A James Beard Semifinalist Is Opening a Swanky Mexico City-Style Cocktail Bar

Rendering of Nocturno. | Enliven Interiors The owner of Milpa is taking up residency downtown with Nocturno cocktail bar Fresh off his second consecutive year of earning a semifinalist nod for James Beard Award: Best Chef Southwest, Milpa chef DJ Flores will soon build upon his masa empire by opening a cocktail bar called Nocturno — inspired by bar juggernauts in Mexico City. Bringing on cocktail veteran Lu Lopez (the Venetian) to run the bar with a focus on hospitality, Flores seems poised to introduce a new hot spot to downtown. Expect Nocturno to emulate some of his favorite bars across Latin America when it opens this March in the Las Vegas Arts District. “I’ve always envisioned having a cocktail bar,” says Flores. “I travel to Mexico City and they have a bunch of the World’s 50 Best Bars there. That’s one of my goals — to be one of those.” Flores wants to recreate aspects of bars he admires, like Mexico City’s Handshake Speakeasy and Licorería Limantour, or even Herbs & Rye locally, one of the 50 Best Bars in North America in 2024. To Flores, that means taking a fine-dining approach to the cocktail lounge and recreating traditional cocktails with precision. Flores opened his modern Mexican restaurant Milpa in 2021. He earned his first James Beard: Semifinalist nod in part for the masa he grinds in-house. He employs the resulting soft blue tortillas in carne asada tacos or ships them to Las Vegas restaurants like Vesta Coffee Roasters for their breakfast tacos. Enliven Interiors Rendering of Nocturno. Last year, Flores founded Nivel Hospitality Group with industry veterans Arron Cappello and Lu Lopez. Lopez, who apprenticed with Attaboy’s Sam Ross and served as corporate mixologist for Wakuda and managed Electra and Rosina at the Venetian Resort, will oversee Nocturno’s cocktail program. In addition to his New York cocktail training, he brings a passion for Latin American cocktail bars. “With Mexico City, they’re so incredible at the consistent guest experience,” says Lopez. “It’s the way that they go about interacting with guests, the way that they make the drinks, the lighting, the music, the smell that makes it feel special.” Lu Lopez Midnight Panther at Nocturno. Lopez is still developing Nocturno’s cocktails, but he hopes most people will order off-menu. Seating at Nocturno will be reservation-based, a rarity in the Arts District. Bartenders will chat with customers to figure out the kind of spirits and flavor profiles they’re into and make personalized cocktails based on that feedback. That means options like coursed service, for example, starting with a low-ABV drink and ending with a dessert cocktail. All the syrups will be made in-house — from the simple syrup to the grenadine, orgeat, and falernum. Walking into Nocturno will mean smelling citrus zest in the air, hearing chunky ice cubes rattling in cocktail shakers, and watching as bartenders pull frosty coupes from the negative two-degree freezer. “That way, the cocktail gets just a little colder as it comes to your lips,” says Lopez. “Those little precision techniques are really where it comes to life.” Those who order a house cocktail might get a Midnight Panther, a take on a margarita with passionfruit, lime, and Aperol, and a touch of chili salt. Lopez will crack and separate eggs to shake whites into creamy whiskey sours, while a machine generally used for making diner milkshakes will evenly froth up Ramos Gin Fizzes. Lu Lopez Cocktail at Nocturno. Lu Lopez Cocktail at Nocturno. The bar takes over the space of the former Garden gay bar (3555 South Las Vegas Boulevard) with a small patio and a renovated interior featuring dark woods, velvet seating, and cream-colored flooring. Instrumental music and East Coast hip-hop will create a cool and moody ambiance. A departure from Flores’s menu at Milpa, Nocturno will offer a menu of bar bites like steak and caviar, plus late-night offerings of chicken fingers and what he describes as “guilty pleasure fried foods.” In the meantime, the trio is also working on opening a new restaurant later this year called Cosecha. A sister restaurant to Milpa, Cosecha goes into Main Street on the northern edge of the Arts District and will feature a production area for grinding masa and making tortillas. “We love the culture that comes from Latin America, and I think that’s such a big piece of cocktail culture, too,” says Lopez. Disclosure: Some Vox Media staff members are part of the voting body for the James Beard Foundation Awards.