Stew's Stix Cafe Opens at the Historic Westside School, and It Trains Locals for Kitchen Jobs

by Ryan Rose

What Happened

On Friday, Oct. 9, 2026, the City of Las Vegas announced the opening of Stew's Stix Cafe and a workforce training program at the Historic Westside School. FOX5 Vegas reporter Miles Friess covered the news the same morning. Both the city and FOX5 gave the same core facts: the cafe sits on the Historic Westside School campus at 330 W. Washington Ave., and it serves breakfast and lunch on weekdays, Monday through Friday.

The ribbon-cutting was set for Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 9:30 a.m. The city listed three people to take part: Mayor Shelley Berkley, Ward 5 Councilwoman Shondra Summers-Armstrong, and Chef Stew himself. Ward 5 is the city council district that includes the Historic Westside.

The cafe is not a typical restaurant. The city describes it as part of a workforce training program, built as a partnership between the City of Las Vegas and Chef Stew. People in the program get hands-on exposure to basic culinary skills, hospitality, and customer service. They also learn what it is like to work in a real commercial kitchen. That includes the pace, the rules, and the teamwork that kitchen jobs demand. The city says the goal is to connect training to a real-world work setting, not just a classroom.

So who is Chef Stew? He is a Baltimore-born chef, entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and author. According to the city, he first learned to cook in his grandmother's kitchen. He later competed on the national stage and won Food Network's "Cutthroat Kitchen," a cooking competition show where chefs can sabotage each other with odd challenges. FOX5 lists his first name as Richard. The city's release uses both Richard and Robert in different places, so locals may hear either. Most people just call him Chef Stew.

Exact opening and closing hours were not listed in either the city release or the FOX5 report [NOT VERIFIED]. The menu and prices were not published either [NOT VERIFIED]. If you plan to stop in, it is smart to check for posted hours before you go. Neither source said how the cafe or the training program is paid for, so funding details are also not public yet [NOT VERIFIED].

Hands chopping fresh vegetables on a cutting board, the kind of basic culinary skill taught in the Stew's Stix Cafe training program

Why It Matters to Las Vegas Residents

First, the simple part. The Historic Westside gets a new place to eat. FOX5 described the cafe as a new restaurant option for the area. A weekday breakfast and lunch spot gives nearby workers, students, and residents one more reason to stay in the neighborhood instead of driving somewhere else for a meal.

Second, the cafe is close to other new things the city has been building. FOX5 and the city both point out that the cafe is near the new shareWESTSIDE apartments. It is also near the Westside Education and Training Center, where students take College of Southern Nevada classes to train for new careers. Put those together and you get a small cluster: new homes, job training, and now a place to grab food. When a neighborhood has places to live, learn, and eat within a short walk, daily life gets easier.

Third, the jobs angle matters for the whole valley. Las Vegas runs on hospitality. Restaurants, hotels, casinos, and event venues all need people who know how to work a kitchen line, greet a customer, and handle a rush. A training program that teaches those exact skills in a working cafe gives people a direct path into one of the biggest job sectors in Clark County. Some of the skills taught here, like customer service, carry over to almost any job.

There is also something different about learning in a working cafe. In a classroom, a mistake costs nothing. In a real kitchen, orders come in, plates go out, and customers wait. Training in that setting teaches timing, focus, and how to keep calm when it gets busy. Those are the habits employers look for, and they are hard to learn from a textbook. Because the cafe serves the public five days a week, the people in the program get steady practice with real customers instead of a few practice runs.

Fourth, there is the building itself. The Historic Westside School is one of the most important historic sites in the city. For years after it closed as a school, parts of it sat waiting for a new purpose. Every new use that brings people through the doors helps keep a restored landmark alive and active. A cafe that is open five days a week means steady foot traffic on the campus, not just visits for special events.

For homeowners and renters nearby, these kinds of additions are worth watching. Small businesses and community services are part of what makes a neighborhood feel complete. A new cafe will not change a neighborhood on its own. But it is one more piece of a bigger picture on the Westside.

Background and History

The Historic Westside School opened in September 1923 as Branch No. 1, Las Vegas Grammar School. The City of Las Vegas calls it the oldest school in Las Vegas, and it officially turned 100 years old in 2023. It was built because the town's schools were on the east side of the railroad tracks, and the growing west side needed a school of its own. A Southern California architecture firm, Allison and Allison, designed it in the Mission Revival style, with stucco walls and a gabled entrance.

The school grew over time. The original building had two classrooms. Two more were added in 1928. In 1948, Las Vegas architect A. Lacy Worswick added a courtyard building with eight new classrooms. The school closed in the 1960s, and the buildings were later used for other purposes. For many years, the campus was home to KCEP, a community radio station.

