On the morning of May 6, an Elvis impersonator and two showgirls posed for a photo next to a red ribbon on South Rainbow Boulevard. Cars lined up for the drive-thru before the doors even opened. The Hat, the pastrami institution that has fed Alhambra, California since 1951, was finally opening its first restaurant outside the state, at 6215 S. Rainbow Blvd, a few minutes off the corridor Spanish Trail residents use to leave their own gates.
The next morning, one day later and a short drive away, a different kind of history started quietly on the Canyon and Lakes nines at Spanish Trail Country Club. No ribbon. No Elvis impersonator. Just 132 professional golfers teeing off in a tournament that would end with a rookie shattering a scoring record that had stood across an entire tour. Almost nobody outside the gates noticed. That's the part worth sitting with.
The Sandwich Everyone Had Been Waiting For
The Hat's Las Vegas debut had been seven years in the making. Word first surfaced in 2019 that the chain was eyeing the same South Rainbow site, but that version of the project never got past the announcement stage. The land sat vacant behind a fence until 2025, when Clark County building permits confirmed the deal was real this time. Construction signage went up, then plumbing and grading work, then finally, on May 6, 2026, the doors.
The menu is exactly what fans of the Alhambra original hoped it would be: the World Famous Pastrami dip, pastrami burgers, chili cheese fries, tuna melts, roast beef sandwiches, hot dogs. The Rainbow Boulevard location runs 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily, which puts it in the same late-night lane as the original SoCal stands that built the brand's reputation over 75 years. In the days before opening, the company's own social post put it simply: "Las Vegas, we can't wait to serve you."
It is the chain's first location among 11 in Southern California to open anywhere else, and it landed roughly eight miles from the Strip, on a stretch of Rainbow that Spanish Trail residents already treat as their own front door to Spring Valley.
The Record Nobody Outside the Gates Saw Coming
Spanish Trail Country Club is not new to competitive golf. The Robert Trent Jones Jr. design hosted the PGA Tour's Las Vegas Invitational from 1986 to 1990, back when the community itself was still being built out. What's new is what has happened at the club since 2025.
That's when Spanish Trail became the first Las Vegas stop for the Epson Tour, the LPGA's official qualifying circuit, where a strong enough season on the money list earns a player a full LPGA card through what the tour calls its Race for the Card. The inaugural Reliance Matrix Championship presented by Epson ran in 2025, and Yana Wilson took the win at 17-under. This year's second edition, played May 7 through 10, is the one that changed the conversation.
Cholcheva Wongras, an Epson Tour rookie, closed the tournament at 26-under par on the composite 18-hole course of the Canyon and Lakes nines, a five-stroke win that broke the tour's own 72-hole scoring record. It was her first professional victory, set on a course most of her field was seeing for the first time.
| Year | Champion | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 (inaugural) | Yana Wilson | Won by 2 strokes at 17-under |
| 2026 | Cholcheva Wongras | Won by 5 strokes at 26-under, new Epson Tour 72-hole scoring record |
The week also carried its own piece of news for the athletes themselves. Ahead of the 2026 event, Reliance Matrix and the Epson Tour announced that all 132 competitors would have their entry fees covered entirely, the first time in tour history an event has eliminated the fee altogether. Epson Tour general manager Jody Brothers framed the move as part of the partnership's direction, saying the event would have "no entry fees for our athletes."
The timing matters for anyone tracking Las Vegas golf more broadly. The Shriners Children's Open, the PGA Tour stop that ran at TPC Summerlin for 42 years, closed out its run in October 2024 after its title sponsor chose not to renew. Two full seasons have passed since without a PGA Tour replacement anywhere in Nevada. The Reliance Matrix Championship at Spanish Trail is, at the moment, the closest thing the valley has to a standing professional golf tournament, women's developmental tour or not.
What Was Already True Behind the Gates
None of this changes what daily life inside Spanish Trail actually looks like most of the year. The 50,000-square-foot clubhouse still anchors the community the way it always has, with 12 lighted tennis courts and two aquatic centers keeping members busy well outside tournament week. The club's Friday-night entertainment slot, a standing tradition rather than a special event, keeps bringing in performers for members who want dinner and live music without leaving the property.
What changed is what's happening in that same footprint every May, and now, a few minutes up Rainbow Boulevard, what's available for a very different kind of dinner.
Two Things on the Same Stretch of Road
It would be easy to read The Hat's opening as the bigger story, since it came with a ribbon, a mascot, and a line of cars. But a 75-year-old sandwich chain expanding for the first time outside its home state is a retail story. A rookie breaking a tour scoring record by five strokes at the private club behind your own gate, at an event that made history on and off the course, is a different kind of story. It says something about where Spanish Trail Country Club is heading as a golf property, not just as a neighborhood amenity.
Residents who golf there already know the Canyon and Lakes nines. What's new is that the rest of the sport is starting to know them too.
If you've been curious about what else has changed inside Spanish Trail this year, the neighborhood guide has more on the community's layout and amenities. For everything else happening on the course this season, Epson Tour's own coverage tracks the record-setting round in full, and the Las Vegas Review-Journal's account of The Hat's grand opening is worth a read before your next pastrami dip run.
Whether you're weighing a trip to the new counter on Rainbow or just catching next May's tee times at the club, The Zhu Realty Group keeps a close eye on what's actually changing inside Spanish Trail, and we're always glad to talk through what it means for the neighborhood you already call home.