Lorena Garcia’s Electric Latin American Vision at the Venetian

The one issue with your pork taco spot: it doesn’t serve Brazilian beef. The one issue with your Brazilian beef spot: it doesn’t serve pork tacos. What a horrifyingly specific, food-related conundrum. Rushing to your immediate aid is Chica, Top Chef Masters-alum Lorena Garcia’s gastronomical tour of Latin America, now open on the Venetian’s Restaurant Row. The first thing you’ll see is the two-sided bar where Fresno chili margaritas and pisco sours blanketed with cinnamon scented fog come from. Get one, then slip past the mural of a reclining woman clutching a dandelion and into the dining room. Where you’ll sit amongst hungry friends in Vegas’s version of a Cuban paladar, attempting to catch up over loud music somewhere between the station where tortillas are made and the damned-near pyromaniacal open kitchen. You’ll eventually employ your mouths in more productive ways. Like sampling spins on some of Latin America’s favorite foods. From Colombia: handmade anise arepas with braised short rib. From Mexico: mojo-marinated pulled pork tacos and pepita-crusted lamb. From Peru: grilled Peruvian octopus and Alaskan halibut ceviche. From Brazil: that succulent beef we mentioned. From Italy: Italy is not in Latin America. Still, there is porchetta. Because there should always be porchetta.