Casa Playa

Casa Playa is Encore's coastal-Mexican fine-dining room — and as of June 15, 2026, the home of history: executive chef Sarah Thompson won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest, becoming the first female chef on the Las Vegas Strip ever to take the prize (and delivering the city's first outright win since 2010). She has led the kitchen since its 2021 opening.

The cooking is Baja by way of a fine-dining bench: ceviches and aguachiles off the raw bar, a house masa program grinding daily, the Mexican blue shrimp ceviche and chicken mole as signatures, and large-format shareables — the wagyu carne asada Surf and Turf among them — running $105-225. The tequila-and-mezcal cellar runs deep; the Temple of Doom margarita is the pour of record.

Post-Beard reality: demand jumped, so book ahead — dinner only, roughly Wednesday-Sunday from 5:30, with a 'casual chic' dress code that means what it says. Plan $100-plus a head before the agave list gets involved. The room was excellent before the medal; now it's excellent with a waitlist.