Sarah Thompson Transcript
Kerry Diamond:
Hi, everyone. You are listening to Radio Cherry Bombe, and I'm your host, Kerry Diamond, coming to you from SiriusXM Studio at Wynn Las Vegas. Today's guest is Sarah Thompson, executive chef of Casa Playa at Encore at the Wynn. Sarah, who was recently named a semi-finalist for a Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest is one of the few female executive chefs on the Strip in Las Vegas. Sarah wanted to be a chef since she was a teenager and worked in some of New York City's top fine dining restaurants before packing up her Brooklyn life and heading to Vegas. We chat about how her family influenced her career, the masa program at Casa Playa (some nights Sarah's team makes thousands of tortillas), the dishes she can't take off the menu, and where the chefs hang out after hours. Stay tuned for my chat with Sarah Thompson.
This episode is presented by Las Vegas. The city is a culinary playground where innovation, global flavors, and unforgettable experiences collide. From its vibrant food halls featuring renowned coast-to-coast eats to elevated fine dining concepts with world-renowned chefs, Las Vegas redefines gastronomic excellence. In 2025, Las Vegas continues to prove itself as a must-visit destination for food lovers, offering something extraordinary for every palate. There's Casa Playa at the Wynn where Chef Sarah Thompson and her team create dishes inspired by coastal Mexico. Sarah was just named a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Southwest. Congratulations, Sarah. Pinky's by Vanderpump is a new concept from the former star of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” and restaurateur, Lisa Vanderpump, that opened at Flamingo Las Vegas this past December. They offer distinctive dishes and statement cocktails that translate into Instagrammable moments for guests. You know I love a little IG moment. And last but definitely not least, COTE, that's C-O-T-E, known for its dynamic fusion of Korean barbecue and American steakhouse, is set to open its first West Coast location at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas this summer. You've heard from COTE Beverage Director, Victoria James, on past episodes of our show and you know she is the Bombe. She and the team at COTE are crushing it and I am sure this location is going to be very special. The Las Vegas culinary scene is clearly on a roll. Plan your visit at visitlasvegas.com.
Now, let's check in with today's guest. Sarah Thompson, welcome to Radio Cherry Bombe.
Sarah Thompson:
Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to be here.
Kerry Diamond:
Congratulations on being a James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef: Southwest. I want to know, how did you feel when you found this out and where were you when you found out?
Sarah Thompson:
Thank you so much. We are so excited at Casa Playa. It's such an amazing thing to be recognized for. When we found out I was literally in bed, I wake up at nine o'clock every day. I have a routine that I do every day. And it is announced at 7:00 a.m. here, so I woke up to a lot of texts and phone calls from my boss and all of the people above me and I'm like, "Oh, no." And then I realized that they were all good messages, so we were all really excited. It was a really cool day.
Kerry Diamond:
Aww. Was your wife there?
Sarah Thompson:
She was.
Kerry Diamond:
And the cats?
Sarah Thompson:
And the cats. Most importantly the cats. I think that they were a little bit confused, but that's okay. They got there eventually.
Kerry Diamond:
And this is your first Beard nomination?
Sarah Thompson:
This is the first Beard nomination.
Kerry Diamond:
Congratulations.
Sarah Thompson:
Thank you so much.
Kerry Diamond:
It's a very big deal.
Sarah Thompson:
Thank you.
Kerry Diamond:
I want to talk about Casa Playa. The most beautiful meal there last night. It was so much fun and thank you for coming out and talking me through the courses and Daniel, the mixologist, was fantastic and all the drinks I absolutely loved. I tried the mocktails and the cocktails. I want to give folks a taste of what Casa Playa is all about. The restaurant specializes in coastal Mexican cuisine. Tell me some of the menu highlights that exemplify that cuisine.
Sarah Thompson:
Coastal Mexican, as you said, there's a huge focus on seafood. My favorite part of the menu is the ceviche section. The aguachiles, we have five or six that we rotate through and I find that this is the part of the menu that probably changes the most. It's the section that I have the most fun with, but throughout the entire menu there's a huge focus on seafood. We're in Las Vegas, so there's obviously, we have large formats, we have surf and turfs, short ribs, and all different kinds of options, but the focus is on seafood and getting as much local product as possible and then using as many Mexican ingredients to make sure we're sticking with the theme of the restaurant.
Kerry Diamond:
Tell everybody about the first dish that you sent out, because that was so spectacular. It's one of those dishes you almost feel bad disturbing the food on the plate, it's so pretty.
Sarah Thompson:
That's one of my favorite dishes and I actually need to change it, but I just like it so much. Every time I come up with something different I poll the audience and everyone's like, "No, keep the Kampachi on." So, your first course last night was this beautiful kampachi. It's seasoned with a little bit of aji amarillo salt with charred avocado, a fermented chili sauce. It's kind of like Mexican kimchi. We make kimchi, but we use all Mexican chilies and we ferment it for about three months. So, it has a ton of flavor and just a small amount of sauce. And then it's with some finger lime and tomato dashi and cilantro oil. And like you said, "You just wanted to drink everything off the plate," which is the goal.
Kerry Diamond:
You did serve it in the bowl. So, when Sarah came out I said, "Was I supposed to drink the liquid in the bottom?" And you were like, "Not really."
Sarah Thompson:
Honestly, it's really good to have that and then have a little bit of tequila or mescal after, as like a sangrita. When you come back, we'll have to do that next time.
Kerry Diamond:
The bowl does weigh about 100 pounds, that you serve that in. So, when I started tipping it to try to get some of the liquid out with my spoon, I was like, "I'm not entirely sure if I'm eating this the way Sarah meant," but knowing enough about you, I was like, "She's probably just like, 'eat it however you want.'"
