A stunning new Strip restaurant brings candles, caviar and soaring ceiling art
Cathédrale, the ecclesiastically inspired New York City restaurant, with dining in the nave and aisles beneath a colossal ceiling sculpture, certainly looks as if it belonged in Las Vegas. And now it will be.
On May 1, a sister Cathédrale is opening at Aria on the Strip, and from the description, it bids fair to deliver all the High Baroque drama of the mother church.
At the entrance, there’s cascading blue drapery, which parts to reveal an art-filled tunnel flickering with candles, which leads to a lounge canopied in metal chains, which gives onto a soaring dining room with a monumental ceiling installation above banquettes in blue leather.
The 266-seat Cathédrale comes courtesy of Tao Group Hospitality, the dining and nightlife imperium with properties across five continents. Rockwell Group designed the Vegas restaurant.
The menu, from Tao Group chief culinary officer Ralph Scamardella and executive chef Jason Hall, draws on the cooking of the coastal areas of Spain, France, Italy and Greece.
Among the signature dishes are The Omelette filled with crème fraîche and chives, then topped with Kaluga caviar; whole Dover sole with lemon caper butter; salt-baked branzino with rocket and Sorrento lemon; a 22-ounce Prime aged ribeye with rotisserie leeks; and tableside crêpes Suzette for two with orange caramel and crème Chantilly.
Cocktails supply their own drama, like The Quaternary with Ketel One vodka, Plymouth gin, Dolin dry vermouth, orange bitters, Castelvetrano olives and Kaluga caviar, served in a block of ice. There’s also an expansive wine list.
Cathédrale, off Aria’s main lobby, will be open 5 to 10:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The restaurant joins Egghead, Jewel Nightclub and Liquid Pool in the Tao Group portfolio at Aria. Visit taogroup.com/venues/cathedrale-las-vegas for more information.
Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ItsJLW on Twitter.
