Chef Nicole Brisson exits Locale; Marc Marrone to consult

Chef Nicole Brisson and Locale Italian Kitchen owner Andy Hooper have confirmed that Brisson is leaving the restaurant. The decision is being described as “a mutual agreement.” Marc Marrone will be stepping in as a consulting chef.

Rumors of the split began to circulate after Brisson announced April 10 on Facebook that she was “taking a much needed break to focus on my health and well being.” Until that point, the chef had been coordinating efforts to convert the restaurant to a curbside pickup and delivery model that offered both food and groceries.

Brisson has long been considered one of the most accomplished female chefs in Las Vegas. She ran all of Mario Batali’s local restaurants before sexual misconduct allegations against the celebrity chef resulted in their closure. She went on to open Eataly at Park MGM, before leaving that position to open Locale in the Mountain’s Edge neighborhood last summer. That decision to move off-Strip garnered national media attention, and in February, Brisson was named as a semifinalist for this year’s James Beard Award in the Best Chef Southwest division.

When asked about her decision to leave Locale, and the timing, Brisson explained, “It’s a stressful time with coronavirus, and I needed to make a decision for myself and my future.

“I made a mistake,” she continued. “I really quickly jumped into Locale without fully thinking about the scope of my future. And (now) I really want to focus on my future, and my career, and building it correctly — where my food is being represented in the best way, and of the best caliber.”

Brisson is currently consulting for her longtime friend and mentor, the renowned Italian butcher Dario Cecchini. She’s hopeful, however, that her future will also include “cooking for locals, and being part of an off-the-Strip restaurant.” For now, though, she’s content taking some time for herself.

“I’ve never taken more than two days off between jobs in my entire life,” she said. “So right now I really just need to focus on some home projects, working on the house I bought a couple of years ago, and cooking for my boyfriend every day. It’s been fun for me.”

When asked about the future of Locale, Hooper said he wants to refocus on his original goal of “making really upscale Italian food along with more approachable red-sauce Italian.”

“Our success during the COVID outbreak has been the red-sauce Italian dishes,” he notes. “But that doesn’t mean the menu is going to be overwhelmed with those dishes.”

Marrone, another Strip expatriate who owns the off-Strip restaurant Graffiti Bao, says he hopes to combine “the craft-driven, high-quality Italian fare” Locale is known for with “neighborhood favorites” and dishes from his childhood.

“With my grandmother coming over from Italy, I’m excited to have an outlet now to be able to showcase and put forward some dishes that I grew up eating.”

He’s also planning to focus more on house-baked breads and house-made, extruded pastas. Most importantly, he promises, “I have no intention of downgrading the food by any means.”

Contact Al Mancini at amancini@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlManciniVegas on Twitter.