Sarah Thompson:
As long as you enjoy it, that's all that matters.
Kerry Diamond:
Now, you said you have to change it. Why?
Sarah Thompson:
It's just been on the menu for about a year and there are certain items that are definitely signature items of the restaurant that are not going to change, but especially in that section of the menu, we just like to keep it updated and fun and lively. So, we don't have to, we can do a lot of different things with our menu. I have a lot of creative freedom here, which I'm really grateful for, but it's just one of those things I'm like, "Let's see what we can do. Let's try to make something better." And that's how we all grow as chefs.
Kerry Diamond:
What are the dishes on the menu you absolutely cannot change? Because I know you have regulars.
Sarah Thompson:
We definitely cannot change our short rib dish, that's become one of our signature items. It's a short rib suadero. It's really, really beautiful. We cook the short rib sous vide for about 24 hours, then we lay it flat and then we sear it on all the sides. It comes with avocados and shishitos. It's the best-selling entree on our menu. I don't think that I am ever allowed to take it off. The enchiladas as well, just a crowd pleaser. And obviously, guac can never go anywhere.
Kerry Diamond:
It looks so good. It also came with some tortillas on the side.
Sarah Thompson:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
Which leads to my next question. I read that your team makes up to 5,000 tortillas a day. Is that true?
Sarah Thompson:
They do, on busy nights.
Kerry Diamond:
On busy nights, okay.
Sarah Thompson:
On Friday and Saturday we actually have expanded hours. We're open for late night, so we're open, our service is from 5:00 to 12:30, which is a really long dinner service. And our late night menu, we turn the restaurant into a taqueria. So, it's really fun. We do taco tastings with all these different types of tacos like papas con chorizo, fried fish tacos. Honestly, it's a blast. Late night bites, I don't mean to shamelessly plug it, but I'm pretty obsessed with that menu. It's just flavorful, late night bar bites, honestly.
Kerry Diamond:
You are free to shamelessly plug whatever you want. What time is a good time to get there?
Sarah Thompson:
We start the late night menu at 10 o'clock on Fridays and Saturdays.
Kerry Diamond:
We’ll be right back with today's guest. Our next big event is Jubilee, happening Saturday, April 12th, in New York City. We hosted the very first Jubilee in 2014 after I read an article on eater.com about women being shut out of food conferences around the world. Boo to that. Since then, Jubilee has grown to become the largest gathering of women in the food and drink space in the U.S. Be sure to get your tickets before they sell out. If you're a Cherry Bombe member, check your inbox for special member pricing.
If you are in New York City on Thursday, March 27th, join us at Alex Mill at Rockefeller Center from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. for a fun night with the Alex Mill team and team Cherry Bombe. Come by and shop the spring collection, enter for a chance to win Jubilee tickets and an Alex Mill gift card, and enjoy treats from some of our favorite local bakers. I'll be rocking my favorite Alex Mill jeans and we are ready to do any personal shopping or styling you need. Everybody is welcome, just come on by. For all the details on our Alex Mill event, visit cherrybombe.com.
You are very proud of your Masa Program.
Sarah Thompson:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
Tell us about it.
Sarah Thompson:
We use Masienda and we source all of their heirloom corn from different farms in Mexico, which is one of the things I'm most proud about. And working with Masienda, we're able to give back to small communities in Mexico that might not have the resources if they weren't working with Masienda, because they go to their farms and they will buy all of their product. This was product that would take people months, if not years, to sell. So, the farmers are able to take that money and put it back into the community and it just creates a lot of opportunity, which I'm really proud of. It's a really, really cool program.
And then we also, in turn, get really beautiful masa, really beautiful corn. I have three people every day just dedicated to this process. We have one person who will cook the corn at night and then in the morning we have another woman that comes in and mills all the corn. It just happens to be a woman. We season it, mix it, do all of this stuff. Then that woman will also do all of our production, make our machetes, our tamales, enchiladas, tostadas, all of that stuff. I have two people that come in every night and just make, hand fries, tortillas. So, you can have the best tortilla, super fresh, just off the planta, puffed up, so you can enjoy tortillas with a lot of the food on our menu.
Kerry Diamond:
You said machete, you make those here? Because that's a specialty, you don't see those in a lot of places-
Sarah Thompson:
No.
Kerry Diamond:
... here in the U.S.
Sarah Thompson:
I think thirteen-inch tortilla named after the knife, that's why it's so long. They're really fun. We do them for events and everything like that. Yeah, they're huge.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah.
Sarah Thompson:
It's funny, when we have a lot of athletes come in and they come in and they'll order three of them for themselves and I'm like, "I can barely eat one of these." I am just blown away. It's really impressive. I'm not going to lie.
Kerry Diamond:
Do you get to go to Mexico a lot as part of the job?
Sarah Thompson:
Not as often as I would like. I definitely make an effort to go once a year to experience different parts of the country, different restaurants and just make sure you stay relevant. You want to be able to, I work in a Mexican restaurant in Las Vegas, I want to make sure that we're keeping up with trends, making sure we're using the right ingredients and sourcing the right ingredients as well.
Kerry Diamond:
Sarah, where did you grow up?
Sarah Thompson:
I grew up in Massachusetts. So, very, very far from here in the suburbs of Boston, in this town called Shrewsbury.
Kerry Diamond:
I read that you credit your mother with being the inspiration for your career. How did your upbringing influence your career path?
Sarah Thompson:
I credit both of my parents very much. Neither of them are in the restaurant industry, but they have been the most supportive parents. As soon as I told them I was interested in pursuing culinary arts, they gave me as many resources as I could to make sure I was successful and I am so grateful for them. But just growing up, my parents always had a sense of community about food. We sat down for family dinner every night, no matter what was going on, whether it was piano lessons or softball practice or whatever it was, we all sat down for dinner. It was just amazing. I loved it and I didn't realize how special that was until you grow up and you meet a lot of other people. But I love sitting down for dinner every night.
