Blake Shelton is currently readying his sixth Ole Red bar and restaurant location, and this time, he's taking a little bit of country to Las Vegas. The singer caught up with People about the progress of the new site, which is set to open in January 2024, and he revealed what he thought to be a genius idea for the food menu.
"I had the idea of a chicken-fried state — your chicken-fried steak would come out looking like the shape of the state the Ole Red is in, like Oklahoma or Tennessee," he said. "Something about that just turned people off, so I decided maybe I'll stay out of the kitchen and let the pros do it. I think a Florida-shaped chicken-fried state sounds brilliant."
Unfortunately, Shelton's idea was promptly shot down, due to concerns about steak being "inconsistent" when trying to shape it into a specific state, like Florida.
"They don't want it to look like a fried penis on people's plates," he added. "It's a good point!"
Old Red Las Vegas:
Despite the brief obstacle of Shelton's chicken-fried state idea, construction for the Las Vegas location seems to be going according to plan. The venue will stand in front of the Horseshoe Hotel and Casino in downtown Las Vegas, and it will boast a total of 27,000 square feet across four stories. The rooftop bar alone is 4,500 square feet with a view of the Las Vegas skyline and Bellagio fountains. Overall, the Las Vegas location is a much bigger project than his locations in Nashville, Gatlinburg, Orlando and others.
"I've seen this phase of the process enough times to know that I can picture it now and there's similarities to all the Ole Reds, and there's some similarities to... Nashville with the balcony that looks down on the stage and the bar placement and all that stuff," he says.
"But it's also just so much bigger," he adds. "I mean, this is a giant, and so I don't know that I would say I'm emotional, but it is overwhelming and it's hard for me to take it all in right now and just accept that this is really happening and we're almost to the finish line."
Shelton adds that he will be the first person to take the venue's stage when it opens, and he anticipates that he will frequent the establishment quite often, as he still spends time in nearby Los Angeles. The singer also hopes Ole Red Las Vegas will serve as a representation of country music in the city as well as a place people can "chill out."
