Inside Cantina Contramar, Vegas’s Most Exciting Mexican Restaurant
Some restaurants go for a quieter opening, but chef Gabriela Cámara took the opposite approach with her highly anticipated Las Vegas restaurant, Cantina Contramar, which debuted at the Fontainebleau on March 28 and had more than 300 seated diners on its first night. (This despite an original plan of serving only around 250.) Still, hosts had to turn away at least one group of bikini-clad diners who must have come straight from the pool dayclub and who might not have known about Contramar’s reputation as one of Mexico City’s finest seafood restaurants. Javier’s (or Nobu, or Tao, or STK), this is not.
The original Contramar opened in 1998 as an ode to Mexico’s beachside palapas, serving its now-iconic tuna tostadas topped with frizzy fried leeks and adobo- and pesto-painted butterflied pescado a la talla. It has become, in some ways, a marker of Mexico City’s rise in global culinary prominence, a siren song meal that blends swift, big-city service with the intricacy of a fine-dining restaurant. While modern Mexican cuisine has had a few installments in Las Vegas, namely Viva at Resorts World from Ray Garcia, Amaya at the Cosmopolitan, Enrique Olvera and Daniela Soto-Innes’s short-lived Elio at the Wynn, and its follow-up Casa Playa (whose chef, Sarah Thompson, was just named a James Beard finalist), Cantina Contramar represents the most beloved Mexico City restaurant to open in Sin City.
On opening night, the room filled quickly right at 5:30 p.m. as white-tuxedoed servers whizzed around to tables to explain the menu. Ceviche Contramar had the deep umami of cured fish and a tomato-forward pico de gallo marinade, as well as crunch from fresh kohlrabi (the preparation differs from the version in Mexico City, which features manzano chile and celery). Crudo de camarón, well-salted then tossed in salsa macha, gains brightness and texture from radish slices. Each presentation gets laid out as a visual feast at the cold app station. Even on the first night, cooks moved without rushing, carefully placing garnishes and slicing avocado wedges before finally crowning a dish.
Unlike in Mexico City, beef dishes play a stronger part in Cantina Contramar (it is in Vegas), such as the wagyu aguachile in salsa negra that could fit in at a Nobu. Tacos de gaonera, popularized at Michelin-starred El Califa de Leon, appear as wagyu tenderloin tacos with grilled onions and blackened salsa verde that adds a punch. Carne asada skirt steak and whole braised pork shank arrive ready for pliant corn and flour tortillas. For a restaurant so associated with seafood, Cantina Contramar has adapted to the Vegas crowd.
This isn’t Cámara’s first foray into the U.S. In 2015, she opened Cala in San Francisco to rave reviews before it eventually closed during the pandemic; in 2019, she opened a Santa Monica restaurant called Onda with Sqirl chef Jessica Koslow to mixed reception (it also closed during the pandemic). After the closures and Cámara’s stint as an advisor to Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the chef said she had “no intention” of ever opening another restaurant in the U.S. “I was happy living in Mexico,” says Cámara. “There was no way I was going to open in Vegas. I make restaurants where I want to go, where I belong. I wasn’t very knowledgeable about Vegas, but now I’ve come to love many things about Vegas,” she explained.
She became convinced when Fontainebleau offered her carte blanche to open the restaurant of her dreams, which meant having renowned architect Frida Escobedo (who is designing the new wing for New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art) oversee Cantina Contramar’s interior. While Cantina doesn’t have the timeless blue mural and streetside location of Mexico City, the room projects a palatial form with deep indigo tiles; the soaring ceiling conjures the breaking of dusk. A pillar of uniform volcanic rocks and a triangular copper hood punctuates the far wall, where a team assembles fresh tortillas throughout the service. The fully open kitchen, set up almost like a stage, cost $3 million.
“I think their culinary program is deliberately strong,” says Cámara of Fontainebleau’s food options, which includes Eater Vegas 2024 Best New Steakhouse Don’s Prime, Evan Funke’s Mother Wolf, $400-a-person omakase destination Ito (a New York transplant), and Chyna Club, arguably the most extravagant Cantonese restaurant in the U.S. Cantina Contramar is the final feather in the resort’s cap.
Coming to Vegas is nothing new for the world’s most famous chefs, including Gordon Ramsay, José Andrés, and Nobu Matsuhisa, given the city’s different kind of playing field. In addition to tourist and convention traffic, the city offers a prodigious talent pool; Cantina Contramar’s kitchen is composed mostly of Mexican cooks who previously worked at restaurants specializing in other cuisines. “For them to work in a Mexican restaurant is kind of a dream come true because it’s their heritage, but they’ve never experienced it this way,” says Cámara, citing the perception of Mexican food changes over the past decade since she opened Cala.
Back to its opening night: Cámara wasn’t troubled by overseeing details of the kitchen, instead visiting tables donning a crisp, all-white outfit, braided ponytail, and a wide smile. Fontainebleau’s executive kitchen staff oversaw the painted rockfish destined for a cage and hot grill; a squadron of tortilla cooks pushed out all manner of masa. For a first performance, the sights and smells felt impressive. Our table couldn’t finish the iconic pescado a la talla, which pulled apart in juicy, fleshy chunks, tinted with herbaceous pesto to hint at Cámara’s Italian side, then countered by the piquant adobo spread. Servers recommended smearing refried black beans on a tortilla, then tucking in both colors. Incredible.
Anyone who’s been to Contramar in Mexico City will notice its efficiency — a distinct way of welcoming first-timers and receiving regulars. “It’s a vibe; it’s a whole thing,” my friend and food writer Lucas Peterson, who’s been multiple times, tells me. Vegas isn’t the same — the lack of natural light, the pastel blues of a seashore replaced by shades befitting the dark middle of the ocean. “They said in Vegas, you can get whatever you want,” says Cámara about why she ultimately opened here. “For me, the real attraction is that I could do the restaurant I wanted to do. We’re excited to do a place that doesn’t exist in Vegas.”
Cantina Contramar is open daily at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas from 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. with eventual brunch service.
