Las Vegas fave Echo & Rig steakhouse preps its new Green Valley spot

Chef and restaurateur Sam Marvin has seen a lot of change and growth around his restaurant Echo & Rig in Tivoli Village since it opened more than 10 years ago. The upscale suburban center struggled to maintain its dining lineup until recent years, but Marvin’s Steakhouse, Bar and Butcher has always been a consistent bright spot.

“It’s been really exciting for us and it’s definitely given me a lot of confidence in our strategy and what we’re trying to achieve,” Marvin says of the overall growing success of the Tivoli restaurants. “Now that we have more traction here, people are realizing how to provide service to the neighborhood and treat it like a neighborhood restaurant versus an off-Strip restaurant. There’s a big difference.”

The difference is the people in the neighborhood, he says, and creating an experience that will resonate with regular customers who live nearby.

He’s poised to double down on that approach this month with the opening of the Valley’s second Echo & Rig steakhouse in the District at Green Valley Ranch, taking over the former Elephant Bar space. The new venue will be only slightly smaller than Tivoli Village’s footprint, set on a single story instead of the original’s two stories. But the menu at Henderson will be similar, and there will be a familiar butcher shop and retail components.

It’s all about to change a bit for Green Valley, though. The design will be different, leaning in the “desert elegance” direction. The cocktail program will be revamped and up and running, and Marvin is bringing in some bells and whistles to create a drinking experience you won’t find anywhere else in Henderson—or perhaps the rest of the Vegas Valley.

“I brought in Tony Abou-Ganim, everybody’s goat, and he’s designing the whole program,” says Marvin. “We [also] brought Tobin Ellis, designer of the world’s best bar equipment, who has his own line in Perlick [Equipment]; he is projecting the tape from the floor to the ceiling. These two guys are at the top of their game and we’re going to match the nutrition program to what they’re doing, no holds barred.”

Echo pioneered different cuts of beef available to neighborhood diners, and Marvin wants to expand that selection at the new location. It will focus on the Zabuton cut, sometimes called Denver steak, a prized cut of Wagyu beef in Japan that has yet to become popular stateside. “It’s the fourth-softest cut in the whole cow,” says Marvin.

He’s also planning to have more options for favorite cuts like rib eyes and tenderloins, from different farmers raised with different foods, so steak lovers can seek out new favorites.

Henderson’s dining scene seems to be in a boom phase, and the time is right for a neighborhood favorite from around town to join the party.

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