First taste of Wynn/Encore's Casa Play
Casa Playa begins seating customers this weekend at Encore, utilizing the space that briefly housed Chef Enrique Olvera’s short-lived Elio. I had the chance to sample several dishes and take in the remodeled dining room during one of the pre-opening “play dates” the team held this week. Like its predecessor, which was in operation for just five months in the second half of 2020, Casa Playa offers a contemporary style of high-end Mexican cuisine that’s a step above what many Americans are used to seeing. (Olvera’s Pujol, in Mexico City, was ranked as one of the world’s top-25 restaurants every year from 2013 through 2019.) To continue that level of quality and creativity, the new restaurant is helmed by Elio’s executive chef, Sarah Thompson. The Culinary Institute of America graduate worked in several top New York City kitchens, including the Michelin-starred Marea and Wylie Dufrense's Alder, before she was recruited by Olvera and Chef Daniela Soto-Innes for their New York restaur...