Allegiant Stadium made headlines around the world earlier this year as it hosted Super Bowl LVIII. No stranger to special events, the stadium has also seen some of the biggest music events in town (Beyonce and Taylor Swift, to name a few) and will host P!nk’s Summer Carnival in September 2024. So, how does Allegiant Stadium make a special event even more special? With a curated menu of food and beverage offerings exclusive to the most high-profile shows and games.
From Concerts to Kickoff: The Unique Culinary Offerings of Allegiant Stadium
We talked with the Allegiant Stadium’s Executive Chef, Juan “Anjo” Lopez, about the stadium’s food and beverage program at Modelo’s Cantina Club inside Allegiant Stadium during a media tasting for P!nk’s Summer Carnival. What many fans don’t know about are the exclusive gameday offerings that are based on the teams playing. “FSo, let’s say for Raider Games we have an opponent dog, we have an opponent in-seat menu,” Lopez explained. “We have two clubs, and we have an in-seat menu where you have a QR code that you can scan. So let’s say for the Cowboys, you can scan that menu, and we have a special cowboy cigar. It’s brisket, pimento, cheese inside a wonton.”
Preparation for all of the season’s special menus is already done. “The menu is done before the season starts because there’s so much involved in it,” Lopez told us. “So, we call it pencils down. As of August 6th, all my chefs have penciled down their menus. We have a huge grid, and there are no more changes because we have to order specific items, and some items are made just for us. Our sushi is flown in from Japan two days before every game. People think like, you know, as a chef, we just whip stuff up. No, we have what we call a program, and the program is done a month before the season. I’d say we don’t really do a lot of deviations from that. We order like Wagyu. We do like 600 pounds a game of Wagyu steaks. We clean out whole farms just for our Wagyu steak. We cook about 12,000 hot dogs.”
Much of the dining offerings at Allegiant Stadium are provided by local favorites like Evel Pie, Pinkbox Doughnuts, and local favorite Cafe Lola. “At Café Lola, we’re thrilled to be a part of the Allegiant Stadium experience. We have a dedicated team that creates custom sugar cookies for every stadium event, ensuring each one is unique and memorable,” co-owners Lin Jerome and Alexandra Lourdes told us. “All the baking prep is handled by our bakery team at one of our cafés, and then the items are carefully transferred to the stadium. We treat stadium events as their own operations, with a specialized team handling everything from setup to onsite management. With one location currently and another on the way, we’re excited to continue bringing our special touches to these big events.”
A sampling of the P!nk Summer Carnival menu had us tasting glittery pink popcorn and cotton candy (with special costumed performers wandering the stadium) along with specials from local favorites like sugar cookies from Cafe Lola, custom doughnuts from Pinkbox Doughnuts, a “Cover Me in Sunshine” white pie slice from Pizza Rock and a contrasting “So What” slice from Evel Pie. What would be the most memorable special menu item for a chef who’s planned a menu for some of the most special events? “The Super Bowl for sure,” Lopez said. “We had a $49 steak and lobster nacho.”
