Is The Bazaar Mar Las Vegas Experience Worth The Splurge?

Hey everybody, I'm Josh.

And I'm Rachael.

And we are big fans of Chef José Andrés, and his newest restaurant here in Las Vegas just opened up a few weeks ago.

Called Bazaar Mar. We know there's some seafood, some potential tapas, and you know us, we're gonna explore as much as we can on it.

Let's go. All right, so we kicked off dinner down at Bar Centro, which is in the old Starbucks area here at Crystals. I had a great drink. It was gin-based.

Me too. I had a Salt Air Margarita. It was delicious. Highly recommend.

Very beautiful area. Drinks are about $20. All right, we are here at Bazaar Mar. You can see it opens up to the cocktails. Drinks are about $18 to $24, and they do have mocktails as well as beers starting around $9 up to $17. And then check this out, they got a whole fish option, which I heard the neat thing about it is they do 4 different ways of whole fish, which is not something that you always get. We're not sure if we're gonna go that yet, but we'll see. And then you can see some more seafood. They do have beef as well as some pork and chicken down there. And there's the Bazaar Mar Experience, $175 a person. A lot of different options on there. We are not quite sure what We're going for yet. All right, I did not realize that I missed part of this, but you can see they've got little snacks, which is more like a tapas, and then oysters. Here you can see a salad. We're definitely not getting that, I can tell you that much. Little sandwiches, and then some more seafood. Lots of seafood on this menu.

All right, so one of the coolest presentations we've had so far in a drink. This came out, it is the Modifier. It's got some Liquor 43 and chocolate bitters. That's what sold me on it. Hoping for kind of a Carajillo taste. We'll see. And then they did this smoking thing but came out and just put the smoke in the—

Yeah, there was some mad science how they got that smoke in there.

So cheers.

And then I ended up with a rum drink. You can see it's got a nice little foam on top of there, and that has some lemon, honey, absinthe, passion fruit, and Okay, it does not have a karahil vibe, so don't get it if you're thinking of that, but it is really tasty.

It's a sipper. I'm not gonna be able to drink this fast.

Yeah, mine is a sipper too. It has a lot of citrus to it.

Thank you.

So if you're a big citrus fan, I think you'll, you'll like it. I do like the foam on there. It kind of like mellows it a bit.

Whoo, it is tart.

Yeah, it is.

Wow, it is really good, but it is really tart. I kind of like it.

So I think I already said we weren't gonna do this, but looking at the menu—

You changed your mind.

So big.

So big.

There is so many things, and honestly, like, the prices are up there.

Yeah, and for the starters themselves, I had a minimum of 3 things I wanted, and Josh had probably 3 opposite things.

Yeah.

So it was just easier to do this.

Here we go. We're gonna do the Bazaar Mar experience. Everyone at the table has to do this, but you're gonna get to see— oh God, what is that, like 13 dishes at least?

But the salmon, talk about the salmon.

Yes, chef is not happy with how the salmon's working out, which is happy for me.

Yeah.

Because we are then gonna have The scallops?

Yes.

All right, so they did a little upgrade.

It's like a one-bite cone, right?

Yeah, they— I think they call it a salmon and lox, uh, cone. It's actually unique to Bar Centrao, but waiter thought that this would be better for us. I don't know what's all in it. I can see some salmon roe.

There's some salmon roe, there's some, um, dill on top and some sesame seeds.

It's got to be one bite, right?

One bite. It's gotta be. They do say that salmon roe is cured in-house.

I think it's freaking awesome.

Oh good, okay. I wasn't sure by your face.

The cone itself seems like a, like the thinnest wonton wrapper maybe. I don't know what it is, but it's very thin. And then that, the salmon roe just like pops in your mouth. There's something creamier at the bottom, which we don't have the menu, so I'll be putting it down below and you can see what it is, but It's freaking great. Great starter.

All right, oyster caviar.

No, oyster ceviche.

Yep, oyster ceviche. There is caviar on the table, so my mind doesn't just slip on purpose. Looks like a nice little oyster. I am gonna try to use my fork and be somewhat civilized. Yeah.

Oh, but you're gonna have to drink that sauce, I think.

Yeah, I think so too. Wow, there is a crunch in there. I can't remember what he said. It's a corn nut. Corn nut.

I think so.

It's delicious. I I think this is a great vessel for the rest of the stuff that came around it. The oyster is just a benefit of it, but it's really tasty.

And then look at this fancy thing.

You're gonna let me eat that first?

Yeah, I think you got it. So toasted nori, Iberico ham.

Yeah.

Osetra caviar and gold leaf.

Yeah, and it's called Jose's Taco.

Jose's Taco.

I'm resetting my seat.

To look awesome, except for that light.

I think they just did that on purpose for us.

Maybe it's getting a little dark, but okay.

I'm really nervous about this.

All right. They did say to fold it.

Oh my god! All right. So this is on the menu for like twenty-five dollars a taco, which we were like, that's I'm like I would never do that. Yeah. I'm telling you, I would do that.

