For over a year, Chef Christopher Lee has been dreaming up a lavish, extravagant food festival that would focus as much on the décor and entertainment as it would the food. Originally, the Wynn Las Vegas VP of Culinary had planned to host the “Feast” food event in April, when the weather would be just right for wandering around the Wynn lawn. But with the World’s 50 Best Restaurants event happening this week, Lee couldn’t pass up the opportunity to bring together the world’s best food makers and consumers to host the inaugural festival.
The Feast Food Festival marks the climax of Reverie, a series of events presented by Wynn in collaboration with 50 Best. On the evening of Saturday, June 8, Lee will team up with chefs from Las Vegas and abroad for a mega-event in the Events Pavilion and Lawn. The festival will be split into four themed areas, featuring extravagant design, entertainment and servery cuisine inspired by four international regions.
Part of the festival will be themed around Tulum, Mexico, and feature beach-inspired furniture, decorative plants and greenery, lounge chairs and swings and Mexican food. Chef Sarah Thompson of Wynn’s Casa Playa will operate a ceviche cart, Ezdras Ochoa of Mexicali Taco & Co. in Los Angeles will serve tacos at a taco stand, the resort’s pastry chef Jen Yi will cook churros to order and modern dancers will perform on stage.
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Pork belly al pastor at Casa Playa, Wynn Las Vegas
Chef Alon Shaya of Wynn’s Safta 1964 will be baking fluffy pita bread on a wood-fired grill in the festival’s Kasbah Marketplace area. A Mediterranean and Middle Eastern-themed area will be decorated in bright colors, with a hookah lounge and music. Chefs Stephanie Sandfrey and Jose Ayala of the soon-to-open Zaitinha by Jose Andres will be setting up the grill to grill meat on a sword over an open flame. Chefs Laura and Sayat Ozirmaz of Dalida in San Francisco will be preparing wrapped lamb.
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Kasba Marketplace at the Feast. Wynn Las Vegas
In an area dedicated to American barbecue, the event will feature a cowboy barbecue in collaboration with Yellowstone producer Taylor Sheridan’s Four Six Ranch, with a wood-fired grill loaded with whole hogs and tomahawks, a smoker that can hold 1,000 pounds of meat, and chili baked beans cooked in a wood-fired cauldron. The dessert table will be provided by Heather Wong of Flooring Cake Shop in Los Angeles. The event will culminate here with a cowboy hoedown.
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Country Cookout at the Feast. Wynn Las Vegas.
And the final section is themed around Shibuya, Japan. Six kimono-clad men ceremonially carry 250 pounds of bluefin tuna into the pavilion, where a chef will butcher it before serving it. A 40-pound Ora King Salmon will also be cooked and served on the spot. Self-described “dry-aged fish guy” Liwei Liao and online creator Yakitoriguy will make hand-rolled sushi and Japanese dishes, while Mizumi chef Jeff Ramsay will make nigiri sushi and sashimi throughout the night. At the end of the night, the two chefs will face off Iron Chef-style. Amid a glow of Tokyo-inspired lights and décor, dancers and performers in geisha costumes will perform on stage.
Wynn bartender Marina Mercer Boarini will create cocktails for each flavor, while Ash Miyasaki of Los Angeles’ Let’s Go! Disco & Cocktail Club will oversee the wine and beer selection. While Lee hopes the festival will become an annual event, the inaugural event will cost $300 per person and run from 7:30pm to 11pm. Find out about other parties, dinners and events happening alongside World’s 50 Best here.
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