The blocks east of the Fremont Street Experience between 6th and 9th. Carson Kitchen, Atomic Liquors, PublicUs and Mothership Coffee anchor the post-2012 downtown reset.
Carson Kitchen in Las Vegas is Cory Harwell and the late Kerry Simon's downtown Fremont East dining room since 2014, the last restaurant the Rock 'n' Roll.
Signature: Bacon jam, Devil's eggs, Glazed donut bread pudding
Order: The bacon jam with baked brie and grilled bread; on the menu since opening day.
Tip: The rooftop patio runs an abbreviated menu and reservations are easier than the main room.
Carson Kitchen in Las Vegas is Cory Harwell and the late Kerry Simon's downtown Fremont East dining room since 2014, the last room the Rock 'n' Roll Chef.
Signature: Bacon jam, Devil's eggs, Glazed donut bread pudding
Order: Bacon jam with baked brie and grilled bread.
Tip: Rooftop patio runs an abbreviated menu and is easier to walk in than the dining room.
Pizza Rock in downtown Las Vegas is Tony Gemignani's 13-time World Pizza Cup outpost at Downtown Grand, with a walk-up window doing slices in six different.
Try: Slice-window pizza by Tony Gemignani, six dough styles
Tip: The walk-up window does single slices; the Neapolitan and Roman get the best of the four ovens, the Sicilian travels well.
Doña Maria Tamales in downtown Las Vegas is the Martinez family's tamale-counter-turned-restaurant since 1980, holding the Charleston and Las Vegas Boulevard.
Try: Red pork, green chicken, and sweet corn tamales
Tip: Tamales sell by the dozen for takeaway and ship overnight; on the menu, ask for them smothered in red chile and topped with an egg for breakfast.
Tenaya Creek Brewery in Las Vegas is one of the city's first craft brewers, open since 1999 and pouring 28 taps in a smoke-free Bonanza Road taproom.
Tip: The Bonanza Brown Ale is the long-running flagship; nightly food trucks park outside and rotate Mexican, Korean and barbecue most weeks.
Downtown Container Park on Fremont East in Las Vegas is the open-air market built from 43 shipping containers, with 38 boutique tenants and food vendors.
Tip: Eat at Bin 702 (craft beer and grilled sandwiches), grab gelato at Waffelato, finish with cocktails next door at Oak and Ivy.
Lip Smacking Foodie Tours' Downtown route in Las Vegas walks Carson Kitchen, Le Thai and 7th and Carson with a cocktail or mocktail at the bonus stop.
Tip: Afternoon 13:30 tour is all-ages, evening 17:00 is 21-plus; sit at Carson Kitchen's bar for the bacon jam crostini.
Secret Food Tours' Historic Downtown Las Vegas tour walks eight stops from the Plaza Hotel with shrimp cocktail, Hawaiian musubi, NY-style pizza and a Secret.
Tip: Look for the orange umbrella outside the Plaza; departures daily at 12:00, 14:00 and 16:00, water and one margarita included, drink upgrade available.
Great Vegas Festival of Beer in downtown Las Vegas is Nevada's largest craft beer festival, 200,000 sq ft of Fremont closures with 100-plus breweries.
Tip: Early Entry tickets buy an hour from 14:00 with rare beers; the Motley Disco VIP tier covers gratuities and the food spread.
Dream Asia Food Fest in downtown Las Vegas is the three-day winter festival at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, 80-plus pan-Asian vendors plus Lion.
Tip: Saturday is the busiest day; the anime merchandise market runs all three days, and the K-pop dance performances cluster in afternoon time slots.
Las Vegas Indian Food and Cultural Festival (Mela) at Clark County Government Center Amphitheater is the Vaisakhi Mela revival, pani puri, samosas.
Tip: Tickets are $14.41 for 9-plus, under-8 free; cash for the food stalls is faster than the QR-pay queues, henna artists run all afternoon.
Doña Maria Tamales on South Las Vegas Boulevard is the 1980 family tamale counter, three tamales with rice and beans for $11 to $14 in a no-frills room two.
