It could only have taken a very special offer to lure expert mixologist Mariena Mercer Boarini away from her freedom as a cocktail consultant. But then, Wynn Las Vegas is a very special place. So when the opportunity arose for Boarini to become resort mixologist for Wynn and Encore, she couldn’t pass it up.
“Their unparalleled commitment to excellence, artistry and innovation were very attractive to me,” says Boarini, who lists “artistry” as her animating force. The former chief mixologist for the Cosmopolitan, who got her start as a “tequila goddess,” is known for her showstopping garnishes and innovative builds. As a bonus, she gets to continue her Wanderlush consulting biz and her Electricdust flavor enhancer company on the side.
As resort mixologist, Boarini, who began her new position in March, oversees the beverage menus for 20 dining venues and 11 bars across Wynn and Encore. Additionally, she’s helping develop some “new, exciting concepts.”
A typical day for Boarini includes menu development, cocktail creation, training staff and meeting with chefs. She loves working in the property’s “amazing” beverage development kitchen. It’s where syrups are made and cocktail ingredients are prepped in the traditional mise en place style.
Mariena Mercer Boarini’s Shizen cocktail
“There’s so much forethought with cocktails—getting them out to all of the venues to make sure that we have top-of-the-class, consistent cocktails with the highest quality of ingredients,” Boarini says.
One of the particular joys of being the Wynn mixologist is collaborating with world-class chefs. “My cocktail menus are a love letter to the bar or the restaurant,” Boarini says.
Take the Wynn’s seafood restaurant, Costa di Mare by Chef Mark LoRusso. To develop the beverage menu, the first in her new role, Boarini not only studied Italian and Mediterranean cuisines, but also Italian cinema, culture and geography.
“There’s an incredible amount of collaboration when it comes to the chef,” says Boarini, who listens and samples the food until she can adopt the chef’s mindset. “I make sure that from the guest perspective, things are pairing well and the flavors are singing together. Really, my cocktail is just to coalesce the entire experience and everything that’s already going on in the room.”
As to how the pandemic has changed hospitality, Boarini says that guests are emerging from lockdown with a strong desire “to be wowed and have these incredible experiences.” The other main hospitality trend is “just really beautiful cocktails,” she says, pointing to the heady influence of social media.
It just so happens that these desires align nicely with Boarini’s personal style. “I like to do multisensory and experiential cocktails that excite and seduce the senses,” she says.
The new Vespa cocktail ($18) at Costa Di Mare embodies Boarini’s post-pandemic wow factor. Each drink features a “passport art chip” with edible paper and ink.
“You get on your Vespa scooter and you travel across the Mediterranean, exploring different flavors, cuisines and locales,” Boarini says of the cocktail’s story. “It’s a multisensory cocktail. The chips are scented with basil, so you get these beautiful aromatics. The little kind of cloud that’s nestled on is what I call Champ-feign, which is my invention. It’s a [carbonated] foam that emulates champagne.”
For the Wynn’s Japanese restaurant Mizumi by Chef Min Kim, Boarini themed her cocktails around Japanese aesthetics. Representing “natural beauty,” her Shizen whisky-based cocktail features shiso leaves, lychee pearls, matcha, jasmine tea, lemongrass, ginger, muskmelon and yuzu fruit.
The Hanami cocktail, which roughly translates to “observing the transient beauty of flowers,” seeks to emulate the taste of cherry blossom season, and it’s garnished with pink begonias.
“I love storytelling through cocktails,” Boarini says. “Every element has a very thoughtful story behind it—down to the ingredients, the way the copy is listed, the name, everything.”
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