Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
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THIS ISSUE: FASHION FIESTA FAR LEFT: The Fideo del Mar features linguine with Dungeness crab, Mexican white shrimp, and fresh wild scallops. ABOVE: The private dining room at Javier's is lit by agave heart–inspired chandeliers. LEFT: General manager Omar Sosa. from Guadalajara; reclaimed leather belts adorning the windows and doorways; 4,000 clavos (nails) with decorative heads throughout the lounge; and corset-style lacing on the leather booths and the ceilings. But the pièce de résistance (or its Spanish equivalent) is the intricate chain-saw art installation, carved by artist J. Chester Armstrong, illustrating both the Mayan creation myth and modern Mexican history. The five panels, set on the far wall of the main dining area, span 25 feet and weigh 3,000 pounds, making this the world's JAVIER'S MIXES A DISTINCT STYLE AND largest piece of chain-saw art. MESMERIZING DÉCOR WITH A MENU PACKED Although the open layout of Javier's results in a great place to see and be WITH DELICIOUS TAKES ON MEXICAN seen, sometimes privacy is what we seek. And the magnificent private dinSPECIALTIES. BY CATHERINE DE ORIO ing room, with its ceiling and walls tiled in shimmering abalone shells, is PHOTOGRAPHY BY SABIN ORR every bit as impressive as the main one. Lest you think Javier's is all style, a few bites of one of its creative dishes will provide the substance. According to Omar Sosa, founder Javier Sosa's eighborhood Mexican restaurants in America too often seem like son and the general manager of both the Las Vegas and Irvine, California, caricatures out of Disneyland—festooned with piñatas, sombreros, locations, the food may draw more from the areas of Michoacán and and mariachi instruments—making one nearly indistinguishable Mazatlán but it's influenced by Mexico as a whole. "We try to bring from the next. Enter Javier's, in Aria Resort & Casino at CityCenter, which Mexican home-cooking to our guests," he says. To do so, the restaurant serves up traditional, regionally inspired Mexican cuisine in a stunning serves many dishes based on family recipes, including the Fideo del Mar, space that seamlessly flows between the elegant, old-world feel of Mexico an entrée of linguine teeming with fresh seafood, inspired by a dish his City and the laid-back vibe of the country's paradisiacal waterfront towns. mother cooked for them as children. "We want you to eat something at the Even without the prime location in the center of Aria's casino floor, the restaurant," he says, "that we have grown up eating in our house." The menu features many standard Mexican dishes, but the seafood dramatic design of Javier's would ensure that it wasn't missed. A large cirplates are where Javier's really shines. "When you think cular metal bar serves as the centerpiece. Inspired by a of Mexican food, people think of just tacos and burrivintage roulette wheel, it's topped with rare African tos," he says. "But in Mexico we also eat a lot of shrimp, ziricote wood, a hardwood used in guitars, and canocrab, lobster, and steak." Steak and lobster are the respied with an intricate, chandelierlike installation taurant's most popular choices in Las Vegas. The Filete consisting of hundreds of twisted nautical ropes that Antiguo pairs filet mignon with sautéed onions, mushcascade to the floor. Drawing influences from all over rooms, and a subtly smoky chipotle sauce, while the Mexico, veteran designer Dodd Mitchell honors the country's cultural heritage with handcrafted pottery continued on page 82 —OMAR SOSA Comida Auténtica "We want you to eat something that we grew up eating." 80 PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF JAVIER'S (DINING ROOM) N VEGASMAGAZINE.COM 080-082_V_SC_Taste_Opener_Sept13.indd 80 8/5/13 7:47 PM