Chef Natalie Young Closes Eat, Shifts Focus to Echo Taste & Sound

This article was original published in City Cast Las Vegas by Rob Kachelriess. See original article here.

Saturday was the final day of operation for Eat after more than 12 years on Carson Avenue near the Downtown Container Park. Chef and owner Natalie Young is now fully focused on Echo Taste & Sound, which opened last month at The Colorado, a buzzy mixed-use complex in the Downtown Arts District.

Natalie Young at Echo Taste & Sound (Rob Kachelriess/City Cast Las Vegas)

“This is just a better business opportunity for me,” Young says. “I've evolved.”

Young is happy to keep some of the staff and a few signature dishes (like the shrimp n’ grits and pancakes) around, but Echo is a different concept altogether. The lounge is brought to life with a mix of new hi-fi tech and classic analog sound equipment, spinning a curated vinyl selection while guests enjoy cocktails, mocktails, and small plates like crispy mushrooms and wagyu beef skewers.

A pair of turntables and upholstered furniture were repurposed from the recently closed Downtown Cocktail Room, adding an instant slice of history to a room that’s “both retro and timeless” I observe. “That’s me,” Young responds, noting how Echo reflects the person she’s become over 60 years.

“ I wanted to have something for somebody like me, so I created that,” she explains. “It's a great date spot. It's definitely not a club. It’s a lounge. I'm going to be very clear about that. This is a chill spot. It’s not a party spot.”

The food, served in small portions, mirrors her current personal eating habits — a sharp contrast from the hearty servings at Eat. The restaurant (known stylistically as eat.) opened in 2012, helping launch the Fremont East resurgence and earning raves for inspired breakfast and brunch comfort food. Young was even featured in a national American Express commercial. Business remained strong, but the lease ends in May and the chef decided it was time to move on. She’s grateful and looks back fondly on the impact her business had on customers.

“I saw people getting married, I saw people adopting kids, I saw an artist tell his partner that he had a terminal disease and was dying.” Young remembers. “It was a place for people to connect and I’m so proud of that. I'm a chef, but my business is the connection to people.”

Echo is open Wednesday through Sunday. Daytime dining is slowly being introduced. A Sunday brunch debuted over the weekend.