And my parents hosted a lot of family events. We would do a lot of things and it was always focused around food. They're really amazing hosts. They both are very interested in food. My dad loves smoking meat and whatever they want to do, they just go and they do it. It's really cool. So, growing up I got to try a lot of really cool new things and they just have been an amazing support system.
Kerry Diamond:
Now, when did you know you wanted to be a chef?
Sarah Thompson:
In high school. My freshman year in high school. For some reason I just was like, "I think I'm going to be a chef," and that was it.
Kerry Diamond:
Were you a Food Network baby? How did that happen?
Sarah Thompson:
I watched the Food Network, it didn't speak to me as much. I was just really fascinated by restaurant culture. I have a lot of energy, really fast pace and I really was intrigued by that environment and I loved dining. I loved going out to eat. Even if it were just a casual restaurant, it didn't really matter. I just really loved those experiences and learning from those experiences. So, that's really it.
Kerry Diamond:
Freshman year in high school. So, did you take yourself off the college career path?
Sarah Thompson:
I knew I wanted to go to culinary school and I still applied to go to regular colleges, because that's what I was expected to do, but I ended up going to the Culinary Institute of America.
Kerry Diamond:
Were your parents cool that you didn't go to college?
Sarah Thompson:
100%. And, I mean, I have a bachelor's degree from the Culinary Institute of America. Obviously, it was a way less traditional path. You learn much different skills. It's interesting because I'm one of the only people that I know in my friend group that went to school for the thing that they're actually still doing and I never really looked back. Like we've talked about, there's just a lot of support and it was a really incredible experience. It was really a huge growth experience for me.
Kerry Diamond:
So, you went to the Hyde Park one?
Sarah Thompson:
I did.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay. How was your experience?
Sarah Thompson:
It was great. I still am close with friend group from there. A lot of them are still in the culinary community in New York, which is really cool. I have amazing memories of those classes. You're in class for eight hours a day just learning about cuisines of America, cuisines of Asia, or just skills classes. I remember my classes of them teaching us how to brunoise, and large dice, and making sure your yield is good. These are the lessons that I'm teaching my cooks now. Knife work is very important and we're going through, and I have cooks of all different skill sets. And I have some that have never worked in restaurants before, so we're teaching them how to brunoise, how to cut an onion, how to do a medium dice, and I'm like, "Oh, I remember this class. This is so fun."
Kerry Diamond:
After graduation, you worked in some of the top kitchens in New York City like Marea and Cosme. Did you pursue the fine dining path on purpose or did the fine dining path just find you accidentally?
Sarah Thompson:
I have always been passionate about fine dining. I never was interested in, necessarily, I want to work at a white tablecloth restaurant, it needs to be Michelin Stars. I was just interested in experiences and they happened to be the fine dining restaurants. And-
Kerry Diamond:
When you say, "Always," even in high school you knew what fine dining was?
Sarah Thompson:
I thought I knew what fine dining was. I did not. I had an idea in my head of what fine dining was and in the suburbs of Boston when I was going to TGI Friday's and Bertucci's and those places, those were the types of experiences we were having. We weren't going to anything over the top or anything crazy, but it was definitely an eye-opening experience when I did have my first Michelin Star experience and I'm like, "Whoa."
Kerry Diamond:
Did you decide in culinary school that this was your path? That you wanted to work for the best and be in the best kitchens?
Sarah Thompson:
I did. That was something I've always wanted to pursue. It was something I was passionate about. I didn't even think anything of it, but I knew I wasn't interested in doing... Because in culinary school you meet all different kinds of people and people go to culinary school at different parts of their life. So, my class wasn't just people who had just graduated high school and were pursuing this as their college, people were in their 30s, their 40s, and they're like, "Oh, I need to get a degree so I can get promoted," and they had this corporate job. Or, "I want to work for a stadium. I want to work for a big catering company." And to me, I was like, "I will never do that." Now I work for a casino, so clearly things change. I was very just interested in the elite restaurants. I was always a competitive athlete. And-
Kerry Diamond:
I was going to say, were you always competitive?
Sarah Thompson:
Yes. I feel like that type of culture really resonated with me.
Kerry Diamond:
What sports?
Sarah Thompson:
I was softball and downhill skiing. Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh wow, okay. Okay. Serious stuff. So, you wind up in places like Marea and Cosme. What was your first job out of college?
Sarah Thompson:
It was Marea.
Kerry Diamond:
It was Marea, okay.
Sarah Thompson:
I was actually at Marea when they got two Michelin Stars, which was such a cool experience. I was a hot-app cook at the time and it was my first line cook position, because when you go, you start at Garde Manger, and you go to Crudo and I was so scared to work the line, because I was 20 years old. I was like, "Oh my God, I can't go work the line." And someone called out one day, they needed someone, so they just threw me over there and then a week later I'm the hot-apps cook, we get two Michelin Stars and I'm like, "Oh my God." I had no idea. I had no idea the ins and outs of those types of awards and what that looked like and what actually went into getting them. Now, 15 years later, I have a much better idea and I'm like, "That's insane."
Kerry Diamond:
I want to see hot-app cook on a T-shirt. I don't know why. When you said, "Hot-app cook," I was like, "Oh, I could see that on a T-shirt," or a trucker hat.
Sarah Thompson:
I like that, yeah. Or it said, "Hot to go hot-app cook."
Kerry Diamond:
Exactly.
Sarah Thompson:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
To the tune of Chapell Roan's Hot To Go, of course. Were you hazed? Did you get your ass kicked? Did you take to it like a duck to water? How was the experience?
