Wynn Magazine - Las Vegas
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/760086
precisely like a late-season dinner in Venice. The race to procure these tiny delicacies in many ways defines the kitchen of chef Mark LoRusso at Costa di Mare, who has taken a restaurant already well-known for the rarity of its seafood (gourmands make pilgrim- ages here just for the live langoustines) and introduced species that are here and gone in the blink of a short sea- son. "We've always gotten species that are really hard to come by," LoRusso says, "but with our focus on season- ality, we're bringing in really rare things." And while the menu is a good indication of what is available on any night, it's what's off the menu that can be truly special. Since taking the helm of the restaurant, LoRusso has of- ten allowed the seasons—and Wynn's resourceful, ded- icated seafood dealer in Milan—to dictate what will be compiled in single shipments from the Ligurian, Ionian, Tyrrhenian, and Adriatic seas. "Tomorrow night after service, we'll order the fish," the chef explains, sitting at a table in the late afternoon before the dinner hour, overlooking Costa di Mare's serene private lagoon. "He'll send a couple of kilos of things we've never seen before—and then the fun be- gins," he adds with a smile. "We'll grill it; we'll see if we can use it as crudo. We know it's coming in about two days before, and he'll tell us where it's from, so we'll begin researching. Some of our waiters will have had something as children in Italy, and they get excited to see it." In fact, most of the waiters have worked at the restaurant for the 10 years it has been open, presenting the night's catch to guests in an elaborate tableside cart service whose variety almost always dictates the meal. For general manager Elion Prodani and his staff of predominantly Italian waiters, the two or three week- ly shipments of 100 kilos (220 pounds) of seafood still seem wildly abundant. "In Italy, people have their local markets," he says, recalling a couple who came into the restaurant seeking to duplicate a dining experience from their honeymoon in Venice. "They showed us the exact wine and pictures of the fish they had. But it was "We've always gotten species that are hard to come by, but with our focus on seasonality, we're bringing in really rare things."— mark lorusso 87 clockwise from top left: A dramatic sculpture in Costa di Mare's dining room depicts a swirling school of gilded fish, inspired by the work of Dominic and Frances Bromley of Scabetti; diners can sit in cabanas to dine alfresco around the private lagoon; chef Mark LoRusso; a private dining room.