Other Mama’s Chef Dan Krohmer is working with local chef Mariana Alvarado to create a new Mexican restaurant called Chamana’s Café and Molino, which is expected to open in the Southwest Valley this summer.
Krohmer is a James Beard Award finalist who worked as an upscale sushi chef and a touring chef for musicians before founding the pioneering off-Strip seafood spot Other Mama. He also has experience in Mexican cuisine. In 2019, he opened La Monja in the Fergusons Downtown complex on East Fremont Street before closing it in the midst of the pandemic. (It was later replaced by Peyote, which has since closed.)
Alvarado, born in Mexico City, has run several local pop-ups for her masa and tortilla company Masazul, which is dedicated to preserving and celebrating heirloom varieties of Mexican corn. She was also a contestant on Geoffrey Zakarian’s 2020 Food Network competition show Big Restaurant Bet and appeared on a Las Vegas-themed episode of Netflix’s Taco Chronicles. And she’s promising to bring the heirloom varieties of maize and corn that she’s championed throughout her career to the new establishment.
Their press kit describes Chamana’s as “A Mexican eatery that draws inspiration from the spiritual and therapeutic practices of ancestral healers providing wholesome cuisine to promote harmony, showcasing culinary creativity in its purest form.”
That same press kit provides a sample breakfast and lunch menu.
Morning offerings include chia pudding, yogurt corn fruta, chilaquiles and the “best breakfast burrito in Vegas.” For lunch, guests can choose from flautas, tortas, pozole and enfrijoladas with homemade queso cheese, among other options. Guests can also purchase tortillas to take home, with new corn varieties available every week.
Chamana’s will open at 3655 S. Durango Drive, a few doors down from Other Mama. The space previously housed a restaurant called The Dirty Fork. When asked about an opening date, Krohmer predicted the new restaurant would welcome customers “within two months.”
The new restaurant is part of a larger collaboration between the two chefs. Speaking to Neon News by phone from Oaxaca, Mexico, Krohmer explains that he is forming a new company called Collective Hospitality, where he will serve as Director, and Alvarado will serve as Corporate Chef. The new structure will see Alvarado overseeing the food in all of their restaurants, including Other Mama, where she’ll oversee a menu refresh once Chamana’s is up and running.
“Hands down, her food is way better than mine,” Krohmer says of his new partner.
He hopes to use the new company to collaborate with other talented chefs on projects that will offer healthier options and educate the local community.
“It’s about working together with chefs and not just being a singular chef. I’m just tired of this ego-driven chef shit.”