Sarah Thompson:
No, hazing. I never really worked in any of those environments, which I'm really grateful for.
Kerry Diamond:
Happy to hear that.
Sarah Thompson:
Because I definitely have heard about it and seen it and it doesn't seem like a very healthy work environment. I'm really lucky. I had someone at Marea, his name is Amador, he was the executive sous chef, and he just took me under his wing. And he was like, "I will teach you. You're going to be fine." And he did. He taught me how to be a line cook. He taught me how to be a grill cook. He taught me how to cook all these different kinds of fish, how to break down all of these fish.
And to this day the skills that he taught me are the skills that I actively teach my cooks. He was such a good mentor and such a good leader and he also was a very hands-on teacher, was very encouraging. Like, "I know this, so I'm going to pass it to you and I expect you to pass it to people." There's no point of having this information here and not sharing it. What's the point? You want everyone around you to grow and be as good as you, if not better. That's a sign of a good leader.
Kerry Diamond:
That's amazing, because so many of us, I think, in our first jobs are just thrown into the water. It's a sink or swim situation.
Sarah Thompson:
I mean there were days, there were definitely days. It was a very high-volume restaurant with very high expectations. It's not like we're getting that hands-on mentorship every day, but every week, even a few days a week, he would make an effort to guide us and teach us. And it wasn't just me, it was a lot of the cooks there, which was really amazing.
Kerry Diamond:
The food is so good at Marea.
Sarah Thompson:
Right?
Kerry Diamond:
What were some of the hot apps you were cooking?
Sarah Thompson:
The one that I remember the most is their octopus dish, which I believe is still on the menu with the tonnato and the black olive oil. You dehydrate black olives and then you blend that into olive oil and it has this strong flavor, with pickled red onions and charred frisée with saba. And I can't believe I remember all that because I haven't made that dish, again, in 15 years.
Kerry Diamond:
When and how did you wind up with Cosme? And tell us a little bit about Cosme.
Sarah Thompson:
So Cosme, oh my God. Cosme I think was some of the best and obviously most influential years of my life. I loved working there so much and it influenced, I take the influences I learned there and I still use them every day. Daniela is just such an inspiring leader.
Kerry Diamond:
Soto-Innes, mm-hmm.
Sarah Thompson:
Yes. I think that I learned a lot about leadership from her, which is really important. She's a very good leader. She's a very strong leader. She's a very hands-on leader. And cooks, at least myself and I feel like a lot of people that I work with, take really well to hands-on leadership and hands-on teaching and demonstrations and I learned a lot from that. It was really cool. Cosme, I ended up there by chance. I didn't even know what it was. I didn't know that it existed.
I was working for a restaurant that was closing and the pastry sous chef at the time from Cosme came in to eat at the restaurant I was working called Alder, Wylie Dufresne, it was a great restaurant, and we went to culinary school together and she was like, "Oh, we're looking for more sous chefs." And this was before they got the three stars from The New York Times, before Daniela had gotten any of the accolades that she had gotten. No one really knew who she was. She still was just the chef de cuisine of Cosme and that was really it. And now she's one of the most influential female leaders in all of the culinary world, which is insane.
Kerry Diamond:
It was such a big deal when Cosme opened.
Sarah Thompson:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah. But wait, I forgot about the Alder years. Wylie Dufresne had a place called WD~50 that was so hugely influential.
Sarah Thompson:
Yes. He was known as the molecular gastronomy king. He brought so many unique techniques to the restaurant scene in New York, especially because molecular gastronomy was really having a moment. This was 10 plus years ago and it was so cool and I worked for, I was part of the opening team of Alder, which was a more casual restaurant in the Lower East Side. It was really cool. We did so many unique things and I learned so much there as well. Everywhere that I worked really shaped me as the chef I am now and it was just a really cool experience learning those techniques and working with different ingredients.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah. Were you learning the molecular techniques? I don't remember him using a lot of them at Alder.
Sarah Thompson:
He did, but in less in your face ways. You know what I mean? They were in a lot of different components, but it was a lot of that creative thinking, that was really valuable to me because it wasn't just like, okay, you want to have pigs in a blanket. How are we going to make this the most unique pigs in a blanket you've ever had? We're going to use this type of sausage, we're going to take hot dog buns and roll them in a pasta maker so we can wrap them around in a really specific way, then deep-fry them and it's going to get this texture. And then it's like I would've never thought of that. That's so cool.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay. Cosme, you have the Cosme experience. You have the opportunity to come to Las Vegas.
Sarah Thompson:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
Not an opportunity back then that every young, hot chef would jump at.
Sarah Thompson:
And I didn't right away. Moving out here was a really hard decision. When I was first asked, I was just like, "Yeah, right. No way." I didn't really think of Las Vegas as a relevant food market compared to New York.
Kerry Diamond:
It hadn't popped yet-
Sarah Thompson:
No.
Kerry Diamond:
... in the way that it has today.
Sarah Thompson:
And this was in 2019, so this was now almost six years ago, all of this was happening and my life was in New York. My community, everyone that I had worked with and I loved the city, I loved the dining, I loved everything about it.
Kerry Diamond:
Did you live in Brooklyn?
Sarah Thompson:
I lived in Brooklyn.
Kerry Diamond:
You project Brooklyn. Despite your years here, you still project Brooklyn, Sarah.
Sarah Thompson:
Thank you. That's why people are still a little confused by me here. They're like, "Where is she from? It's not here." But thank you. That means a lot coming from you, because I know you're a Brooklyn girl.
Kerry Diamond:
You are welcome. So, you come out here.
Sarah Thompson:
I come out here.
Kerry Diamond:
How were you convinced?
