Vegas Eats: Bojangles’ First Bar, Sonic’s Prime-Rib Chili Dog and $5 Late-Night Tacos — Volume 2

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2026

Volume 1 was about the lines that were already there. Volume 2 is about the doors opening this week — because in Las Vegas right now, the most-shared food story is a calendar: a chicken chain that added a bar, a chili-dog pop-up built for photos, a Chinatown tasting room, and a late-night taco menu priced like it is still 2019. Here is what opened, what is about to, and what to order first:

02 The Strip’s New Arrivals

Bojangles — LINQ Promenade. Bojangles officially opened at the LINQ Promenade on October 7, in the space formerly occupied by AmeriCAN, and this one is a first: Vital Vegas reports it is the first Bojangles in the country with a full-service bar, plus a stage for live music. The order is the Southern playbook done at Strip volume — chicken tenders and chicken sandwiches, breakfast biscuits made from scratch in view of a biscuit window, Cajun fries, Dirty Rice, mac and cheese and Bo-Berry milkshakes. One local quirk to know before you go: none of the Las Vegas locations serves bone-in fried chicken, so tenders are the main event here.

Sip Sip Wok — Virgin Las Vegas. The newest room at Virgin was announced on October 2 and, after an earlier October 1 target slipped, Virgin has now set the opening for October 15 at 5 p.m. The concept, in Virgin’s own announcement, is Asian-inspired comfort food with craft cocktails and Asian beers, built for dinner, drinks and late-night bites — a laid-back room with neon accents and Cantonese-inspired signage. The menu got its first public look on October 13. Off-Strip, pre-concert, post-midnight: that is exactly the slot this place is aiming at.

Why the chicken matters: Bojangles is not a one-off stunt opening. The chain dates to 1977 in Charlotte, North Carolina, opened its first Southern Nevada restaurant in January 2025, and is expanding here under Las Vegas-based LV Petroleum, which holds an agreement to develop 20 Bojangles restaurants in the valley. The LINQ is the seventh local location — which is why a biscuit window on the Strip reads less like a novelty and more like a beachhead.

03 Chinatown Keeps Winning

Sonic the Hedgehog Speed Cafe — 5600 Spring Mountain Rd., Suite A. A SEGA pop-up in the former One Piece Cafe space, opening October 17, with a grand-opening weekend October 17–18 from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. both days. The Las Vegas menu is the story: a Vegas Casino Night Dog topped with shaved prime rib and horseradish peppercorn crema, a bacon-wrapped Neon Palace Dog, Big’s Tackle Box of beer-battered Icelandic cod fish and chips, and the Classic Chili Dog that built the concept. The first 35 customers who make a purchase each opening day get a Sonic giveaway, and the pop-up is slated to run daily through December 2026.

Lilli — 3616 Spring Mountain Rd., Suite 101. The serious-dinner entry in this volume. Chef Tyler Vorce, who trained at The French Laundry, opened Lilli’s permanent Chinatown home on October 8 after a residency run at Durango Social Club. The format: a four-course prix fixe or an eight-course tasting built on seasonal American ingredients through French technique and Mediterranean influence, plus a Lounge with an à la carte menu, cocktails and wine for a more casual way in.

Aroma Latin American Cocina — Chinatown. James Beard finalist chef Steve Kestler’s Aroma moved from Green Valley to Chinatown earlier this year, and its new weekend late-night menu is the locals’ play in this volume: Friday and Saturday, 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., with eight tacos at $5 each — pork belly, asada, al pastor and shrimp governor among them — plus a Chinatown ceviche with leche de tigre nikkei at $19, carne cruda fries at $18 and a pork-belly Cuban sandwich at $18.

04 Big Appetites, Old Vegas

America Restaurant & Bar — New York-New York. One of the few 24-hour full-service dining rooms on the Strip just finished a top-to-bottom remodel, and the menu leans into scale: a one-pound, family-size doughnut made for sharing, a signature 3-Pounder pancake, and a rib eye special at $24.95 served daily from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. Most items sit under $20, which on the Strip in 2026 is its own kind of viral.

Rumi Room — The Bend, southwest Las Vegas. Rumi Room reopened Friday, October 9 at The Bend, near Sunset Road and Durango Drive, after moving from Evora. It is effectively two restaurants in one room, from co-owner and executive chef Mamad Nafissi: a Persian menu — barg, thinly sliced marinated filet mignon, charbroiled, and koobideh kabob — alongside an Indo-Pak menu with chicken tandoori, chicken tikka masala and goat karahi, plus steaks and seafood if the table wants to mix both sides.

05 The Previously Ruling

The Previously ruling: The Strip still manufactures spectacle — a chicken chain with a bar, a prime-rib chili dog — but the week’s real range is off-Strip: a French-technique tasting room, a $5 taco late night and a Persian–Indo-Pak two-in-one, all within a few miles of Spring Mountain. Go to the LINQ for the photo. Eat in Chinatown for the story. Volume 3 lands Friday.