The big turning point came in 2016. The city finished a $12.5 million restoration, paid for by the Commission for the Las Vegas Centennial, the Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency, and the City of Las Vegas. The grand opening and dedication was held Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016. Crews restored the 1923 wood floors and installed new windows in the 1948 building that met both modern codes and historic standards. At the dedication, then-Councilman Ricki Barlow joked that Las Vegas is "known for its implosions, not necessarily its restorations."

The Historic Westside School campus, operated by the City of Las Vegas, which turned 100 years old in 2023

Today, the school is listed on the Las Vegas Historic Property Register and the Nevada and National Registers of Historic Places. The city uses the campus as a design center that focuses on the past, present, and future of the Westside. The design center hosts community events, meetings, lectures, trainings, and social gatherings. It has a stained-glass-style window wall with images from local churches, pews saved from a neighborhood church, murals, and a historical timeline of the area. The campus also houses the Strong Future Technology Training Center and a Small Business Support Center that helps people start businesses. Stew's Stix Cafe adds a food and hospitality piece to that mix of training programs.

That mix is the point. The campus is no longer just a museum piece. It is a working place where people come to learn tech skills, get help starting a business, attend community meetings, and now train for kitchen and hospitality jobs. A cafe fits that pattern well. It gives people a reason to come back every weekday, and it puts a historic building to daily use, which is often the best way to keep an old building cared for.

What Happens Next

The ribbon-cutting on Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 9:30 a.m. marks the official start. After that, the cafe runs on a weekday schedule, Monday through Friday, serving breakfast and lunch. Since exact hours were not published in the city release or the FOX5 story [NOT VERIFIED], watch the City of Las Vegas website and social channels, and the cafe itself, for posted hours and menu details.

The bigger thing to watch is how the training program grows. The city has not yet said how many people the program will train at a time, how long training lasts, or how someone signs up [NOT VERIFIED]. Those details matter for anyone who wants to use the program as a step into a kitchen or hospitality job. As the program gets going, the city may share more about enrollment, results, and job placement.

Customers will also shape what comes next. A training cafe needs steady business to work well. The more people who stop in for breakfast or lunch, the more real practice the trainees get, and the more likely the cafe is to stay busy for the long run. Early weeks are often the most important for any new eatery, so the first few months will say a lot about how the neighborhood takes to it.

It is also worth watching the rest of the area. The city's page for the Historic Westside School lists a planned Workforce Education and Training Center of about 15,000 square feet, aimed at entry-level training in advanced manufacturing, construction trades, information technology, and healthcare. FOX5 and the city's Oct. 9 release describe a Westside Education and Training Center near the cafe where College of Southern Nevada students are already training. Add the new shareWESTSIDE apartments nearby, and there is a lot of city investment in a few blocks. How those pieces work together over the next few years will shape what the neighborhood feels like.

Ryan's Take

When people shop for a home, they often look past the house itself and ask what is nearby. Can they walk to grab breakfast? Are there places to learn, work, or meet neighbors? Small additions like a weekday cafe, a training center, and new apartments are the kinds of things that can shape how a neighborhood feels day to day. The Historic Westside has a restored 100-year-old landmark at its center, and the city keeps adding new uses to it. That is worth paying attention to if you live nearby or are thinking about the area.

One cafe is not a market trend, and it is not a reason on its own to buy or sell. Home values depend on many things, including inventory, interest rates, and the specific street and home. But if you want to understand a neighborhood, look at what is opening, what is being built, and what the city is investing in. Those are real signals. They are not guarantees, and the full picture always comes from current sales data for the exact area you care about.

A breakfast plate with eggs and toast, the kind of weekday breakfast now served at Stew's Stix Cafe on the Historic Westside

What You Can Do

Stop in for a meal. Stew's Stix Cafe is at 330 W. Washington Ave., on the Historic Westside School campus. It serves breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday. Eating there supports a local small business and the people training in its kitchen at the same time. Check posted hours before you go, since exact times were not published in the opening announcements.

Pass it on to someone looking for work. If you know someone who wants to get into restaurant, hotel, or hospitality work, this program may be worth a look. Reach out to the City of Las Vegas to ask how people can apply. The city's Historic Westside School page also lists other resources on the same campus, including the Strong Future Technology Training Center and the Small Business Support Center.

Visit the school itself. While you are there, take a look at the restored 1923 building and the 1948 courtyard classrooms. The design center hosts community events and meetings, and it holds murals and a timeline of the area's history. It is one of the few places in Las Vegas where you can stand inside a building that is more than 100 years old. That is rare in a city better known for tearing things down than for saving them.

Plan your visit around the weekday schedule. The cafe is open Monday through Friday only, so it is a weekday stop, not a weekend brunch spot. That makes it a good fit for people who work or go to class nearby, including students at the training center down the street. Bring a friend or a coworker and make it a lunch break with a little local history on the side.

Follow the city for updates. The City of Las Vegas shares news about the Historic Westside School campus on its website and social channels. That is the best place to watch for new programs, community events at the design center, and any changes to the cafe or the training program. If you care about what happens next on the Westside, it pays to stay in the loop.