Sarah Thompson:
It's just that life changed. Things shifted and I was ready for a new opportunity and I wasn't going to get the same opportunities in New York. And the timing was not great. It was really specific. We moved out here to-
Kerry Diamond:
And you were married at the time?
Sarah Thompson:
No, I was not. I got married a year and a half later. I was actually, when we moved out here, I wasn't dating anyone and my wife came out for the friends and family of Elio, which is the restaurant we were coming to open and then the pandemic happened. Literally the day that she came out for friends and family, they told us that we weren't opening the restaurant the next day. So, we had these huge friends and families, we had invited 300, 500 people out and then all of a sudden it was like, "We're not opening." And it was crazy. We're like, "What do you mean we're not opening?"
Kerry Diamond:
How devastating.
Sarah Thompson:
We have all this food, we have all these people invited, we have everything here, ready for it. And they're like, "There's all of these mandates." And that was it. And it was so weird. It was like the craziest time for restaurants and all of that momentum and all of that excitement just kind of shifted.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, and it's so much work for anybody. I mean, you know I had some restaurants in Brooklyn, much smaller scale than what you're dealing with here, but just the work toward opening a restaurant, it is exhausting, emotionally, physically, everything, to get to that point and then to find out you're not opening. I just can't imagine how crushing.
Sarah Thompson:
It was a weird time though. It wasn't... The factors that led to us not opening were factors that affected all restaurants, anyone in F&B. It was crazy. Obviously, it was a singular experience because we were opening a restaurant, but it's not like no one else was affected. The whole community was affected. It was really sad. It was really hard. But luckily the Wynn kept all of us employed, which I'm really, really grateful for.
Kerry Diamond:
That's tremendous.
Sarah Thompson:
So, we did eventually open and we were able to keep the entire team, which I was really grateful for, but it was just such a weird time. You're not going to be promoting a new restaurant when all of the people around you are struggling and there's all of these SOPs like you have to have people far away from each other, you can't order, you can't share food. So, a lot of the core concept of the restaurant didn't really happen. There's no momentum behind it in the same way. And then eventually the Wynn decided not to keep going with it. Terrible timing, honestly.
Kerry Diamond:
Right. You said that it wasn't Casa Playa. When did it become Casa Playa and when did it become yours?
Sarah Thompson:
So, Elio didn't open, then opened, and then closed, and then opened, and it was this whole experience. And then at the end of 2020 the Wynn decided to not pursue Elio anymore and they asked me to stay on to do another Mexican concept that they were working on. So, in September 2021 we opened Casa Playa. It was just a crazy experience. So, I've been in Vegas for about five years and opened two restaurants. Who would've thought?
Kerry Diamond:
That's amazing. So many follow-up questions from that, but how tremendous that they were able to keep everybody on payroll?
Sarah Thompson:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
That was not happening back in New York.
Sarah Thompson:
No. I am really grateful and I still have five people from day one at Elio still work with me at Casa Playa, which is incredible. Five years of just those highs and those lows, and we're open, and we're not open. Can you wait for 10 more months and then we'll open another restaurant? Do you still want to do this? I can't believe it.
Kerry Diamond:
That's a lot.
Sarah Thompson:
I know.
Kerry Diamond:
That is a lot, oh my gosh. So, they ask you to stay on to do this coastal Mexican concept that is now Casa Playa. You and I are kind of just getting to know each other, but I know you're someone who's very thoughtful, does beautiful food, has had a great career so far. Obviously, you would never want to be less than sensitive toward a cuisine that you did not grow up with and that is not part of your heritage. So, how did you approach being the lead chef of this project?
Sarah Thompson:
That's an interesting question because I'm obviously White and I didn't grow up in Mexican cuisine or culture. We didn't eat Mexican food at all growing up, but I worked with and trained under the best Mexican chefs in the world. And I'm so lucky, Daniela Soto-Innes, she took me under her wing and she taught me so much. I was at Cosme for around five years, give or take. The people that I worked with there, the community, and I really felt like I was part of that community. And everyone was teaching me all of these different things and different uses of all of these ingredients. And I would travel to Mexico and I would meet people's families and they would show me new things. And we would go to all of these local mescal spots and just kind of learning, it's so much about the culture, so quickly and in such an expansive way, that I felt like just through that knowledge and all of that training, I was able to execute this cuisine.
And I have a lot of respect for all of the cooks around me and I'm not trying to pretend that I'm anything that I'm not. I also use my peers as my resources. Almost everyone that I work with is Latin. If I don't know something or if I haven't seen someone use this ingredient or I'm not familiar with something, I'm going to ask. I'm not going to pretend that I know how to make something better than anyone else because that's not how I grew up. But it's what I've learned and what people have taught me and shown me and just developing those skills over the last 10 years or so.
Kerry Diamond:
I had the privilege of interviewing you on International Women's Day, but you have been an inspiration for young female culinary talent in Las Vegas, as you're one of the few female executive chefs here. How have you seen things change in the six years you've lived and worked here for women in hospitality?
Sarah Thompson:
I actually didn't fully realize how small the female chef community was here in Vegas until I actually listened to your podcast with Lorena Garcia and she was talking about how there's only three female-owned restaurants on the Strip and only around 10 female executive chefs on the Strip. And I was like, "Whoa, seriously?" I knew there aren't a lot of female executive chefs here at the Wynn. I have myself and then there's Chef Jen Yee who does our pastry program.
Kerry Diamond:
Love Jen.
Sarah Thompson:
She's amazing. And then Chef Flora who does our cakes.
Kerry Diamond:
Love Flora.
Sarah Thompson:
Oh my God.
Kerry Diamond:
Love your whole gang.
