Vegas chef goes from undersea restaurant to Greek tragedy
Chef Taylor Persh is moving from the briny deep (with rum) to Greek mythology (with wine).
At Lost Spirits Distillery in Area15, Persh once helmed 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, a crazy-cool, boundary-pushing, oceanic-steampunk restaurant inspired by the Jules Verne novel of the same name. There was a “submarine” lounge (with portholes framing fish with human faces) and a long communal table where diners gathered for 16 dramatically presented courses, including wagyu “whale” and a pig’s head carved tableside by the chef.
Lost Spirits closed in April, and now Persh is tackling her next project, a pop-up called Story of a Muse running on 10 dates in August and September in the former Nove Italiano space atop the Fantasy Tower at the Palms.
The restaurant draws inspiration from Melpomene, the Greek muse of tragedy, with organizers describing the experience as an “immersive culinary adventure” and a “gastronomic homage to the power of inspiration, love, loss, memory and the duality of life.”
An immersive pig’s head
That’s some serious billing. Persh’s 20,000 Leagues ranked among the handful of restaurants where the term “immersive” was an accurate description, not a festering cliché, so Vegas restaurant watchers are anticipating what immersive will mean for Story of a Muse.
An advance look at a lightly limned menu shows 10 courses, including eggs in eggs (sturgeon caviar, tapioca, leek nest), a scallop spiral (chestnut, black truffle), and pig’s head with banana soubise, a dish that sounds, frankly, wild.
The pop-up is offering seatings at 5 and 8:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays from Aug. 30 through Sept. 28, with 20 diners at a communal table for each seating. Tickets: $300, with an additional cost for wine pairings, go on sale Wednesday on Persh’s Instagram, @cheftaylorpersh.
Before arriving in Vegas to create and lead 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Persh made her mark in Los Angeles with Fish or Flesh, a choreographed culinary experience based on “The Island of Dr. Moreau” by H.G. Wells.
Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram.