Try: Red pork tamale plate with rice and beans $11-14
Tip: Tamales sell by the dozen for takeaway; smothered in red chile and topped with an egg is the breakfast plate locals order.
Babystacks Cafe on South Main in downtown Las Vegas is the Filipino-American brunch counter that runs ube crepes, matcha pancakes and red-velvet stacks.
Order: Ube crepes; matcha or red-velvet pancake stack.
Tip: Order the ube crepe roll and the half-stack of matcha pancakes; the line moves faster at the downtown branch than at Summerlin.
Atomic Liquors on Fremont East in Las Vegas is the city's oldest freestanding bar since 1952, with Atomic Kitchen alongside doing burgers, wings and bar.
Try: Elevated bar burgers, wings, atomic mac
Tip: The Atomic Kitchen menu runs the same late hours as the bar; order the smash burger and an Old Fashioned on the Fremont patio.
Carson Kitchen on 6th Street in downtown Las Vegas is Cory Harwell's small-plates room (co-founded with the late Kerry Simon in 2014), with bacon jam.
Try: Bacon jam, devil's eggs, bacon burger
Tip: Sit at the bar after 21:30 for the small-plates list; bacon jam with havarti on toasted baguette and the bacon burger are the standing order.
Reynolds Hall is the 2,050-seat main room of The Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Symphony Park, hosting Las Vegas Philharmonic, Broadway tours and headline jazz.
Tip: The Las Vegas Philharmonic and Nevada Ballet Theatre both call Reynolds Hall home. Park in the Symphony Park garage to avoid downtown one-way streets.
Myron's is the 240-seat cabaret-jazz room across from Reynolds Hall inside The Smith Center's Boman Pavilion, with table seating, table service and visiting jazz artists.
Tip: Order food and drinks at your table once seated. PBS has filmed multiple specials here, so the room sounds tight even when full.
Fremont Country Club is an 800-capacity concert room in the Fremont East district, adjoined to Backstage Bar and Billiards, with three to four shows a week from indie to blues-rock.
Tip: Most nights you can walk between the show room and the Backstage Bar billiards lounge on one ticket.
The Composers Room is a 200-seat show lounge in the historic Commercial Center off Sahara, hosting 40-plus shows monthly across jazz ensembles, tribute acts and cabaret bookings.
Tip: Many shows include table seating with food and drink minimums. Five minutes off the Strip in light traffic.
Legacy Club caps the 60th floor of Circa Resort with floor-to-ceiling windows over the downtown skyline, a wraparound terrace and a build-your-own Old Fashioned program.
Tip: The gold-bar wall ticker updates live with spot prices. Arrive by 17:30 to claim a terrace seat for the Fremont Street Experience lights.
The Underground sits in the basement of The Mob Museum in the former Prohibition-era courthouse with a working distillery, speakeasy bar and live jazz most evenings.
Tip: Enter through the side door with the password if you only want the speakeasy. Museum ticket-holders get an easier walk-in route from upstairs.
The Laundry Room is the 22-seat speakeasy tucked behind a bookshelf inside Commonwealth on Fremont East. Reservations open two weeks ahead by text and fill within minutes.
Tip: Text 702-701-1466 two weeks ahead; reservations cap at four guests for 90 minutes. No photos, no standing at the bar, no loud talk.
Don't Tell Mama brought the New York piano-bar template to Neonopolis on Fremont East, with rotating singing waitstaff, drag nights and cabaret bookings until late.
Tip: Singing servers take requests; tip generously to keep them coming back. Weekends run later than the listed close.
Atomic Liquors on Fremont East has held tavern license number one since 1952 as the oldest freestanding bar in Las Vegas, with neon-lit booths and a rooftop once used for atomic-test viewing.
Tip: The Atomic cocktails on the menu reference the rooftop's atomic-test history. Open until 02:00 most nights, 03:00 Friday and Saturday.
Huntridge Tavern is the 24-hour old-school dive in the historic Huntridge District, with heavy pours, video poker, Tuesday karaoke and a Larsh Kellogg ownership going back to 2004.
Tip: Anthony Bourdain filmed Parts Unknown here and called it the side of Vegas he liked. Tuesday karaoke is the room's tradition.