Beauty & Essex

Beauty & Essex is a restaurant and lounge on the third floor of The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, entered through a mock pawn shop. Chef Chris Santos serves a long menu of global small plates for sharing.

Santos opened the first Beauty & Essex on the Lower East Side of New York in 2010, behind the front of a real-looking pawnbroker. He brought the concept to Las Vegas with the TAO Group in 2016, in the space that had held Comme Ça. A regular guest at The Cosmopolitan for years, Santos thought the hotel was made for it. The entrance keeps the trick: a small shop with electric guitars on the wall and jewelry in glass cases, behind which a large restaurant opens up. Santos, a longtime judge on the television show Chopped, also founded The Stanton Social in New York.

The dining rooms carry a jewelry theme, with mirrors, strings of pearls, gold accents, silk brocade and purple banquettes. A glass-walled private room sits in the middle and divides the front room from the back. About two-thirds of the menu follows New York, such as tuna poke wonton tacos and chicken meatballs; the rest belongs to Las Vegas, including chicken arepas with manchego and a dry-aged tomahawk ribeye. A mac and cheese with short rib, pickled jalapeño and a cornbread crust, suggested by TAO's corporate chef Marc Marrone, became a local favorite.

Santos's soup dumplings, in French onion and grilled cheese with tomato versions, made his name and are on the menu here. Toasts include a Caesar with crispy chicken skin. Cocktails go back to old recipes, such as Bubbles & Berries with Champagne and strawberries. Groups that order a shared feast of signature dishes can pick a pearl necklace from the pawn shop on the way out.