Brian Howard

The Path

Early in his career, Brian Howard served as corporate executive chef at Comme Ça at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas in Las Vegas, a position that placed him in the pressure and pace of the city’s higher-profile dining world. That kind of role demands consistency as much as imagination, and it often separates noise from usable skill. In Howard’s case, the work seems to have sharpened a steady approach rather than pulling him toward display. Today, Brian is chef and owner of Sparrow + Wolf and Half Bird Chicken & Beer (since 2017). The two names point to different registers of the same hand: one more deliberate, the other more casual, but both tied to food that feels grounded rather than performed. Read together, they show a career built on holding a point of view without turning it into a gimmick.

The Work Today

Since 2017, Howard has been chef and owner of Sparrow + Wolf in Las Vegas, the restaurant that anchors his practice and gives shape to his understanding of hospitality. His relationship with the city is deliberate and sustained. As he has put it, “Perseverance has gotten me to where I am today and now I just want to create something for the people of Las Vegas, a city that has been good to me.” The statement is plain, but it reflects the basic arithmetic of the trade: time in, lessons learned, and the expectation that a restaurant should return something to the place that supports it. Howard’s own language about the work stays close to the plate. The standard begins with personal taste and ends with whether the room keeps responding to it: “We still get new guests all the time, which is amazing. That means we’re still doing something right.” That kind of metric matters in any dining room. It points to the harder part of the job, which is not launch but maintenance — keeping the food legible, keeping trust intact, and avoiding the drift that can settle into even successful rooms. There is restraint in that method, but also a practical warmth. Howard’s kitchens are built around endurance and welcome, not performance for its own sake. The work is to make something durable enough to keep earning a table, whether the guest is returning or arriving for the first time.

In Their Words “We still get new guests all the time, which is amazing. That means we’re still doing something right.” “I’ve always had a fight and desire in me to never give up, no matter how rocky the road.”

Acclaim

Brian's honors include Best Restaurant, Wine Spectator Award of Excellence, Chef of the Year, and 40 under 40 honoree.