I hadn’t heard of LYFE Kitchen until a few weeks ago, but there is a new location open here in Las Vegas (well…. it’s in Henderson, but that detail probably only really matters to people who live here!) and I got to go for a preview sampling. They were running through how it all works before their official open date, which was on Wednesday!

LYFE Kitchen is a kind of fast-casual restaurant that uses locally-harvested and sustainable ingredients whenever possible. So here in the desert, I’m guessing not much locally harvested! (Yes, I have a garden… I know it is possible to grow stuff here. But it’s hard. This year my peppers have flourished, but everything else is struggling. Last year I had tomato overload, which I’m missing this year.) Art Smith is the executive chef, but since I know him from Top Chef: Masters and eating at his restaurant Art and Soul in D.C. (apparently others know him from Oprah) it’s pretty safe to assume he’s NOT cooking at the local location!

The restaurant is bright, pretty and it just has a “healthy” vibe. There are fresh herbs growing right inside the door! The menu looks tasty and I want to try a lot of items on it. I think my toddler would like the food here a lot as well. Here’s a partial view of the menu, that was displayed at the register.

I got to pick a main item, a side and a drink. Here’s what I got:

Morning Tofu Wrap
scrambled tofu, gardein™ sausage, Daiya™ cheddar, arugula, avocado, cherry tomato, red onions, chipotle aioli in a whole wheat tortilla salsa fresca on the side
This was super tasty. One of the staff told me he eats that almost every day he’s there and he’s not a vegetarian. I really liked it!

Ginger Mint Chia water
filtered water infused with ginger, lime, mint and chia seeds
This was just subtle and refreshing. Like drinking fancy-pants water!

Berry bowl
uh…. berries.
What can I say… it’s a bowl of berries. But they were fresh, beautiful and there were no weird sauces or sugars dumped all over it. My kid would have said “MINE!” when it arrived.

They need a location on the west side of town now, so I can go there more often. But when I’m on that side of town, I’m definitely going to go again. It’s located right near Whole Foods, a Barre3 studio and Red Rock Running Company, so this is my kind of retail plaza!

140 S Green Valley Pkwy #142
Henderson, NV, United States 89012