Since the successful debut of the first Café Lola in 2018, the Las Vegas-born Refined Restaurant Group has rapidly and stylishly established a distinct reputation—fun, casual experiences with craveable food and drinks and lively environments that look fantastic on social media. Plenty of locals, especially those who live or travel in the southwest valley, know these brands well, including Saint Honoré Doughnuts & Beignets, 3 Little Chicks and Pizza Anonymous.
But now the company is moving beyond that reputation, making the most of its founders’ expertise and living up to its name with two new restaurants that share common space near the southwest corner of the southern Beltway. Just opened is Sorellina, a full-service Italian eatery serving dinner nightly. And coming soon is Emilio’s, a modern Mexican restaurant that will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Both are personal projects for married couples Lin and Stephen Jerome and Alexandra Lourdes and Michael Santos, the company’s principals. “An Italian restaurant is something Steve always wanted to do, and Mexican is something I’ve always wanted to do,” explains Lourdes. “My dad is Emilio, so we named it after him, and the story behind Sorellina is for Steve’s mom. In Italian, it means ‘younger sister,’ and his mom was the youngest of eight.
“It’s definitely something inspired by family and the food we ate growing up, and when people come in, we want them to feel that, feel like they’re family.”
The spaces share a kitchen, so although they previously existed as two separate full-service restaurants, the build-out was a simple one. “All of the equipment was here, we just gave it a facelift,” Lin Jerome says. “We were very fortunate to take over a space with a lot of what was needed already here.”
Her husband explains that Sorellina, currently in soft-opening mode, is built on recipes from his mother and aunts, and that familiar inspiration will be a big part of the food at Emilio’s as well.
“We want to connect the community to this food as we did growing up. My mom was from a small town in the south of Italy. We’re doing fresh puccia, the bread from that region,” says Stephen Jerome. “Alex’s dad had a Mexican restaurant in Mexico and we’re going to lean on some of those traditions and bring some of that to life.”
Sorellina’s menu is structured traditionally: antipasti to start, such as bruschetta, seafood fritto misto and steamed clams; salads, including the signature tableside burrata with tomatoes and basil oil; shareable mains of roasted branzino, eggplant and chicken parm and more; and familiar pasta dishes like bucatini cacio e pepe, orecchiette with spicy sausage and broccolini, and paccheri in pink vodka sauce.
The group is hoping to open Emilio’s within a couple of weeks, where one of the highlights will be “a really traditional Mexican breakfast” inspired by the cuisine of Mexico City, Lourdes says. “We’re going to do some really fun Mexican lattes too,” she adds.
The Refined portfolio is already a cornerstone of the exciting culinary landscape in this part of the Las Vegas Valley, and these two new restaurants should add another dimension to their neighborhood.
“We hope so. We hope to be a pillar in this area because if we can help pave the way for others, that would be our dream,” Stephen Jerome says. “The more cultured and cool restaurants that pop up will only enhance what we’re doing, and elevate our game.”
SORELLINA 9742 W. Maule Ave. #104, 725-735-8444, sorellinaitalian.com. Sunday-Thursday, 5-9 p.m.; Friday- Saturday, 5-10 p.m.
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