When you are planning your nights in Las Vegas, whether you are heading to a show, the club or the gaming floor, you’ll need to fuel your bod—and what if you could get the party started at the same time?
At HaSalon in The Venetian, that’s a definite possibility. The dynamic Mediterranean restaurant, founded by Eyal Shani and Shahar Segal, brings together all the best ingredients for an excellent night.
Grab cocktails first, and the Barbarella, with Botanist gin, rhubarb syrup, rhubarb bitters and Angostura bitters, is a good place to start. The 3 Miles and Change is concocted with 27 Bacardi, Leblon Cachaça, Fernet-Branca, strawberry syrup and lemon juice, while More Passion (…) is a mocktail with verve, higlighted by passion fruit purée, Pom juice, muddled lime and simple syrup.
If you notice a bit of whimsy on the menus, it’s intended and spelled out at the top of Shani’s and Segal’s “sketchbook”: “The whole purpose is to bring people together so they can EAT together. You can order for yourself, but when it comes you will feel that you want to SHARE it.”
Photo by: Melissa Hom
That idea of bringing people together to rejoice truly shows. On the menu, you’ll find sections of “Vegetable creatures,” “Pure semolina & water handmade pasta,” “Wild fish & other creatures from the deep sea” and “Cow, lamb, & chicken—grass fed.” It’s an unusual way to term your courses, but it’s fun and the presentation matches the vibe of the restaurant.
Recently, executive chef Ivan Villasana introduced new dishes to the fall menu, the California Fall Squash Tortellini, the Potato full of Crab (a relative of the Potato full of Herself, we’re sure), Roasted Squash, Labne and Brown butter, and the Squash Memulaim (“memulaim” is Hebrew for “stuffed”). Other amazing dishes to indulge in include the 7 ricotta clouds, not even one more, in sage butter sauce; Crab shawarma, in a tomato perfume; and Tomahawk steak, 45 ounces of Creekstone Farms beef cooked over an almond wood-fired grill.
Order the Terrifying hammer and watch as beef carpaccio is pounded down at the table—everyone in the place is sure to take a look. But the beatdown of the grass-fed beef isn’t the only party-style atmosphere you’ll find here; you may find yourself spontaneously twirling your napkin above your head, or joining in as others do that. A server or two may suddenly jump to the top of a table and dance a bit. Said chef Eyal about HaSalon in a recent release, “Our goal has always been to create not just a dining experience but a euphoric escape where every guest can lose themselves in the enchantment of the night.”
If you are headed out to Dita Von Teese’s Voltaire residency or Sphere, HaSalon will take care of you with a preshow prix fixe menu, with dishes like Charred Beetroot carpaccio stormed with horseradish snow, the aforementioned Potato Full of Herself, with crème fraîche and Osetra sturgeon caviar (if you desire it), and Grilled Branzino Fillet in a spicy tomato sauce.
The Venetian. venetianlasvegas.com
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