Take a Step Back in Time at the Voltaggio Brothers’ New Retro Restaurant

After more than 20 years of gliding up to the top of the wine tower, the last Wine Angel at Aureole has landed and Charlie Palmer’s signature restaurant at Mandalay Bay has closed. Starting today, the walkway that leads away from the casino floor now overlooks a tower that boasts stacks of artifacts from the ‘80s and ‘90s. Where there once laid 10,000 bottles of wine, there now hang roller blades, vinyl records, and bicycles. A neon sign reading “Retro” signifies the 9,000-square-foot space’s transformation into an ode to all things nostalgia from celebrity chef duo, the Voltaggio brothers.

Pot roast at Retro by Voltaggio. — Retro by Voltaggio.

Retro by Voltaggio opens for a one-year residency on Wednesday, May 3 in the multi-level space that opened as Aureole in 1999. The Top Chef stars, Bryan and Michael Voltaggio, are pulling on references from their childhoods — with elements of both technique and whimsy — in creating Retro. To build the menu, the celebrity chef brothers are revisiting aesthetics from days gone by, plating pot roast inside of Corningware dishes with blue flowers and serving octopus in a cafeteria-style lunch tray. “Nothing is as it seems,” says Michael. “The Caesar salad is served with a churro made of parmesan cheese. We have our own play on canned spaghetti.” Rather than preparing the pot roast in a casserole dish, each element is prepared separately — the carrots are bathed in an emulsion of sweet carrots. Beef cheeks are slow-cooked for over 48 hours. The fingerling potatoes are submerged in beef fat confit. Then it’s all blended together in the dish that everyone remembers their grandmother once owning.

Photos on the wall at Retro by Voltggio. — Retro by Voltggio.

“Any restaurant I go to, I always order the shrimp cocktail,” says Michael. “I think there’s a reason it’s still so popular. I think that’s actually a good way to look at our menu — these are things that have been popular for so long and we recognize that nostalgia and make it modern.” In a twist on shrimp cocktail, wild-caught shrimp are chilled on a plate of crushed frozen Thai tom kha kai coconut soup. “You get all the fragrance of flavor of the traditional soup,” says the chef.

Shrimp cocktail at Retro by Voltaggio. — Retro by Voltaggio.

Other dishes are nostalgic with a wink at playfulness. The Volatggi O’s play on canned spaghetti, combining hand-made anellini pasta with spicy tomato sauce. An homage to the brothers’ afterschool snack, their pepperoni rolls are warm and crisp with marinara, basil, and stretchy stracciatella cheese. A plate of cheese and crackers evolves on the snacktime plate — combining airy pork rinds, a dusting of barbecue spice, and a spread of pimento in a cloud of whipped brie cheese. The cocktails are jazzed up with modern takes on the classics, with appletinis gaining egg white foam and matcha powder and fuzzy navels getting a splash of prosecco and honey. The Brass Monkey is a 40-ounce malt liquor in a paper bag, intended to be passed around the table for guests to pour into their individual glasses of sorbet.

A malt liquor bottle in a paper bag. — The Brass Monkey.

The practice of looking back is an appropriate one for the brothers, who have known Palmer since the ‘90s. Bryan began as an extern at Aureole in 1997. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, Palmer offered him a job there. “We have a long history with Charlie and both worked with him at Aureole in New York,” says the chef. “He’s been a great mentor and part of my career. And in coming in and taking over the space, he’s been so supportive.”

Bryan and Michael Voltaggio pose for a photo. — Bryan and Michael Voltaggio.

In addition to retheming Aureole’s wine tower to a towering shrine to all things yesteryear, the restaurant is getting infusions of retro music and decor. “We moved around a lot as kids,” says Michael. “The best memories were when you get to posters up on the wall, put personal treasures in there, and take over a space.” In moving into Retro, they’re working with artist Keith Magruder to make the space their own, for at least a year, to cook a new style of food in the space — and put new posters up on the walls. Retro by Voltaggio is open from 5 to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with reservations available online.