High-end Mexican restaurant sets opening date on the Strip

A quiet start to 2025 after the holiday hubbub? Not Amaya Modern Mexican, where birria and a beat begin the new year.

Amaya, the first-ever thoroughly Mexican restaurant at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, opens the first week of January, the restaurant announced Thursday. The Las Vegas Review-Journal first reported a restaurant was replacing Holsteins burgers, later revealing its name would be Amaya Modern Mexican.

A Michelin-starred chef

Dinner at Amaya mingles a Vegas riff on coastal Mexican cooking, live DJs and performers who urge guests to dance in their seats.

The opening menu features dishes such as slow-cooked birria short rib with corn purée, pickled onion and cotija. Whole grilled fish with fermented chiles and a whoosh of Thai basil. Or signature surf and turf: wagyu filet, dry-aged New York steak, twin lobster tails, a trio of salsas, warm flour tortillas.

There are other dishes to look for: the Amaya take on taco salad, kicky ceviche and tiradito, duck confit tostadas, poached lobster enchiladas, and a 2-pound grilled lobster in lobster chile cream sauce.

Chef Jason McLeod fashioned the menu. McLeod was born to the coast — near Fanny Bay, source of some of the world’s finest oysters, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

Since then, his 30-year career has encompassed, among other highlights, two Michelin stars (at seafood-driven Ria in Chicago), stretches in Southern California (including as partner at highly regarded Ironside Fish & Oyster in San Diego), and extensive travel and tasting through Mexico.

Tequila, mezcal, tropics

A catador, or tequila expert, oversees the library of mezcals and aged tequilas that are called to cocktail duty at the restaurant. Among the sips: a Mano a Mano made with Flecha Azul tequila, orange bitters and cocoa bitters; a Bird of Paradise fusing Del Maguey Vida mezcal, pomegranate and citrus; and the Fumar Hay El Fuego, a blend of mezcal, Fernet-Branca, vanilla liqueur and mole bitters.

Amaya, on the second floor of the Boulevard Tower at The Cosmopolitan, spans about 7,200 square feet across a bar, lounge and dining room. The interior design, by Petermax Co., combines intimate and social spaces, taking a vibe from the forest canopies and beach resorts of the Yucatán Peninsula.

Clique Hospitality (of Vegas) created the restaurant for Gen3 Hospitality (also of Vegas), which will own and operate it. The name Amaya pays homage to an inspiring woman the team met in Mexico while tasting for the restaurant. Visit amayamexican.com.

Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram.