Las Vegas resident Flavor Flav is getting back into the restaurant business.
The rapper is partnering with Vinny Cimino of Vinny’s Pizzeria in Boulder City to open a pizza and fried chicken restaurant on Water Street in downtown Henderson.
Flavor Flav and Vinny’s Pizza and Chicken, which will open in late September, will offer Chicago-style pizza and fried chicken. The 1,500-square-foot location, in the former spot of Pac-Out Burger, will feature patio seating and will serve beer and wine.
This isn’t the first foray into the restaurant business for Flavor Flav, who in 2012 opened the short-lived Flavor Flav House of Flavor. It shuttered six months later.
Cimino has been in the pizza business for 30 years, operating restaurants in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Nevada. He and Flav, whose real name is William Jonathan Drayton, met a few years ago and hit it off.
“We’re like brothers. I’m from Freeport, Ill., and what’s funny is he’s from Freeport in Long Island, N.Y.,” Cimino said. “We’ve always talked about opening a pizza and chicken joint when the time was right.”
From the archives
Cimino said he’s had an interest in the downtown Henderson area for some time because the area reminded him of Boulder City.
“I like the small-town feel,” he said. “But you’ve got to remember that you’ve got about 500,000 people within 5 miles of there.”
The location is extra special for Cimino because his mother, who recently died of cancer, got to see the space.
“She looked at Flavor like one of her own boys,” he said. “She said, ‘If you and Flav ever do something, it should be down here.’ ”
If the location works out as planned, Cimino and Flav hope to franchise the business. And Cimino believes he has the perfect location in Water Street, which is in the midst of major renovation to bring a mix of retail, shopping and residential.
“It’s going to help everybody and bring people to Water Street,” he said. “It’s not a competition thing, it’s about bringing people down there.”