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Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012 | 2 a.m.
Natalie Young was done with casino work. But last year when she quit her job as executive chef for a major casino, she had no idea where she was going and she didn’t have another chef’s job lined up. “I was just done with that business,” the 48-year-old said. “I think I might have been on my way to Santa Fe.” That’s when Las Vegas’ reputation as a major city with a small-town feel kicked in. It’s also when Young became one of the first benefactors of the “downtown experiment” that online retailer Zappos had begun in announcing its headquarters’ ...
Eat Natalie Young, former chef for P.J. Clarke, has opened her Downtown Project-funded breakfast and lunch spot.
Brock Radke, the Las Vegas Weekly's restaurant reviewer, rates Eat as No. 17 on his list of the top 20 most important restaurants in Las Vegas — possibly because of its potential effect on city's downtown.
Here's what Radke says: "Can a comfy breakfast-and-lunchery bring Las Vegans to a neighborhood they’ve ignored for decades, just for a tasty meal? Will the Zappos/Downtown Project business plan produce success? Can a veteran casino chef find satisfaction doing her own thing in her own place? Eat is in the process of answering all these questions. Pretty important stuff."
707 Carson St. Las Vegas,
NV 89101
702-534-1515 
Congratulations Natalie! I'm happy to read some of these stories helping people who need it and have the drive to make it a success.
"I'm still poor, but I'm very, very rich."
Schoenmann -- excellent report on the human side of Downtown! Natalie's Eat is a great place, and a welcome fixture off Fremont and away from tourists. The food is excellent, Natalie is personable, and the staff is just right.
Kudos to Hseih for making Eat and other good Downtown things happen. Now if someone could just talk Trader Joes into opening downtown ...!
"We have art in order not to die of the truth." -- Nietzsche
I had heard about the opening of this restaurant and have been wanting to go check it out. Until now, I didn't know the story behind it. I guess I'll have to ride the bike down there to eat. I could drive, but why not go green?
It's great to know that there are people like Tony Hsiegh in this world and in Las Vegas.
I'm looking forward to seeing how Downtown evolves due to his efforts and those of people like Tony.
Thanks Mr. Hsiegh, and best wishes to Natalie and all involved for success at Eat!
I'm Hungry!
never quit a job unless you have a new one lined up, I'm glad this worked out.
In the continuing effort to buy himself a whole new company town, via his $350 Million personal contribution and his creation of the corporate "Downtown Project", Tony Hseih and his designees are hand selecting quirky business operators like this one. Young's food is 2 steps away from comfortable, cheap or delicious. The space is insanely noisy when busy. The "decor" is unexplainable, unless this is Lesbian Modern. The staff is poorly trained. Young sits at the first table next to the kitchen, and either jokes with certain staff, or barks at the kitchen staff, rather than expediting or managing the line. Downtown Project stuck her in an old, miserable weekly / monthly apartment building that they bought presumably to transition to Zappo's staff housing eventually. Young is now beholden to Downtown Project until I guess about $400,000. Is paid off to them, so it is a new form of endenturement. Zappo's, yuck!
"Young's food is 2 steps away from comfortable, cheap or delicious."
777s -- you and I didn't go to the same place, since the Eat I go to is the polar opposite of the one you described. My advice to you is stay in the suburbs where everything is "cheap" and "explainable."
"To different minds, the same world is a hell, and a heaven." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson (from "Metamorphosis"?)
Comment removed by moderator. Inappropriate
Tony Hseih, unlike most of the commentators here, is putting HIS money where HIS mouth is. If someone was willing to offer to fund your dream, most of you would probably be too chicken-sh*t to take him up on the offer. or too lazy...