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After five weeks of a soft opening that included friends, family and residents, Parlour Wine Bar & Eatery, by Chef Antonio Nunez and Sommelier Matthew-Loren Lindsey, is celebrating its grand opening weekend from July 23-26 at 1716 W. Horizon Ridge Parkway, Suite 100, in Henderson.

The four days of celebration at Henderson’s new wine destination will include a red carpet entrance, complimentary welcome champagne, Nunez’s curated menu, Lindsey’s extensive wine list and wine-infused cocktails, guest performances and giveaways all weekend. Additionally, it’s 15% off the first visit when you say “congratulations” before ordering through July 31.

I was fortunate to dine at Parlour on May 30 with my brother Charles Chareunsy and our friends Andrei Samfescu and Paige Brooks during its soft opening weekend. A few days later, I posted a congratulations to “The Lord of Wine” Lindsey and Chef Antonio on already hitting it out of the ballpark with an elegant, cozy and chic restaurant that Henderson needs and should support.

The Saturday evening sneak peek included live music, New York Steak swapping for cauliflower because the latter was out (twist our arms), halibut, oxtail tacos, potato puree, charcuterie board, salad, bread with date and bacon and whipped ricotta spreads, cannoli and tart and the two cocktails Extended Family and the wine-infused Blanc de Blanco Margarita both created by Lindsey.

Lindsey chatted with VegasPublicity.com the evening of Tuesday, July 21, two nights before the official grand opening weekend, over wine, cocktails, champagne, foie gras atop huckleberry bread pudding, egg shooters (deviled eggs topped with caviar) and fried green beans. Here are highlights from the extensive conversation (with more – a lot more! – to be posted soon):

How did you get the nickname “The Lord of Wine”?

It started as a joke. There was a summer where I was deejaying at one of the pools, and somebody came up to me and said, “You look like Scott Disick.” And I had absolutely no idea who that was. And I asked him, “Who is that?” And he said, “Oh, you know, Kim Kardashian, the Kardashians.” I even had to ask who that was. I knew loosely. I went and looked up the guy, and he was absolutely hysterical.

The one episode that I saw, the very first episode I saw, was him in Scotland being knighted. He’s got this robe on, this purple robe on. Somebody dubbed him Sir Lord Disick, and he just walked up, where he stood up and had this just pompous arrogance about him. But you could tell it was a show. You could tell it was a character. And it was absolutely genius and hysterical.

And so, as a joke, my girlfriend started calling me Lord Lindsey. So, I had the Lord Lindsey moniker for a while. And then I changed my Instagram for that, and I had that for, I don’t know, six months, a year. And I thought the joke had run dry, so I decided to change it to something else. And somebody said, “The Lord of Wine. You are in the wine business. Your brand is wine, so keep The Lord of Wine.”

How did Parlour Wine Bar & Eatery originate?

Parlor has been a vision of Chef Antonio’s for quite some time. He had a Parlour brunch in this location for about a year while we got our Downtown location opened with the idea of always building this as a fine-dining wine bar. So this concept has been in development for a little under two years or around two years. We’ve been remodeling this to what it is now.

You’ve been open for more than one month now?

We’re going on for about five weeks, six weeks. We opened up to our friends and family on June 4. It’s been intentional. Most restaurants have a two-day soft opening, friends and family, and then they go right into their grand opening. We wanted to take an intentional approach to our opening. We wanted to have a longer runway so we could be absolutely perfect. We wanted to perfect the dishes, perfect the team, the service, the wine program.

We wanted everything to be absolutely meticulously thought out because we want to get it right. Understanding our demographic, with this neighborhood behind us, with Dragonridge and Askaya and The Four Seasons opening up. We know that we have a mature, developed audience who expect nothing less but Strip service even though we’re off the Strip.

We wanted to take the time to make sure every single dish, all the recipes were perfect. All the pairings were perfect. All of our wine programming that we’re building and developing be perfect. That way, the neighborhood could be proud of this restaurant, this wine bar concept that we’re building.

What has worked so far?

What’s worked is the food programming because it’s shareables. And it invites conversation, which plays into the idea of wine. Wine is meant to be communal. Wine is meant to bring people together, as is food. And marrying those two things intentionally has worked for Parlour.

I’ve designed the wine program to be uniquely different. Essentially, the wines that are featured on the menu, we have some fan favorites. We have some icons that a lot of people will recognize, and that’s by design. We want you to come here and look at a wine list and feel comfortable. We want it to send you a familiar song.

However, we also have some beautiful wines on the list that are uniquely different, that you don’t typically see on most wine lists by the glass, especially. Because we want you to try new things. … And the goal is, you’re going to find some new favorites, find some new regions, find some new producers that you’ve never tried before, and you’re gonna fall in love with wine all over again.

I’ve always been curious about this. What’s the breakdown of people ordering red vs. white wine?

Well, today, whites were more popular because it was very hot and humid. But categorically reds typically dominate. Just in general, as far as vineyard plantings per acre, and what’s being served and opened.

How did you meet Chef Antonio?

I’ve known of Antonio because the man is larger than life. He has got a great reputation in town for his various different concepts that he’s operated and built in town. We were connected through a mutual friend, and we just started chatting about this wine concept, this wine bar concept.

I wasn’t sure of how I was going to fit in because I wasn’t looking for an opportunity to join a wine bar, but after the first conversation, we both knew that this was a concept that we needed to do together. With his freedom in the kitchen and my freedom, with the wine program and the staffing, we just knew that we had to do this together.

Please check back later for more from the extensive conversation. There is a lot more!

Parlour Wine Bar & Eatery is open from 5-10 p.m. daily. (702) 627-2174; 1716 W. Horizon Ridge Parkway, Suite 100, Henderson.

More: ParlourWineBar.com and @ParlourWineBar