Hakkasan’s Casa Calavera and L.A.’s Kassi Club Expand to Virgin Hotels Las Vegas

Boldly committed to a late fall debut, the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas dining portfolio continues to surprise, with two new high-profile tenants planning sophisticated settings and globally sourced menus.

Unconfirmed by the resort, or its new restaurant partners, recently filed paperwork points to expansions for L.A’s Mediterranean island-inspired Kassi Club plus the Día de los Muertos-themed Casa Calavera from the Hakkasan Group.

Designed with an outdoor patio and an estimated budget of $3.5 million to cover construction costs alone, Casa Calavera’s original beachside cantina debuted in 2018 in Mexico's San José del Cabo, also home to Hakkasan’s SHOREbar and the Omnia Los Cabos dayclub. Located on the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula and adopting an “open-air, ‘feet in the sand’ feel,” Casa Calavera’s opening menu was overseen by executive chefs Alex Branch and Geno Bernardo. The restaurant serves contemporary and traditional spins on Mexican favorites including fajitas, carnitas, tacos, and shared plates as well as a drinks menu that places a special focus on mezcal and tequila cocktails.

Inside the resort, Kassi restaurateur and interior designer Nick Mathers is moving into an existing space, overhauled by an impressive $4.7 million budget, solely dedicated to cover the estimated construction costs. In the works for some time, Mathers created the Kassi Vegas LLC in November.

Among Mathers’ nine current venues under his Wish You Were Here Group company umbrella, the Élephante Beach House in Santa Monica, “Aussie-American cafe” Dudley’s on New York’s Lower East Side, and Eveleigh in West Hollywood, designed with a rustic Californian ambiance.

The group launched the original Kassi Club last year, taking visual and menu cues from Greek coastal tavernas and building a space highlighted by fire pits, lounge seating, charcoal grilled meats fish and vegetables and a nightlife atmosphere.

The new restaurants will join MB Steak, Nobu, the return of Todd English's Olives, Virgin Hotels’ own Commons Cub, the Funny Library Coffee Shop, Pizza Forte, plus a still-to-be-revealed Thai restaurant imported from Los Angeles.

Resort construction, including the current task of completing a huge new canopy for a remodeled porte-cochere and main entrance, continues at the corner of Paradise and Harmon roads.

• Todd English’s Olives Returns to Las Vegas This Fall [ELV]

• All Coverage of Virgin Hotels [ELV]