Chowhound: China Poblano at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas
Run under the direction of renowned chef José Andrés and his ThinkFoodGroup, China Poblano brings together one of the more interesting and unique food concepts I've seen in a long time. The restaurant, located inside of The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas , is sleek and stylish and captures Andrés’ personal take on the thriving street food cultures of China and Mexico; blending the best of these two seemingly disparate yet surprisingly similar cuisines into a concept that includes both authentic dishes and inspired new favorites.
My palette is more inclined to enjoy American and Italian cuisine but I was looking for a change of pace and grabbed a bite at China Poblano post wine-tasting for The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas Identity Players Club members .
The combination of Chinese and Mexican cuisine is very intriguing so a friend and I shared a few different dishes including a variety of Tacos as well as some Dumplings so we could experience both cultures. The highlight of this restaurant experience was the Carnitas Taco (with pork rinds and salsa verde). It was excellent while some dishes I tried with the mole sauce were good but not spectacular. The Dumplings were also good, but not the best I've had. I seem to compare every dumpling I have to the ones I've had in Chinatown in New York City. I’d also recommend trying the Rou Jia Mo Street Sandwich (red braised pork) and the Kao Lao Lao oat noodles with Tiger dipping sauce. For drinks, I enjoyed Yanjing, a Chinese beer that I've never had before while my friend enjoyed the Salt Air Margarita.
Overall, the service at China Poblano was good and the décor featuring an array of Mexican wrestling masks on the mall was cool. The food was interesting and an above average experience that had some hits and misses, but I really enjoyed mixing familiar flavors and exploring new ones. I enjoyed my voyage to this fusion restaurant on the Las Vegas Strip. China Poblano won't become a regular in Las Vegas dining for me, but it's a good option if you want to explore different foods and certainly a place I will be returning to.