I would eat that.

Yeah, I really would.

All right. Well, I can't wait to try it. Looks good.

Thank you.

All right, so I got the notes right here. This is the kueh pai tee, which is Singapore's favorite street food. It has some shrimp, peanuts, chili sauce. You can see it's got a nice crispy outer shell.

Do you think it's a one-biter? I'm gonna make it one. No, it's not a one-biter. Okay, I'm gonna move and just bring mine closer so I can see it. There's also some micro cilantro on top. And did you mention the chili oil? Because I think there's chili oil on there as well. All right.

So initially I was thinking it was going to be more like an egg roll, uh, wonton wrapper, but it's not. It's more— definitely more flaky, more airy as well. So it eats very light, even though my first bite was way too big.

Okay, so 2 bites.

But I wanted the shrimp. Yeah, throughout.

That makes sense. Okay.

It's got a nice cool, it's got the nice little heat, the peanuts come through. I think there's like a bean, um, salad in there. I think it's good.

Good. Get in there with the first tong just like that and then roll it onto itself and you're going to enjoy it.

Oh wow.

Just like that, all at one time.

All right, we cheated.

I was like, I'm going to eat this one first. Yeah.

The, uh, waiter actually just rolled this one. It is Tuna and a fried egg. Did you get anything on you?

No, thank goodness.

So it's super thinly sliced tuna, and then they roll it.

I was actually expecting it to be a chilled dish, and it's not. It's warm. It's really delicious. Okay.

We got more stuff coming. Yum.

That was delicious. The tuna and fried egg is amazing. The piece on there, you can actually taste the fried egg, and the tuna's warm, and it's really good.

Awesome. Okay, next up we have the Hokkaido Sea Scallop Crudo. It has tomatillo and seeds, agua chile, green grapes, jalapeño cucumber oil.

I was just telling Josh, I believe this is my first time having crudo.

I think so too. We've definitely had ceviche before, but we've not had crudo, which it seems like it's very similar.

So I'm excited because it says jalapeño cucumber oil, so I'm hoping you can get some strong flavors of that.

Oh man, sea scallop is like Super tender, very lightly flavored, but it like comes on nice and slow. Okay, come in, look at this. This is your green grape.

Oh wow.

Sliced super thin, almost like— I don't know, I don't know who cuts a grape that way. I mean, I don't cut grapes, I guess.

No, we're not cutting grapes at our house.

This is super delicious, very light, very good intensity. It's got a lot of flavor though, but not too intense. All right, this is a tomato kombu salad.

I'm pretty excited for this. I don't mind a salad, but— and I'm glad it's on the tasting menu because it's probably not something we would have—

Yeah, I don't think we would ever order it, but it is baby heirloom tomatoes, kombu sesame dressing, pearl red onions.

Okay, let's just try to get a big old tomato on this.

And we did say about the sea scallop dish It seemed like it was almost like a resetting.

Yeah.

And so I think we're— yeah, we're rolling through a little palate cleanser right now. So I, I could see this also being in a similar spot.

I agree. There's a good umami flavor in here. It's light, refreshing. Those tomatoes are wonderfully done. Not too much dressing. I mean, even though when you look at it, it kind of looks like it, but it's a lighter dressing. I really like this. I'm actually glad we have a salad to be mid-meal too. Yeah.

Of course you get 2 of me. First up, uh, actually I'm gonna go with the po'boy first.

Okay, you're gonna go with the po'boy first?

What do you think, should I?

I mean, you love croquetas, so I don't think that's gonna be a hard one for you.

Yeah, so instead you have a steamed bun, and then— is it steamed?

That's what he said.

Steamed brioche bun. It actually, it feels crispy, that's why I was unsure about it.

Oh, nice.

And then you can see some fried baby squid, some aioli. Nice pepper on there. I'm gonna go ahead and put it into this bite. Let's try this sucker. Oh man, that is delicious. I love the bun. The fry on the squid is very, very light, very good flavor to it. I definitely really enjoy that. It's kind of like a hearty food, like what we like.

Yeah, I mean, it's a po'boy, right? Come on. It can't be that bad.

The lobster croqueta, it actually does have some shrimp in it. So it's shrimp béchamel and lobster. You can't actually see too much in there.

No, but man, we love their croquetas.

And then there's some saffron aioli that I'm gonna dunk it in. I will be ending on that bite. I might even order an extra for dessert later. It's so delicious, so nice creamy, nice crispy outer Outer shell.

Awesome.

All right, we are on to the mains. This is a pollo al ajillo and Catalan spinach. My apologies for my pronunciation.

I do think there's some grapes under there too.

Yeah, it is a chicken thigh, wilted spinach with apples, raisin, and pine nuts. All right.

Wow.

So it does have ají sauce.

Yeah. That chicken is so moist and tender. I do like the skin is crispy, but as you can see when I cut it—

Yeah, it did just come off.

