"It had to be here in Henderson. My mother lives up the street. My aunts and uncles, my cousins, my friends live here in Henderson. It must be a restaurant for us."
That is chef Alex Reznik explaining why he opened his first restaurant on South Eastern Avenue instead of the Strip, where his television resume (a Top Chef alum who once beat Bobby Flay in a kosher cooking showdown) could have opened almost any door in town. About three and a half months later he opened a second restaurant a few miles away, on Horizon Ridge Parkway. Both sit within a few minutes of Anthem Country Club's gates. Neither is a fluke.
Anthem residents have watched restaurants open and close along the roads that ring the community for years, one at a time, no pattern to any of it. What happened over this past year is different. One operator, Ogden Hospitality, planted two concepts on opposite ends of the dining spectrum along the same corridor, on purpose, inside a single stretch of one winter. That is worth understanding, because it changes what a normal Tuesday and a normal anniversary dinner both look like if you live inside the gate.
The corridor, mapped
Here is what actually opened, where, and when.
| SMKD BBQ | Hayworth | |
|---|---|---|
| Address | 10895 S. Eastern Ave., Suite 130 | 1450 W. Horizon Ridge Pkwy, Suite C-205 |
| Cross street | Sunridge Heights Parkway | Stephanie Street |
| Opened | November 12, 2025 | February 26, 2026 |
| Register | Casual barbecue, counter-adjacent | Steakhouse and martini bar |
| Seating | Dine-in, patio, takeout | 80-seat dining room, 25-seat marble bar, 30-seat covered terrace |
Both are Ogden Hospitality projects. Both are Reznik's. And both were built, in his own words, as neighborhood restaurants rather than tourist stops.
What SMKD actually is
SMKD stands for Smoked Meats, Killer Drinks, and it opened on the stretch of South Eastern Avenue that climbs toward the Anthem side of Henderson, in the space a decade-old barbecue spot called Bell's BBQ had occupied before closing. Reznik brought in chef Matt Meyer, the owner of the former 138 Degrees in Henderson, to help build the menu, and pitmaster Wendell Jones oversees a 13-plus-hour smoke on the brisket using certified Angus beef and halal chicken, nothing frozen. The menu runs pig candy and burnt ends to start, then a Ribwich, a Smash Burger, catfish, smoked salmon, baby back ribs, and by-the-pound pastrami and brisket, with sides that include a mac and cheese called Not-Boxed Mac-n-Cheesy and a noodle kugel Reznik calls My Mommy's Kugel. It is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
What Hayworth actually is
Hayworth sits on Horizon Ridge Parkway at Stephanie Street, a few miles from SMKD, and it is the higher-register half of the same bet. The 4,200-square-foot space seats 80 in a dining room finished in brown and deep blue velvet with fluted wood paneling, plus 25 at a marble bar and 30 more on a covered terrace. Reznik built the menu around the Jewish and Eastern European cooking he grew up with: fingerling potatoes with cultured cream and caviar, a potato latke topped with king salmon, agnolotti stuffed with beef tongue, and a wagyu brisket slow-cooked for 24 hours and finished with bone marrow jus. Pastry chef Miloš Babić, who has worked at Bellagio and at Monogram in Bosnia-Herzegovina, runs the dessert program, including a chocolate babka and sufganiyot filled with rose jelly. Bar lead Giuseppe González, credited with inventing the Trinidad Sour at Brooklyn's Clover Club around 2009, built the cocktail list. Hayworth is open Tuesday through Sunday for dinner, closed Monday, with a daily Golden Hour from 4 to 6 p.m. that cuts food and drink prices in half at the bar and on the patio.
Why this matters more than a typical new-restaurant story
Most restaurant openings near a gated community are one-off events. A space turns over, a new tenant moves in, residents try it or they don't. What makes this different is that the same kitchen group built both halves of a choice on purpose, within the same corridor, about three and a half months apart. Reznik has said the goal was never to compete with the Strip. It was to give the people he grew up around, and the neighborhood his family still lives in, a reason to stay off it.
For Anthem residents specifically, that means the two most common dining decisions of any given week now resolve inside a short drive rather than a long one. Want a casual Tuesday dinner the kids will actually eat? SMKD is built for that, with a smoker running outside the front doors and a menu that leans into shareable comfort food. Want a table for a birthday or an anniversary that still feels like an occasion? Hayworth's velvet booths and marble bar were designed for exactly that, without requiring the drive to the Strip or even into Green Valley Ranch.
Beyond dinner: what else is worth the short drive downtown this fall
The same stretch of Henderson that gave Anthem two new restaurants also has two dated events on the calendar this fall, both a short drive down the hill into the Water Street District.
- Henderson Hot Rod Days, October 2 and 3, returns for its seventh year with more than 700 hot rods, muscle cars, street rods, trucks, and motorcycles lining Water Street. Friday night's headliner is Electric Avenue, an 80s cover band built around MTV-era hits, and the weekend includes Car Show Bingo and a Hot Rod Happy Hour with special offers at participating Water Street businesses.
- Shop Small Henderson, November 28, marks the tenth year of the Small Business Saturday event at Water Street Plaza, hosted by the Henderson Redevelopment Agency, the City of Henderson, and the Water Street District Business Association, with local artisans, makers, and food trucks filling the plaza.
Neither event requires planning a whole day around it. Both are close enough to treat as a Saturday errand with a car show or a farmers-market feel attached.
What this actually tells you about living here right now
The takeaway is not that Anthem got two new restaurants. Restaurants open and close in every part of the valley every year. The takeaway is that one operator looked at the roads surrounding this specific community and decided they were worth building twice for, once for a weeknight and once for an occasion, rather than treating the area as a single undifferentiated market. That is a different kind of investment than a single restaurant opening, and it is the kind of signal worth noticing if you already call this corner of Henderson home.
If you are weighing what else has shifted in the neighborhoods around Anthem Country Club this year, or you are simply curious what your own home might be worth in a market that keeps adding reasons to stay close to home, Gavin Ernstone can walk you through it. Schedule a private consultation whenever you are ready.
