“Masa, masa, masa.”
Sarah Thompson, executive chef of Casa Playa, celebrates through joyful repetition the essential role masa plays at the coastal Mexican restaurant in Encore. For her masa, heirloom corn varieties are imported from Mexico, nixtamalized (soaked and cooked in alkaline solution) in the traditional manner, then milled into dough for tortillas, tamales and other dishes.
“Masa is the backbone of Mexican cuisine,” Thompson said one recent afternoon at the restaurant. “What is a taco without a shell? It’s endless what you can do with masa. It was the one thing when we were developing this restaurant that I wasn’t going to budge on.
“Once you experience a fresh tortilla right off the plancha versus one you get from the store, it’s immediately clear the difference, and that translates to the dining experience.”
That experience might involve using a tortilla — earthy, warm, soft, pliable — to grab a chunk of meat from a thick length of short rib suadero, making an instant taco that is completed with onions and tomatillo salsa. You might roll up a tortilla and sprinkle it with salt, a classic Mexican snack, or dredge it in frijoles de olla made with inky ayocote beans.
Or you could simply eat tortillas straight from the stack — they need nothing but themselves.
At Casa Playa, Thompson has developed a reputation for cooking that is bold and lusty but also nuanced and layered, combining a respect for Mexican tradition with modern techniques, ingredients and flavor combinations. The James Beard Foundation has recognized this talent, naming Thompson a finalist for Best Chef: Southwest the past two years in its annual Restaurant and Chef Awards.
Not bad for a 36-year-old who grew up in central Massachusetts, where, as she put it, Mexican food was nonexistent.
Learning from a mentor
Thompson arrived at Encore in 2021 for a chef de cuisine gig at Elio’s, the predecessor to Casa Playa opened by chefs Enrique Olvera and Daniela Sotto-Innes. Previously, during her time in New York City, Thompson cooked under Sotto-Innes at Cosme, a lauded, modern Mexican restaurant in the Flatiron District.
“Cosme really shaped my career,” Thompson said. “I knew nothing about tortillas. I couldn’t name a chile. Daniela took me under her wing and showed me what Mexican cooking could be. I traveled around Mexico and saw the complexity of Mexican food. The food excited me. The palate, the food, felt alive.”
Thompson said Sotto-Innes also taught her the value of teaching and being a mentor, a commitment she continues in Vegas with her work for the Women’s Hospitality Initiative.
“We’re only as good as the people who work for us,” she said. “We want all the people to have the same success as we have.”
Signature tamal
What Thompson called the beauty of Mexican food inspires the menu at Casa Playa. “There’s a lot more to it than your initial thoughts on it,” she said. “Our squash tamal really exemplifies that.”
The masa used for the tamal employs coconut oil instead of lard for lightness and fluffy texture. The tamal is swaddled in a banana leaf for steaming, not a corn husk. A mole mingling serranos, epazote (a Mexican herb), hoja santa (ditto) and Thai basil tops the tamal.
“Coconut milk is a bit of a Thai influence, but the backbone is Mexican,” Thompson said of the dish.
A heap of maitake mushrooms from local Desert Moon Farms rests atop a mole blanco. The mushrooms are showered with charred cabbage, studded with pine nuts and finished with black truffle.
“It showcases traditional Mexican ingredients, techniques and flavor profiles in ways you probably wouldn’t find in Mexico, but it’s OK because we’re in Vegas,” Thompson said.
Slices of buttery, cleanly flavored kampachi (a species of amberjack) are crowned with coins of jalapeño. The fish rests atop charred avocado in a pool of tomato dashi brightened with cilantro oil. The tilefish is crisped in hot oil to lift the scales, then garnished with oxalis (wood sorrel) and delicate lacy cilantro flowers.
“It has a beautiful flakiness, a beautiful oiliness,” she said of the fish. “It’s luscious on the palate.”
Wrapping up short rib and duck
That wagyu short rib suadero touches down: prepared sous vide, seared on the plancha to crisp the exterior, backed by tomatillo salsa and a litter of tortillas. Street tacos in Mexico City, devoured after a night out, informed the dish.
“You’re roaming the street, a little bit drunk. There are bits of leftover beef on plancha. It’s greasy and craveable,” Thompson said. “I can’t put that on the menu, but how do we take those flavors and really elevate it? You’ll be transported to Mexico City at 2 in the morning. Do it! You’ll love it!”
Casa Playa is known for its large-format dishes to be shared by the table. Take the duck pibil, a spin on cochinita pibil, the Yucátan standard featuring slow-cooked pork endowed with flavor and deep orange color by a marinade of annato and orange juice.
Thompson marinates her duck in annato and orange juice, braises it for 12 hours and sends it out with crisp skin and the legs tucked underneath. Habanero salsa and smoky salsa tatemada accompany the duck. “It makes an absolutely delicious taco,” the chef said.
‘Keep pushing’
The menu at Casa Playa introduces about eight changes a year, three to four dishes at a time but sometimes more. This spring, Thompson said she was changing seven dishes.
“Seasonality is so important. You get excited about something — huitlacoche and roasted carrot pipián, esquites made with shrimp stock, epazote with seared dayboat scallops. I love produce. When we start seeing morels in, I can’t wait to get that on the menu. We’re looking at kohlrabi and guavas this year.”
The chef said she continually considers her menu, drawing on the talents of her team.
“They are very diverse in their experiences. Bringing all of that together, it makes us so powerful and creative. Every year, I look at what we did before. As we have more of an identity, more recognition, I’m able to push the boundaries more, keep pushing, keep developing.”
Backed, always, by masa.
Contact Johnathan L. Wright at [email protected]. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram.