La Neta Cocina y Lounge, the Mexican restaurant at Downtown Summerlin, closed suddenly Tuesday after five years.
The restaurant, 1770 Festival Plaza Drive, Suite 200, was known for its modern interpretations of Mexican standards and for its extensive tequila collection. At its height, the restaurant drew patrons for its mix of shareable foods, creative sips and energetic music.
81/82 Group hospitality confirmed the closing for Neon in a Wednesday evening statement.
“After 5 incredible years, we’ve made the difficult decision to close La Neta at Downtown Summerlin,” the statement said. “We are incredibly proud of what we built. We had an amazing team, incredible customers and created a lot of great memories along the way. Brunches, dinners and some pretty wild parties, La Neta was a special place!”
‘The real deal’
The restaurant, whose name is Spanish slang for “the truth” or “the real deal,” was known for dishes such as guacamole with chicharrones, pozole verde, beef enchiladas, grilled fish and house tacos. The signature offering was, perhaps, the Truff (after the brand of hot sauce) lobster quesadilla.
First, mezcal, shallots and butter are mixed to fashion a compound butter. The lobster is poached in this butter (that includes — repeat — mezcal!). A 12-inch flour tortilla hits the griddle. It’s topped with poached lobster chunks, then folded for some browning. Meantime, a slaw of shaved Brussels sprouts, pickled onions, Fresno chiles, cilantro, olive oil and citrus is tossed together.
The browned quesadilla is taken from the flat top and sliced into six wedges. A mix of mozzarella, manchego and Oaxaca cheese is added to the griddle, quickly forming a crust. The wedges are placed on their sides across this crust, then everything is removed to the plate. The wedges are arranged upright, covered by the cheese crust. A mound of slaw joins the fun. Fat dots of avocado mousse, purple beetroot crema and Truff aïoli complete the dish.
Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram.
Dining and Cooking