At 67 stories, the newly opened Fontainebleau Las Vegas is the tallest building on the strip. It contains more than 3,600 rooms, plus a spacious casino floor and a massive luxury spa. But the most eye-popping stat of all is that 36 bars and restaurants are woven throughout the property, and one woman is behind nearly every cocktail you’ll sip during your visit.
Juyoung Kang has made her mark on the Strip and the downtown Las Vegas cocktail scenes, with previous posts at Resorts World, The Venetian, Delmonico Steakhouse and The Cosmopolitan. Now she’s the beverage director of the Fontainebleau Las Vegas, where she directly oversees 18 concepts—each with a different menu.
Kang estimates that she created 300 original cocktails for the various venues, with most customized specifically for the Fontainebleau and others pulled from her prior projects. That’s a lot of drinks.
“I’m an adventure seeker. I like challenges and solving problems,” says Kang, who relished the opportunity to put her mark on another marquee Las Vegas property.
The bars and restaurants inside the Fontainebleau Las Vegas are an eclectic bunch. Don’s Prime is a glamorous steakhouse offering tableside trolley cart Old Fashioneds and a chimichurri-inspired riff on the Margarita that goes surprisingly well with steak. There’s a high-end Cantonese spot called Chyna Club, which enlists ingredients like Sichuan peppercorns and oolong tea on its drinks menu. The backbar at agave-focused Azul is lined with tequilas and mezcals, and Collins is a lobby lounge that pairs highballs and classic cocktails with live piano.
“Every individual space should have its own imprint and be unique, and specialty cocktails are dedicated to each specific bar,” says Kang. She compares visiting the bars to getting your passport stamped. You know you’ve been somewhere different each time, but there’s still an overarching level of consistency across each concept. And classic cocktails should be made the same, whether a guest orders one at the Bleau Bar anchoring the casino floor or inside a restaurant.
When fine-turning the concepts and creating menus, Kang found inspiration from the Fontainebleau Miami, and she notes that some of that culture is reflected at the property and its bars. But in Miami, the drinks skew refreshing and summery year-round, while in Las Vegas the drinks are more seasonal.
“We need to do what makes sense here. We’ve got four seasons, and people come here from everywhere, so we translate our menus to Vegas and to the clientele,” says Kang. She notes that international visitors often recognize elements from their home countries, whether it’s the Hong Kong-style dim sum served at Washing Potato or the Korean green plum in a Highball served at Collins. “We like to apply flavors from around the world.”
Sin City’s reputation for glitz and high rollers doesn’t always come through in the food and beverage operations, as anyone who’s had a sad, casino-adjacent buffet dinner or poorly mixed Manhattan can attest. But Kang has made good drinking part of the Fontainebleau’s DNA without pushing the clientele too far past their comfort zones.
“It’s important to have balance [across the menus] to allow people to trust you,” says Kang, explaining that her menus typically feature cocktails that range from easygoing favorites to moderately adventurous to more out-there options. “That way, people can explore and go on that journey with you.”