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A Mexican restaurant is moving into the long-empty restaurant space on the casino floor of the Palms Casino Resort. La Popular CDMX is open now and offering traditional Mexican favorites, cocktails served in fun barware, and updated decor inside the space that used to be Bobby Flay’s Shark.
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Three years since closing, the Shark space is finally a restaurant again, this time as La Popular, an upscale Mexican restaurant with an agave-centric cocktail menu. With locations in Texas and California, executive chef Cesar de la Parra is introducing signature dishes just for the Las Vegas outpost, including quesabirria tacos with braised brisket and beef shank, al pastor enchiladas with melted cheese, and ribeye and prawn fajitas.
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The all-day breakfast menu offers molletes open sandwiches with crispy cheese toast, eggs, and bacon and a platter of breakfast tacos with carnitas, guacamole, and housemade corn tortillas. And for cocktails, there are more than 80 labels of tequila and mezcal for margaritas and palomas, plus drinks like the Oaxacan Jellyfish with rum, pineapple, lime, blue lemongrass, and coconut cream served with a smoke bubble.
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Flay’s Shark opened in 2019, only to close in 2020 due to the pandemic. When the Palms reopened last year, after having been purchased by the San Manuel tribe, Shark did not reopen with it. The sleek space with a large center bar, cool-toned furnishings, and direct access to the pool sat unoccupied, sometimes used as a space for enrolling members in the Club Serrano Rewards program. Small updates to the space include a disco ball at the restaurant’s center, a taco station with a dedicated taco bar, and neon signage.
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La Popular is open Monday through Thursday, from 4 p.m. to 12 a.m. and Friday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 12 a.m. Happy hour is offered on weekdays from 4 to 6 p.m. with deals on draft beer, wine, margaritas, and select appetizers and tacos. Brunch will be available Friday through Sunday all day and a DJ spins on Friday and Saturday nights. Reservations can be made online.
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