A Celebrated Mexico City Restaurant Is Coming to Las Vegas

For close to three decades, Contramar has been a reason to travel to Mexico City. At the seafood restaurant, famous for its convivial lunchtime atmosphere and coastal cuisine, plates of tuna tostadas and salsa-inflected pescado a la talla arrive at a steady clip, encouraging conversation that often stretches into happy hour.

Now, chef Gabriela Cámara is bringing a version of that experience to Las Vegas. Cámara will open Cantina Contramar on March 28, 2026, at Fontainebleau Las Vegas, making it the first U.S. expansion of the Mexico City institution and introducing a set of collaborators across its food, design, and the bar program. The dining room, an open-plan space with soaring ceilings, wooden tables, and a kitchen fully on view, was designed by Frida Escobedo, whose work includes London’s 2018 Serpentine Pavilion and the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s ongoing Fifth Avenue renovation in New York. The bar program is being developed with Bertha González Nieves, cofounder of Tequila Casa Dragones.

Why Las Vegas—and why now

Having eaten at Cámara’s high-end Mexican restaurant Cala in San Francisco shortly after it opened (Cala closed in late 2020), and returned to Contramar in Mexico City over the years for those long, unhurried meals it’s known for, I was curious to know how she was thinking about translating the restaurant for the evolving Las Vegas culinary scene.

Cámara has been approached many times about opening in Las Vegas, but told me the timing and partnership never felt right. That changed with Fontainebleau, a luxury hotel she describes as aligned with her vision for a restaurant that is approachable, informal, and generous in its hospitality.

Cámara, who has long argued that restaurant sustainability should extend beyond ingredient sourcing to the people who make it possible, noted that amid nationwide staffing shortages and rising labor costs, Las Vegas remains one of the few places where hospitality workers can build lasting careers. In a city anchored by large-scale resorts, hospitality operates on a different scale than in many other U.S. markets.

“People can actually make a living working in this industry in Vegas,” she said.

Courtesy of Frida Escobedo Studio

How Cantina Contramar compares to the original Contramar

The name Cantina Contramar is intentional. Cantinas, Cámara explained, are defined by generous, laid-back service and food designed to be shared.

She’s not attempting to recreate Contramar wholesale, something she says would be impossible outside of Mexico City because it’s inseparable from its location and people. Rather, the cantina model allows her to carry forward the core elements of the experience: shared dishes, laid-back service, and time at the table to linger.

Signature dishes like the tuna tostada and pescado a la talla will remain, alongside other staples from her cooking, including dishes from her time at Cala, such as a fire-roasted sweet potato spiked with bone marrow salsa negra. Execution will be simple and ingredient driven, with fresh seafood meeting the same standards she maintains in Mexico City.

That approach also shaped the design of the dining room. Cantina Contramar is architect Escobedo’s first restaurant project in the United States. Cámara and Escobedo have been friends for years and had long discussed working together; when the Vegas opportunity arose, Escobedo signed on immediately. The space will emphasize openness and flow, with an open kitchen, a comal station (a griddle used for cooking tortillas and searing meats and vegetables), and a central bar where Nieves of Tequila Casa Dragones selected small-batch sipping tequilas for a menu of cocktails and flights.

Drawing on her experience at Cala, her San Francisco restaurant that closed in late 2020 due to challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, Cámara believes American diners are increasingly receptive to Mexican food that emphasizes quality and careful execution over novelty. She hopes Cantina Contramar will help shift how Mexican cuisine is perceived in the U.S. dining landscape, away from lingering stereotypes and toward a broader understanding of its range.

“I think Mexican food, like all great cuisines, has so many dishes that are very accessible,” she said. “If people can move past the idea that Mexican food is cheap or limited, I hope they’ll discover how much there really is to enjoy.”