ECHO - Taste & Sound

ECHO - Taste & Sound opened in March 2025 at 1301 South Main Street in the Arts District, a passion project from chef Natalie Young and entrepreneur Tom McAllister. Young has more than thirty years in kitchens, trained under Mark Miller and John Joho, and is best known in Las Vegas for the long-running Fremont East brunch restaurant EAT; her small plates here are meant, in the restaurant's phrase, to look like fine dining but taste like home. McAllister is a Las Vegas businessman with deep local roots including involvement in the World Series of Poker, and has committed himself to development in the Arts District. The room is mid-century modern — warm wood, acoustic panels, plants and vintage furnishings — and it is built around sound. There are two systems: a vintage analogue rig for warmth, and a world-class McIntosh setup for high-fidelity listening. Music director Rob Alahn and vinyl selector DJ Shoe program the records, moving the room from jazz through soul to unexpected global sounds over the course of a night.

Young is sober, and made an inclusive beverage program a priority from the day the place was conceived rather than adding one later; the bar talent was drawn from the storied and now-closed Downtown Cocktail Room. The menu splits its zero-proof drinks in two. A dedicated Non-Alcoholic Cocktails section mirrors spirited classics using zero-proof substitutes, including an N/A Old Fashioned (n/a bourbon, n/a amaro, simple syrup), Caught in the Rain (n/a rum, pineapple, mango, orange, coconut), Ring of Fire (n/a tequila, mango, orange juice, firewater bitters) and Take 5 (non-alcoholic amaro, cold brew, seasonal syrup). A separate Mocktails section holds original non-spirited creations built for their own sake rather than as substitutes — Cool Cat (cucumber syrup, lime, Sprite), Chef's Jam, and Bright Size Life (ube syrup, lemon, soda). The result is one of the few rooms in Las Vegas where the person not drinking and the person drinking are reading the same menu with the same expectations of it.