Chocolate zombies invade Aria for Halloween display — PHOTOS
Aria’s latest invited guest is 6 feet tall and weighs more than 200 pounds, and if he looks a whole lot worse than the most hard-partying, down-on-his-luck gambler, well, that should be forgiven. He is, after all, a zombie.
And you can even take a selfie with him.
The zombie, named Amaury (in honor of the assistant pastry chef), will go on display Friday at the hotel. Made of 150 pounds of chocolate, with another 50 pounds of rolled fondant for the details, he’s just one of three life-sized characters created for the Halloween season by the staff of the Jean Philippe Patisserie shops at Aria and Bellagio.
Claude Escamilla, executive pastry chef of the patisseries, said planning for the figures and 40-plus other display pieces started a year in advance, with 10 people working on them full tilt since January. As for the theme?
“I’m a big fan of ‘The Walking Dead,’ ” said Escamilla, whose voice betrays more than a hint of his Gallic origins. “I may be from France, but I’m an American. I love this kind of thing.”
The spinoff “Fear the Walking Dead” returned Aug. 21, he said, “so it’s perfect.”
Also at the Aria shop will be a 5½-foot-tall zombie in an electric chair, made with 150 pounds of white and dark chocolate. The centerpiece at the Bellagio shop will be a zombie showgirl weighing in at a not-so-svelte 225 pounds, of which 150 pounds are chocolate and 75 rolled fondant. She’ll be holding a famous Las Vegas icon.
“We created the Las Vegas sign, burned out and broken,” Escamilla said.
The showgirl will be high on a platform at the center of the Bellagio shop. Nearby will be six zombie heads on shelves, among the 20 large pieces, including skulls and pumpkins, that will be on display there. But those won’t be the only Halloween presence at the patisserie.
“My plan this year is to remove everything at Bellagio,” he said. “When you go to the shop, everything is going to be changed, everything will be about Halloween,” 95 percent of which will be zombie-related. The Aria shop will have nearly the same concentration, he said, although they didn’t have time to replace a few big display cakes.
The patisseries have been known for their elaborate Halloween displays, but this year newly defines “elaborate.”
“We did crazy things, but just one or two pieces,” Escamilla said. “This is the first time we’re going to change everything in the store. Usually we just put one big piece in the middle. We really wanted to do something very special.”
Escamilla’s creations may not walk, but they definitely do look dead. He said he’s not worried that people who pose with the Aria zombie might be tempted to scrape off a morsel of chocolate or two.
“It’s part of the game,” he said. “I want to please my customers.
“But honestly, when you look at it, you don’t want to bite. I had people who came to my kitchen and looked at it and said, ‘Oh, shoot.’
“He’s a zombie.”
Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Find more of her stories at www.reviewjournal.com, and follow @HKRinella on Twitter.