This was our first meal together which I booked early evening the day we all arrived here in Vegas. The restaurant is located in a bougie shopping mall (we did see Lisa Vanderpump and her husband walking their perfectly groomed Pomeranian around the mall) adjacent to the Aria Hotel. We had an early seating right when they opened and they seated us in a table tucked away into it’s own little alcove with a large lazy susan in the middle of the round table. We probably could have seated another 4 people or more. Maybe our reputation of being loud when we eat altogether as a family preceded us, haha (and yes, I’m sure we were).

They had 3 tasting menus, but if you did that everyone had to participate and do the same menu, so that definitely wasn’t going to work, so we went a la carte, family style.

Andrea and I started with their Ultimate G&T which had a nice presentation with the lemon, lime, lemon verbena, and juniper berries set atop a clear cube of ice. Delicious.

We ordered in waves of food. The first we dishes were from the Little Snacks section of the menu. First up was the Marinated ‘Ferran Adrià” Liquid Olives. This was regular olives and the molecular gastronomy olives with his spherification technique of a gel membrane globe encapsulating olive juice. It was a nice burst of olive flavor.

Next came the José’s Taco which was available two different ways, either the original with the Jamón Ibérico (which I had when we ate at Bazaar Meat) we had made with their house cured hamachi which was specific to this restaurant only. We opted for the latter. It was delicious, but I preferred the original (jamón FTW).

Next came the Croquetas, but since we were here at Bazaar Mar, we went with the Main Lobster Croquetas which were a delicious variant. This was served with a saffron aioli which I liked.

Andrea ordered the Kueh Pai Ti which was Singaporean street food. In the shotglass shaped shell, there was ama ebi, vegetables, and chili sauce and peanuts. It was delicious.

Ginny ordered the Puntillitas Fritas which she said she always orders. This was served with aioli negro (presumably made from the squid ink) and some fried peppers on the side.

We also ordered a dozen oysters, 6 Kumamoto from Washington and 6 others (don’t recall exactly what kind) from PEI. The vinaigrette as well as a hot sauce came in dropper bottles which was a convenient way to serve them. Andrea loved the hot sauce and kept the bottle to use during the rest of the meal. Oysters were good, although perhaps a tad less fresh than we often get in SF.

I had another cocktail, this time the Daisy De Graná which was made with tequila, madala orange, lime, pomegranate, add salt foam. Ingredients make it largely sound like their version of a margarita. It was quite tasty, not too sweet.

Next up were the dishes from the Raw and Simple section of the menu. First dish was here was the Hokkaido Sea Scallops Crudo. This was one of our favorite dishes. The scallops were so creamy and tender. The aguachile. liquid was made of tomatillo and seeds. There were a few thin slices of grapes to give a little sweetness, and some jalapeño-cucumber oil to give it a little kick.

Next came the Bluefin Tuna & Fried Egg. This strips of chu toro in a rich soy-dashi broth topped with a fried quail egg. To eat this, your spun the otoro onto your fork. This was very flavorful and rich and a nice contrast to the scallops.

We had contemplated which whole fish dish to order. We had thought we were going to order two different fishes with different preparation, but we had eaten quite a bit already that we decided to go with the lightest option which was the Kinmedai flown overnight from Japan served sashimi style. Another striking dish with the the orange skin, lightly torched. It was good and very fresh, but since it was so fresh, it had a little bit of bite to the flesh and could have used a little bit of aging.

Next up was the Anchoas Don Bocarte which I wanted because I love anchovies. This was served on Pan de Cristal that we were told was flown in from Spain which had aa mini slab of butter on top of it. It was really good, but that butter was just a little bit too much for me (and I love butter). I would have preferred it to be more anchovy-forward. But I saved some of the buttered bread to eat with other dishes.

Then came the Ribeye, Akaushi Wagyu. The meat was marinated and grilled served with some baby lettuce to make some lettuce wraps with the meat. Since that was the first meat we had this meal, it was quite tasty.

Then came the Alaskan King Crab Chawanmushi. I love chawanmushi (eggs of course) and enjoy king crab. I thought the crab on top was very flavorful with a citrus soy glaze and the buttery foam. The egg custard itself did not seem to contribute much though.

A couple of our salads and sides came out – and the Oyster Mushroom “Sea Anemone” and the Josper Roasted Carrots. The oyster mushroom came as a couple large interconnected pieces and was topped with little dabs of anchovy aioli. This was also an umami bomb and Andrea loved it (anchovy aioli was mild) because of such a rich mushroom flavor to it all. The carrots looked quite good with a variety of colored carrots, atop some olive oil labneh and topped with a carrot gastrique and some pistachios for texture. It sounded good by description, but I only thought it was ok, a bit heavy.

We had one more meat dish and one more salad. The meat was Miso Glazed Secreto Iberico. I’m a sucker for miso glaze and the pork was so very tender. For me, this was an incredible pork dish. The salad, which they intentionally served towards the end because it was quite savory was the Japanese Baby Peaches. The peaches are quite distinctive due to their green color and small size. This was served with spoonfuls of stracciatella dusted with some zatar, toasted hazelnut halves, and some mini croutons. Assembling a bit of every component made for a great bite.

We are all full, but we had to get a dessert. They had a Chocolate Soufflé made with 70% dark chocolate and carmelized banana ice cream. Again, I love eggy dishes and I also love bananas so this was a no brainer. There was a 12-15 minute wait for it, but since we were all pretty full, it gave us a little time to digest. Overall, it was solid, but not one of the best soufflés I’ve had. It could have used a sauce of some kind, even creme anglaise.

All in all, it was a enjoyable family outing. I think we had 17 different dishes if I counted right and we certainly did not feel like we lacked for a tasting menu.

https://www.thebazaar.com/location/the-bazaar-mar-las-vegas-nv