. Since 1991, the Foundation has issued the prestigious James Beard Foundation Awards, sometimes called the Oscars of the food world.
The James Beard Foundation Awards recognize numerous aspects of food and service excellence, among which is the America’s Classics award. Awarded since 1998, the America’s Classics is in many ways the most emblematic of James Beard’s own career and life. It honors legendary, locally owned restaurants that have a timeless appeal and quality food that represent the character of the community. And no restaurant exemplifies the local character of Las Vegas than the Peppermill Restaurant and Fireside Lounge. Even before you enter the Peppermill, you’re taken by its classic architecture, an elegant single-story building with sloped roofline and large tinted windows. Stepping inside the Peppermill is like stepping into Las Vegas itself; the interiors are over-the-top and rival the theme and quality of the nearby megaresorts. The aesthetic is a perfect balance of Old Vegas and a retro-futuristic space-age style that has endured from the mid-century modern era of the 20th century through to the quarter mark of the 21st century. The Peppermill’s Fireside Lounge – from which cocktail servers wrapped in classic Las Vegas elegant evening gowns emerge with trays of drinks like the 64-ounce Scorpion or the made-from-scratch Bloody Mary for the restaurant’s guests – is such an enduring symbol of Las Vegas itself that its fire pit was featured in Martin Scorsese’s cinematic ode to Las Vegas, Casino.
Beyond the iconic Las Vegas ambiance, the food at the Peppermill is a delight. Peppermill has always focused on high-quality ingredients to serve hearty meals with oversized portions. Fitting for an America’s Classics award winner, the Peppermill serves classic American dishes that have been on the menu since the 1972 opening, including French toast ambrosia, fresh fruit salad, and the mainstay of American cuisine, the Peppermill burger. The breakfast menu features stacks of pancakes that can feed a family (or one very ambitious and determined diner) and omelets ranging from the classic ham and cheese to the modern Maserati Omelet, an Italian-flavored omelet with sausage, Parmesan, mushrooms, and Italian sauce.
The ambiance, cocktails, service, and food all coalesce into the archetypal expression of Las Vegas. Since being founded in 1972, the Peppermill Las Vegas, much like its older sibling Peppermill Resort Spa Casino in Reno, has managed to hold on to its classic charm without succumbing to mere nostalgia. Bill Paganetti and Nat Carasali shared many of James Beard’s instincts of what made American cuisine and the American dining experience wonderful. An unrelenting commitment to the highest quality ingredients. An understanding that scene and atmosphere (and a touch of theatricality) separate the dining experience from just getting food. And above a love of serving and entertaining their guests. The restaurant started by Paganetti and Carasali is a timeless testament to the never-ending energy and charm of Las Vegas. The Peppermill Restaurant and Fireside Lounge is an icon, a legend, and truly an American Classic.
Steven M. Silva spends his time between Southern California, Reno, and Las Vegas, and frequents the Peppermill Restaurant and Fireside Lounge any chance he has. He and his son once attempted to eat a full stack of pancakes and came very close to finishing them. Steven had much better luck in his successful attempt to finish the Scorpion.