We're bringing the ocean to the desert

Bazaar Mar is opening Wednesday in Las Vegas!

If you know one thing about me…you know I absolutely love the sea and everything that comes from it. Over the last couple of years (we passed our two year mark here at Longer Tables and I didn’t say anything! Happy anniversary, friends!) I’ve told you about my love of oysters, and crabs, and octopus, and all kinds of fish, as well as the beauty of drinking seafoam, and watching the stars from the beach at night, and sailing across the ocean on a tall ship. So you know this is true!

And you know something else about me, which is that I love Vegas. It’s a city where anything can truly happen…there’s magic, there’s mystery, there’s great energy, and of course there’s some of the best dining in the world.

So friends—I’m thrilled to be able to share with you the news that my team and I, we are bringing two of my favorite things together: we are opening Bazaar Mar in Vegas! I don’t know if any of you were able to make it to Bazaar Mar in Miami when it was open in Brickell from 2016 to 2019, but I’m not lying when I tell you it was one of my favorite restaurants we ever opened (no offense to the others, of course! I love them all…). The design, these beautiful blue and white tiles everywhere, the art from my friend Sergio Mora, the feeling like you’re under the sea, were amazing. And the menu! We did some of our best R&D there, and served some incredible seafood to happy guests. I was so sad we had to close it five years ago.

But now, it’s as if it’s rising again from the ashes, crossing the country to become a beautiful oasis of seafood in the middle of the Nevada desert.

Friends—Bazaar Mar is back, and I couldn’t be happier.

If you’ve never been to a Bazaar, I’ll tell you this: it’s a place of discovery, of wonder, of surprise. You can visit a Bazaar multiple times and still find new things. Think of exploring a spice bazaar or a market in a new city: what do you think you’ll find? What will you taste, what will you smell, what will you see? There’s always something new around the corner!

Some of you know that I also have Bazaar Meat in Vegas, which celebrates everything carnivorous, from jamón to suckling pig to thick grilled chuletón steaks. Steak is great, but sometimes you need to go to the open ocean! I hope that Bazaar Mar is that place of wonder and surprise for everyone who’s excited to explore a bit deeper below the surface..

Chef Manny and Chef Daniela, with Chef Victor from Bazaar NY!

Enough talk, José, more food! Okay, okay, so what am I excited to eat there? Well, I know what I’m excited to have, but I also spoke with two of my chefs from the restaurant—Daniela Romero, the restaurant’s head chef, and Manny Echevarri, the head chef of all of the Bazaars. Like me, they both loved Bazaar Mar in Miami, and are so excited to be able to open the restaurant again in an amazing city like Vegas. Here are a few of our favorites!

River Trout Cone: Every Bazaar has a unique cone—which, if you’ve never been to any of my restaurants, is a little beautiful crunchy two-bite snack that can be savory or sweet. The one we’ve made for Bazaar Mar has a flower made of a very very special trout from Virginia, raised by the Walker family in a 1930s-era fishery (I’ll tell you more about Ty and Shannon Walker and their trout sometime!). It’s got a little preserved Meyer lemon and dill on it…an amazing way to start the meal.

bazaarbyjose

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Cobia Rosa Ceviche: Have you ever had the fish called Cobia? It’s an amazing mild, buttery, firm fish, absolutely perfect with leche de tigre (the very famous Peruvian lime dressing for ceviche). This was one of my absolute favorites from The Bazaar in Miami, and I’m so happy to be bringing it back (a bit updated from the earlier version, and still amazing). Oh, and the Cobia is coming from Panama, from Open Blue, a project promoting the sustainability of this delicious fish.

Salt-Baked Whole Fish, served tableside: It’s just what it sounds like…just as theatrical and amazing as you can imagine. You’ll be able to pick your fish of choice, whether it’s turbot, lubina, red snapper, sea bream, or whatever we have from the fishers that day, and you can tell us how to prepare it: fried, like they do it in Ibiza; grilled over wood; Donostiarra-style (which you know how to do at home!) or baked in salt. I don’t know if I have a favorite, but I do know that to have a salt-baked fish prepared for me by a great server is an amazing thing! By the way, we won’t have this available immediately at opening, but we’ll be introducing it soon after!

Maybe you can tell—the fish we are serving is from the very best places in the country and the world. We care so much about the ingredients we’re serving, so we’ve found the best. And of course, fish, like produce, is seasonal…so you won’t always find the same dishes on the menu.

Okay, enough of me telling you guys what I love about this restaurant. I’m getting so excited thinking about it, and I hope you are too! I know maybe not everyone goes to Vegas very often, but I think maybe it’s time to give it a visit, just to feast for a few days…? You don’t even need to gamble!