Sarah Thompson:
I know. They're amazing. I didn't really think anything of it because in my kitchen there's just so many females. I have five chefs, three of them are females. I didn't even think anything twice about it because in New York, all of the restaurants I worked at, strong female presence, at least 50% women and it just was natural. So, of course it's going to be natural here, but in the past six years you've definitely seen a lot more female presence and a lot more female chef community.
There's been a lot of events that focus around all of the females in the hospitality industry. There's an event called Picnic in the Alley, and then at the end of the month we're doing this big event with the Women's Hospitality Initiative. And the people who run those programs do a really good job at bringing all of us together and creating these really cool events and then you get to meet all of the other people who are in this community who you might not get to meet otherwise. And there're chefs that are on the Strip, chefs that own restaurants outside of the Strip, bakers, photographers, or just bartenders, mixologists, all of them and it's really cool to be a part of.
Kerry Diamond:
I've learned this over the years doing Cherry Bombe, but community doesn't happen by accident. It doesn't seem like something that you should have to work so hard at putting together, but sometimes you do. And I think that has paid off a lot here in Las Vegas.
Sarah Thompson:
I would agree and I'm glad that there are a lot more female chefs now than there were even five years ago.
Kerry Diamond:
But even having Giada's name on restaurants, Giada De Laurentiis and Martha Stewart, that's progress.
Sarah Thompson:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
That didn't even exist a few years ago.
Sarah Thompson:
Which is crazy. It blows me away and-
Kerry Diamond:
Vanderpump.
Sarah Thompson:
Love Vanderpump. Oh my God.
Kerry Diamond:
Have you been?
Sarah Thompson:
So fun. Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
I haven't been yet. There's a mob outside every time I walk past it.
Sarah Thompson:
But it's huge. It's a really big space.
Kerry Diamond:
Is it?
Sarah Thompson:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay, so the line will move fast.
Sarah Thompson:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
All right. Next time I'm here we'll hit that. What are some things you've been able to do here professionally that would've been impossible back in New York?
Sarah Thompson:
Some of the things we've been able to do professionally here is just the scale. I don't think people have any idea how big the restaurants here are in Vegas. My restaurant has almost 300 seats, which is insane. We have two PDRs, each sits 16, sometimes 20 if you squeeze, you can combine them in a room to 40. We have two bars, one sits 16, one sits 8. We have a whole lounge area, a full restaurant. My restaurant's not even big. There are restaurants here at the Wynn that just do so many more covers than us, which is-
Kerry Diamond:
That's crazy. I think my first restaurant in Brooklyn had 30 seats.
Sarah Thompson:
Yeah, Brooklyn's very intimate, for sure.
Kerry Diamond:
But 300 seats. How many covers do you do per night?
Sarah Thompson:
On a busy night, on a Friday or Saturday, we will get up to 600 covers. Last night you were there, it was a really fun vibe. We had that partial buyout. We did almost 300 covers. And what was yesterday? Thursday? Thursdays are usually slow days for us and it was full the whole time, which was great.
Kerry Diamond:
How did you learn to do quantity like that?
Sarah Thompson:
There's a lot of tools here. I work in a casino and I work in a restaurant in a casino, but I have my boss, who's Chef Chris, who's VP of culinary, and he has two sous chefs who work for him. So if I need, "Hey, my heat lamps aren't working," I'm going to call someone and they're going to come and fix it, and there's a whole engineering team that's on staff every day that just comes and if something doesn't work, they come and fix it. I don't have to call a maintenance guy. There's a whole stewarding department that people don't even know about, run by this woman named Najma, and I think that she probably has the hardest job in this hotel. And she never gets recognized and she's the nicest woman and she does so much.
So, we have all of these resources in place. So, I come into work, not that the job is so easy or anything, but I just have to focus on my restaurant. I have to focus on making sure my team has all of the tools that they need to succeed. I need to focus on the creativity and focus on what needs to happen to make this restaurant run. I don't need to worry about my oven, I don't need to worry about this or that, and that makes it a lot easier.
Kerry Diamond:
That is amazing. You're not crying in the walk-in because your HVAC died on the 4th of July.
Sarah Thompson:
Oh my God.
Kerry Diamond:
Or you're not on YouTube figuring out how to clean the grease trap when there's obviously a problem with the grease trap.
Sarah Thompson:
I am the least handy person you'll ever meet. I had an electrical screwdriver that I thought was a power drill for like five years, and I didn't understand the difference.
Kerry Diamond:
I should say, shout out to Diana if you are listening to this, you are the one who was on YouTube trying to figure out how to fix the grease trap. That was 100% not me. But that's the kind of stuff you still have to do.
Sarah Thompson:
No, I know.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah.
Sarah Thompson:
I've worked for those restaurants too, don't get me wrong, and I'm really grateful. But I also, like Marea's large volume. We would do 500 plus covers at Marea. And Cosme-
Kerry Diamond:
That's true. That's a big dining hall.
Sarah Thompson:
Yeah. Cosme was a smaller kitchen and a smaller space, but we were still doing 300 plus covers there, even though now the scale is a little bit bigger, I've always worked for volume restaurants.
Kerry Diamond:
Let's talk collaboration, because I know you love that. You mentioned some of the women who you work with here and in your role as executive chef of Casa Playa you've had the opportunity to collaborate with a number of amazing women in the food world. Some of those folks include your colleagues, some of whom you've mentioned, because there is so much talent here at the Wynn.
Sarah Thompson:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
Mixologist Mariena Mercer Boarini, who we all adore, the desert-
Sarah Thompson:
I love her.
Kerry Diamond:
... the desert mermaid. Exec Pastry Chef Jen Yee. How do you all collaborate?
