Enrique Gonzalez and Eva-Sara Luna founded Desert Moon Mushrooms in 2020 during a bout of pandemic boredom.
“We were just laying in bed,” Gonzalez told me on a recent tour of their business, the only full-fledged mushroom farm in Las Vegas. “And I said, ‘Hey, do you wanna watch a movie or do you wanna think about a business plan?’”
“Literally that night, we're like, ‘Let's do a mushroom farm,’” Luna added.
“We (could’ve) watched a movie instead of starting a business.” Gonzalez laughed.
The duo spent years in a trial-and-error process, figuring out the best ways to grow mushrooms on substrate (the material or substance mushrooms grow on). Theoretically, any mushroom that grows on rotting wood can be populated in an artificial environment, but that doesn’t mean it's easy. Desert Moon has unlocked the code, featuring a personal “library” of more than 60 different mushroom mycelium to inoculate into an oak substrate.
From there, Desert Moon carefully controls growth to create beautiful, delicious, prized mushrooms. “A lot of high-end restaurants with chefs who are always curious and open to experimenting with new ingredients” is one of the major advantages to opening a business like this in Las Vegas, according to Gonzalez. Desert Moon currently has mushrooms inside kitchens at every major Strip property.
And these ain’t no button mushrooms. Desert Moon brings mushrooms to the table that are so varied in texture and color — like crunchy, nutty “pretzel caps” or stunning gold, pink, and blue oyster mushrooms — one client recently asked for a wedding bouquet built of their fungi.
And while common options like enoki and maitake are available, Desert Moon also grows mushrooms unfamiliar to even knowledgeable foodies. Lion’s Mane is a forager’s favorite, while Coral Tooth is a white mushroom that looks remarkably like a coral reef.
I took a Coral Tooth home, smeared it in olive oil and salt, and roasted it at 450 degrees for 30 minutes, flipping it over after 15 minutes. Luna recommends slicing this sweet and meaty mushroom for tacos.
The couple built their farm from scratch inside a former church in an office park near Tropicana and Las Vegas Boulevard, but the biggest challenge wasn’t figuring out how to get the mushrooms to proliferate. It was the red tape: fees, building permits, and dubious requests by health department officials who didn’t quite understand the process of growing artisanal mushrooms.
Desert Moon is now operating in soft-opening mode with shopping available by appointment. Tours and grow-your-own mushroom kits are also in the works. However, Luna and Gonzalez believe everyone in the valley should have access to good food, so the pair will continue to deliver their products to farmers markets around the valley.
