The Wynn Is Launching an Over-The-Top New Food Fest This Weekend

For more than a year, chef Christopher Lee has been envisioning launching an extravagant over-the-top food festival that would put as much attention on the decor and entertainment as it did on the food. Initially, the vice president of culinary for Wynn Las Vegas had planned to launch the Feast food event in April, when the weather was just right for milling about the lawn at the Wynn. But the World’s 50 Best Restaurants event is here this week, and he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to launch the inaugural festival while in the company of some of the world’s greatest makers — and consumers — of food.

The Feast food festival is the culminating event of Revelry — the series of events that Wynn is running in tandem with the 50 Best. On the evening of Saturday, June 8, Lee will team up with chefs from Las Vegas and abroad to host a sprawling event on the event pavilion and lawn. The fest will be divided into four themed regions with over-the-top design, entertainment, and server-passed bites of food inspired by four international regions.

One region of the festival will be themed to Tulum, Mexico, with beachy furnishings, decorative plants and greenery, lounge chairs and swings for seating, and Mexican food. Chef Sarah Thompson of Wynn’s Casa Playa will work a ceviche cart, Esdras Ochoa of LA’s Mexicali Taco & Co will serve tacos from a taco stand, and the resort’s pastry chef, Jen Yee, will prepare made-to-order churros while modern dancers perform on stage.

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Chef Alon Shaya of Wynn’s Safta 1964 will wood-fire fluffy pitas at the Casbah Marketplace quarter of the festival. The Mediterranean and Middle Eastern-themed area will be decorated with bright colors and feature a hookah lounge and music. Chefs Stephanie Sandfrey and Jose Ayala of the forthcoming Zaytinya by José Andrés will have a whole grilling setup with meat impaled on swords over fire. And chefs Laura and Sayat Ozyilmaz of San Francisco’s Dalida will prepare wrapped lamb kababs.

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An area dedicated to American barbecuing is working with Yellowstone producer Taylor Sheridan’s Four Sixes Ranch to develop a cowboy cookout. Expect wood-burning grills laden with whole hogs and tomahawks, a smoker that can bear a thousand pounds of meat, and chili-baked beans cooked in wood-burning cauldrons. Heather Wong of LA’s Flouring Cake Shop will run the dessert table. The event will culminate here with a cowboy hoedown.

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And the last section is themed to Shibuya, Japan. Six guys wearing kimonos will ceremoniously carry a 250-pound bluefin tuna to the pavilion, which a chef will then butcher before serving. A 40-pound ora king salmon will also be prepared and served on-site. The self-proclaimed “dry-aged fish guy” Liwei Liao, and online creator Yakitoriguy will make handrolls and Japanese dishes while Mizumi’s chef Jeff Ramsay will craft nigiri and sashimi throughout the evening. Two chefs will square off Iron Chef-style before the night’s end. Dancers and performers in geisha costumes will perform on stage in the glow of Tokyo-inspired lights and decor.

Wynn mixologist Mariena Mercer Boarini is designing cocktails for each flavor profile while Ash Miyasaki of LA’s Let’s Go! Disco & Cocktail Club is curating the wine and beer selections. While Lee expects the Feast to be held annually, the inaugural event is $300 per person and runs from 7:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. See more parties, dinners, and events that are running in tandem with the World’s 50 Best here.