Casa Playa

Last weekend in Vegas - specifically our experiences at Gymkhana and Casa Playa - proved to be both an indictment of my rating system and a defense of it. As evidenced by our group's conversation at the end of the Casa Playa meal, it is a natural desire to compare two restaurants and discuss which you thought better. With numerical or comparative scores, however, people tend to invent differences that aren't really there. I am glad to be able to talk about Gymkhana and Casa Playa in the same class of food and experience, rather than have to nitpick distinctions that don't meaningfully exist.

Unlike Gymkhana and the restaurants highlighted in that review, when you say "Casa Playa," you are only referring to the one in Las Vegas. It's at Wynn, which is a decent hike from where we usually stay on the strip, but it is worth making your way there from wherever you might be.

They had a DJ present, but the music was not aggressively loud, and it was clearly not intended to detract from the food. It was additive, not reductive. And frankly, it's Las Vegas, where you might expect or even want this type of vibe.

Also unlike Gymkhana, the Instagram-worthy dish that we ordered here was the best of the food that we tasted. It can be easy for restaurants to rest on gimmicks, particularly restaurants in Las Vegas. People are more than happy to go somewhere with a good vibe that allows them to share an interesting picture to the masses even if the food is average. This food was excellent.

Though the pork belly was the highlight, I appreciated the simplicity in the rest of the food nearly as much. Where one sees a pork belly al pastor in tower form, you might expect a bit more extravagance than necessary on the other plates. That wasn't true of the rest of the pre-dessert food we ordered, though.

The housemade guacamole and salsa were a no-bullshit guac and salsa; the Mexican blue shrimp ceviche had good shrimp in a refreshing aguachile; you could taste a bit of all of the flavors in the chicken tinga enchiladas, even the tortilla; and the potatoes were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, accompanied by a great sauce.

Oh, and the dessert churros - which we were almost too full to order - were fucking fantastic. And I got a cute little sugar stick with my espresso.

Simply very good Mexican food.