It just comes off. So you're not gonna get an even amount of skin to anything else.

It looks very thin.

Yeah, there's some— it's got to be the sauce. It's got some— a little sweetness to it as well.

All right.

I really like it. Yeah, it's good. This one I'm so excited for, and Josh knows it.

Yeah, I'm probably gonna try it because I feel like I have to. Yeah, we're gonna guilt trip you. It's one of the main dishes.

That's one of the main dishes.

But if you've been watching for a while, you know I'm not a mushroom fan. And this is oyster mushroom sea anemone, which has mushroom essence, anchovy aioli, pickled shimeji mushrooms.

So It's not the texture thing that's getting me on this one. It's a very smoky flavor.

Oh, good.

It's really tasty, but I wasn't expecting it from it. It's a good mushroom. I'm surprised it's a main dish. I guess there are vegetarians.

It's probably vegetarian people. Yeah, we, we definitely are not vegetarians, but it's good.

I like it.

It'll— it has a good side for us. All right, I'm gonna try this mushroom. All right, these guys were thinking that I was gonna really hate it. I actually don't mind what I ate. Now, I ended up shaving just the top of it off, so I'm not sure if I would want to go—

You don't know if you want this?

Should I do it? I could try it. Let's go, let's go for this.

I think you're crazy.

We gotta try. That's the big You do have to try. I agree. That's gross.

I told you.

Yeah, I'm just gonna let my stomach do the chewing for me on that one. That is gone.

All right, but did you get a smokiness out of it too?

Yep. Okay, and I'm done. Okay, um, but let's go ahead and check out this scallop actually. So the scallop looks very good. This was a replacement.

Apparently it's normally the And it doesn't hurt Josh's feelings to not have salmon.

No, I'm actually very happy to have scallop instead of salmon.

Me too, because this was one of the dishes I wanted to order if we were ordering independently.

Yeah, so there's like pine nuts 3 ways in this. You can see it's a nice, nice sear on that scallop. Let's go ahead and try that.

This will be the second time this trip I've had scallops. Second time—

third time, third time, because it's the second time tonight we've had it. Really good. Nice, fresh. Very nice sear on the top and bottom of it. Yep, I had to double-check, but really good. Nice easy taste, not over the top, like, which is a little surprising to me that all of the mains I don't think have like this overwhelming strong flavor. So a little surprising.

I think the stronger flavors were at the very beginning of the meal.

I think so too, but dessert's next. All right.

It's not very thick.

Dessert time. This is like a key lime kind of— yep, key lime pie deconstructed into a sandcastle, basically. Constructed, deconstructed. Lots of lime, it sounds like.

There's also blueberries in there, it says too, so I do see a blueberry in my bite.

Good.

And I grabbed some foam.

They did say make sure you get a little bit of everything.

It's a very light dessert. The graham crackers add a nice crunch. The blueberry pops It's perfect.

Do you think it would be a good finisher?

I think it'll be a great finisher. I'm interested to try the little, uh, looks like seashells that they had on top that were lime. So that'd be an interesting piece, but I think it's, it's very light. It actually reminds me of a no-bake cheesecake type consistency.

Yeah, it almost looks— is it kind of like mousse-like?

A little thicker than mousse. Yeah.

Okay, well, we're gonna try and then we'll let you know at the end. All right, we just wrapped up here at Bazaar Mar tasting menu.

Yes.

What did you think? That was an experience for sure.

It was an experience for sure. I thought the, uh, beginning flavors were much stronger than the ending flavors, right? But that didn't make it bad. But I'll tell you, I would have eaten all 4— all of those first 6 courses, I would have probably had double of what they brought us.

Yeah, we said if we came back, we would probably order a little bit different, um, but it was unique because there was a lot of things that we got to try that we normally wouldn't. Yeah, for me, I could go for something just a little bit meatier. Not necessarily meat, but a little heftier in the main course.

Yep, I can see that easily.

Yeah, it ate a little bit lighter than I was expecting and ended a little bit with a whimper.

And I would like, I mean, and this is just me personally, I would like more options for dessert than just the one. I don't know what their normal dessert menu is. You can't really find that one as easy, but I would say that would be the biggest piece.

Yeah. If we came back, some of the things we definitely have is the lobster croquette, the chicken croquette, the Jose taco, the bun with the, uh, baby squid.

Yeah.

And we would get a whole fish.

Absolutely.

We saw somebody at a table next to us who got a whole fish fried. I would probably do that, honestly.

I would. But the key is, would you come back?

Yes.

Me too.

I would come back. If you're looking for seafood in Las Vegas, it's definitely going to be one of your freshest spots that you can get it outside of like a sushi place. So if you're looking for cooked and sushi version, I think check it out.

I agree. It's got unique flavors, especially for their smaller, uh, dishes. Tapas.

Yeah, especially for their tapas.

And their drink selection is very unique. So I would, I would highly recommend giving it a chance.

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