Maroon by Kwame Onwuachi

A Caribbean Steakhouse

Arriving Late 2025
 
Acclaimed culinary visionary and James Beard Award-winning Chef Kwame Onwuachi’s take on Caribbean cuisine is reverent and bold, with authentic flavors that come to life in imaginative new ways. For Chef Kwame, cooking is a form of storytelling. Maroon brings the history of jerk and Jamaican cooking to a new audience and pushes the Las Vegas steakhouse into a new realm.
 
In an excerpt from his book, My America: Recipes from a Young Black Chef, Onwuachi describes the significance of the name Maroon:
 

“In the 17th century, when the British overtook the Spanish as the colonial occupiers of Jamaica, the Spaniards set free many of their African slaves. Rather than submit to the British, these men, women, and children took to the Blue Mountains and became known as MAROONS. There they lived a hardscrabble existence, eking out a life from subsistence farming and occasional raids on the British occupiers. Fortunately for them, Jamaican pepper, what we call allspice or pimento, as well as Thai bird chili, wild thyme, and a bunch of other herbs, grew wild, as did a breed of wild hog first brought over by the ancestors of the Taino people from South America. Jerk was born, and it lives still two hundred years later, in the stalls that line Boston Beach in Jamaica, and in the shops of Flatbush and the North Bronx in New York and Croydon, Lambeth, and Brixton in London, and wherever else the Jamaican diaspora has reached.”

 
FROM CHEF “Bringing Maroon, a Caribbean Steakhouse, to SAHARA Las Vegas is an incredible opportunity for me to honor my Jamaican heritage, provide exciting fl avors, and tell my story to an entirely new audience,” said Chef Kwame Onwuachi. “Expanding my restaurant portfolio outside of the east coast is a huge milestone in my career, and I’m thankful to be welcomed into such a dynamic culinary community, located right in the heart of Vegas. It’s beyond overdue to have more Afro-Caribbean restaurants on the Strip, and I’m grateful for the platform because this will mean so much to so many.”
 
The SAHARA Las Vegas flagship restaurant will mark the first foray into the West Coast culinary scene for Chef Kwame, best known for his award-winning restaurant Tatiana in New York City and Dōgon in Washington, D.C. Rooted in Caribbean influences and fine dining technique, Maroon will be a celebration of heritage, innovation and flavor in a thoughtfully designed space. Set within SAHARA Las Vegas, known for its rich history, legendary hospitality and independent spirit, Maroon perfectly aligns with Chef Kwame’s forward-thinking vision and creative energy.
 
Over the past decade, Onwuachi has broken significant ground as a culinary catalyst and cultural changemaker. He was honored as one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2025, highlighting his impact and role in bringing diverse narratives to the forefront of American cuisine. Additionally, Chef Kwame acted as the culinary lead of the 2025 Met Gala, curating a menu infused with Caribbean flavors to complement the gala’s theme celebrating Black culture and style. Onwuachi is also the subject of Netflix’s Chef’s Table season 7, which tells how he defied the odds to ascend to the top of New York City’s food scene.
 
Other accolades include Tatiana being named The New York Times’ No. 1 restaurant in New York City in 2023 and 2024 and Dōgon earning Esquire’s Best New Restaurant in America last year, as well as honors in the Condé Nast Traveler’s 2025 Hot List. These accomplishments underscore Onwuachi’s continued influence and innovation in the culinary scene as he brings his contemporary dining experience to SAHARA Las Vegas later this year.