Sarah Thompson:
Honestly, we collaborate very indirectly I feel. Mariena is just so talented and I feel like she has a good vision. I can just give her a menu and be like, "This is what I want to do for this event," and she can visualize those flavors without even trying it. Oftentimes you want to try stuff together and make sure it works. You tried some of her cocktails and you've been to some of her restaurants, her cocktail programs are phenomenal and also unique to each space. She does this not only here at Wynn, but she does it in Macau, she does it in Boston. I can't even imagine being in charge of that many cocktail programs and each one has their own identity. But she's so smart and she's so good at her job. I know that when I come to her and we're like, "Okay, this is the menu that we're going to do. These are the dishes," that she's going to come back and have something that matches and it's just going to be perfect.
Kerry Diamond:
Even her mocktail game is on fire.
Sarah Thompson:
Yeah. She doesn't drink either. Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah. She was on the podcast last season and talked about that and she's really a remarkable talent. You've also collaborated with a lot of industry stars, some of whom you've mentioned like Daniela Soto-Innes, but there's also Angie Mar.
Sarah Thompson:
Angie Mar.
Kerry Diamond:
We love Angie Mar. You did the fun-
Sarah Thompson:
I love Angie Mar.
Kerry Diamond:
You did a fun Lunar New Year thing here.
Sarah Thompson:
That was awesome. That was such a fun event. She's back there working. She is telling people what to do, but she's not afraid to get down and dirty with us, which I love. And she's very talented. Her food is amazing, so, so delicious.
Kerry Diamond:
I've been a fan for a long time. Tell me who else you've collaborated with here.
Sarah Thompson:
We did a dinner during the 50 Best Awards with Elena Reygadas, and that was absolutely magical. She's-
Kerry Diamond:
One of the best chefs in the world.
Sarah Thompson:
Yes. She won Best Female Chef last year from the 50 Best Awards, and she's incredible. She's so thoughtful and so kind. And one of the really cool things about having her and Angie in the kitchens is the team gets to work with these chefs. I had cooks that get assigned to help them out and make sure they're good in the kitchen and navigate and just seeing these cooks who love learning and love getting their hands on stuff, get to work with someone else. Because I like teaching and guiding, but there's only so much I can teach. These chefs have totally different skill sets than me and totally different philosophies on food. Being able to learn that hands-on, in the same space, and not having to go to Mexico or go to New York or do anything, they're in their space, they're in their comfort zone and they're just expanding everything about it and I love it.
Kerry Diamond:
That was a very big deal for everybody here, I know, to have World's 50 Best come to Vegas.
Sarah Thompson:
Yes. It was really awesome. I think that Vegas is a really interesting market, and as you know, as you've been coming here, it's shifted. And even five years ago, I don't know if I would consider Vegas necessarily a foodie city. There's a lot of copy and paste concepts and they're not, at least on the Strip, there are fewer original ideas or original restaurants. But I think that getting the 50 Best here and just how the city has grown and the restaurants that are coming here, we're showing the community and the world that there's more here than just that. It's not just a party city. You don't need to just come here and go to a club. There's a lot more that the city has to offer.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh yeah, if you love food, you'll never exhaust what's going on here. I mean, it's incredible.
Sarah Thompson:
And I like hiking and stuff, so you can go on a nice hike during the day and then come back and have some incredible food. Whether it's on the Strip or off the Strip, there's so many unique experiences. We have one of the biggest Chinatowns. Chinatown here is insane. I live in Chinatown.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, cool. Kimmie Mcintosh from Milkfish told us all about Chinatown.
Sarah Thompson:
It's awesome. It's so fun.
Kerry Diamond:
I'm excited to explore that. I am one of the most boring people who come to Vegas because the first thing I did, before I came to your restaurant last night, was I went to my favorite bookstore in Vegas.
Sarah Thompson:
Writer's Block.
Kerry Diamond:
Writer's Block.
Sarah Thompson:
Love it there.
Kerry Diamond:
One of the best bookstores in the country.
Sarah Thompson:
I would agree. I love it there. And sometimes I don't need anything or I don't have any plans or anything, and you just go and you see what they have. They have such a good collection and they have a bunny, which is always fun.
Kerry Diamond:
They do have a bunny. We saw the bunny for the first time-
Sarah Thompson:
It was a big bunny.
Kerry Diamond:
... yesterday. It was a big bunny, seemed very content to just be hanging out there. This is a tough question. Aside from Casa Playa, where should visiting chefs eat when they come here?
Sarah Thompson:
For lunch I would recommend going to Chamon, which is in Chinatown. It has tempura, but it also has onigiri. Phenomenal. They open at noon and there's usually a line, so you have to go at noon to get in. Also, Birria El Compa, phenomenal tacos. There's two locations. I live right by the one on Valley View Desert. It's just right there. Amazing, Birria. And then I also like Milpa a lot.
Kerry Diamond:
Where's the other Birria one?
Sarah Thompson:
Far on the east side. I just happen to live closer to the one on the west side, so I usually go there. And then Milpa, DJ Flores, he does all of his tortillas in-house. He has a big mixed civilization program like us, huge fan of what he's doing, and he's expanding his empire a little bit. He's opening a bar and he's opening another big restaurant, so I'm so excited to see what he's doing. And then for dinner, love Black Sheep, Jamie Tran, incredible. And Sparrow + Wolf is also phenomenal.
Kerry Diamond:
When folks look back at your career, what do you hope to be known for?
Sarah Thompson:
I feel like my career is just getting started, honestly. Especially coming to Vegas, I think my style of leadership isn't what you see here often. I'm very hands-on, really in tune with my team. I like to see them grow. I like to see them evolve. And even though it's a union environment, and I think it's great, you get so many benefits working from the union, you get what I think is a livable wage. They paid more than I've ever gotten paid as a line cook. And all these great benefits I think is awesome. But I feel like there's a really negative stigma around it, and I'm like, "There doesn't need to be." If you treat people well, you treat people, people will be excited about coming to work and they'll do a good job, work hard. So, everyone around you will work hard for you because you have nothing without the people who are working for you.
I don't think that a lot of chefs here have that mentality, at least on the Strip. And I think that one thing I want to be known for, at least at Casa Playa, is just the style of leadership exists. You can have a leader and a chef that cares about you, that cares about your well-being, that cares about that you work in an environment that you feel safe and encouraged, because even though people are safe, obviously, you want to foster that good work environment and have a sense of community and have people be proud of what they're doing. I guess I want to be remembered for that, at least at this restaurant.
Kerry Diamond:
Do you have a motto or a mantra?
Sarah Thompson:
I don't think so. I was actually thinking about that and I think that I do well with very, we've talked about this, very hands-on, just leading by example. I don't think I say anything a lot over and over again, but I think that I demonstrate a lot of things about my values in my day-to-day actions.
Kerry Diamond:
Are you good at trusting your gut?
Sarah Thompson:
Always.
Kerry Diamond:
Really?
Sarah Thompson:
Oh yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
You always have been? Even as a kid?
Sarah Thompson:
Maybe not as a kid, but as an adult, at this point in my life, I always trust my gut. If something feels wrong, it's probably for a reason.
Kerry Diamond:
All right. You kind of answered this with the recos for the visiting chefs, but if you had to plan a night out in Las Vegas, food, drink and a show, where would you go and who would you bring?
Sarah Thompson:
The first thing I would do, before you eat anything, is I would go go-karting because it's so much fun.
Kerry Diamond:
Go-karting?
Sarah Thompson:
Go-karting. Oh my God, there's go-kart places everywhere.
Kerry Diamond:
Where do you go go-kart?
Sarah Thompson:
There's a bunch of them. You could go to any of them, they're all a blast. If you wanted to go outdoor go-karting, you have to go a little bit far away, but there's a lot of places. But you have to do that before dinner and it's going to ruin your hair, so you make sure you have time to go home and fix everything.
Kerry Diamond:
So wait, go-karting, you're not crashing into each other? Oh, no, that's bumper cars.
Sarah Thompson:
No. No, no, no. You just go around a little track really quickly.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, that's fun. It's not dangerous?
Sarah Thompson:
I mean, yeah, the karts don't go that fast. They max out at probably-
Kerry Diamond:
I have to ask the stupid questions, sorry. Okay, go-karting. We're going to go go-karting. But wait, who are you bringing?
Sarah Thompson:
I would drag my wife to that. She would like it, but she would never let me know that she likes it.
Kerry Diamond:
Who else, if you could bring anybody else?
Sarah Thompson:
This is going to sound so tacky. I love hanging out with my chef team. When we're closed, all of us hang out, we do activities together. And one of the things we love to do is go go-karting.
Kerry Diamond:
That is cool. Okay. Where are you guys going to go eat and drink?
Sarah Thompson:
If we were going to go off the Strip, we would probably hit up Sparrow + Wolf and then maybe get drinks at Cleaver afterwards. Cleaver and Herbs & Rye are both industry hangout bars. Herbs & Rye gets recognized on the 50 Best Bar program. Huge fan. I just like Cleaver a little bit more because the bar is a little bit bigger, so it's easier to get a seat. If we're going to go on Strip, I mean, obviously Casa Playa is great, but we're closed in this hypothetical. I think I go get Peking Duck at Mott 32. Have you been?
Kerry Diamond:
I have not.
Sarah Thompson:
Oh, it's so good.
Kerry Diamond:
I have not. Oh my God, you gave us all these places I don't even know. I'm never going to exhaust all the options here.
Sarah Thompson:
Well, you just have to keep coming back.
Kerry Diamond:
I got to come back. I'm trying. I'm making it every few months.
Sarah Thompson:
I know. I'm really glad that you are. Thank you for putting a spotlight on the female community here in Vegas.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, you're welcome. I truly love it here. I mean, I get a little skepticism from my friends back home, but I'm like, "You guys got to come out with me."
Sarah Thompson:
Don't knock it till you try it. I understand, I had a lot of hesitancy about coming out here. I came out when I was 22 and had a terrible experience. I'm like, "Never coming back here." And now my life is here.
Kerry Diamond:
Right. I came out here the first time and went to CES and was just like, "Oh my God, what is this?"
Sarah Thompson:
It's the biggest convention that they have too. Talk about overwhelming.
Kerry Diamond:
I don't think I've ever seen that many people in my whole life. Not even like rush hour in New York City.
Sarah Thompson:
It's terrifying, honestly.
Kerry Diamond:
But very different now.
Sarah Thompson:
Yeah, it's changed a lot.
Kerry Diamond:
It is a great food town.
Sarah Thompson:
Yeah, it is. I'm really impressed with what Las Vegas has to offer and I'm excited to be a part of it.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, well, thank you for your time.
Sarah Thompson:
Thank you so much for having me.
Kerry Diamond:
Thanks, Sarah. You're the Bombe.
Sarah Thompson:
You're the Bombe.
Kerry Diamond:
That's it for today's show. I would love for you to give Radio Cherry Bombe a follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. If you've missed any of my past Vegas episodes with folks like burlesque queen and entertaining enthusiast, Dita Von Teese, or local baking sensation, Kimmie Mcintosh of Milkfish, be sure to give a listen. Our theme song is by the band Tralala. Thank you to SiriusXM Studio at Wynn in Las Vegas and Newsstand Studios at Rockefeller Center in New York City. Our producers are Catherine Baker and Jenna Sadhu, and our editorial coordinator is Sophie Kies. Thanks for listening, everybody. You're the Bombe.