Offshoot of L.A. hot spot debuts in southwest Las Vegas

At St. Felix Sin City, the new southwest Las Vegas outpost of the original St. Felix in Los Angeles, owner John Arakaki has swagged, garnished and spattered the cocktail lounge and restaurant with bits of his own biography.

A giant throne chair, purple and plush and roomy enough for double-wide selfies, strikes a pose in the foyer. Arakaki designed the chair, inspired by one he saw at the South Beach Food & Wine Festival in Miami. A monumental painting of Gina Gershon and Elizabeth Berkley — 8 by 7 feet, also in the foyer — depicts an intimate moment from “Showgirls,” a camp classic of Vegas cinema. The artist is from Cleveland, where Arakaki grew up.

“ ‘Showgirls is one of my favorite films, and I always have something from my hometown of Cleveland,” said Arakaki, who opened St. Felix Sin City in late November at The Bend and the L.A. original in 2008.

A hallway leading to the bathrooms is striped in black, white and pink — the black and white a nod to the cover colors from “Parallel Lines,” the 1978 Blondie album (another Arakaki fave), the pink a tonal tip to the pink exterior of British designer Paul Smith’s store on Melrose Avenue in L.A.

“We can’t have Barbie pink, we can’t have hot pink, we have to have the perfect Paul Smith pink,” Arakaki said.

Over here on the back bar, a shelf of crystal skulls painted for the owner by an employee in L.A. A few shelves down, a promotional cutout of Liberace dressed in high Vegas crystal-studded opulence. And over there, covering the door to the private event room (called the powder room), a checkerboard of 1960s and 1970s album covers, suitably obscure, chosen by Arakaki.

“Everything has a story,” he said of this mix of kitsch and cool. At the same time, although the look and feel of St. Felix is highly personal, Arakaki said he didn’t want the mix to be stagy.“I want everything to feel real and authentic and timeless. It needs to feel right for Vegas.”

Cool neighbors

Arakaki is a newcomer to The Bend, where his neighbors include Butcher & Thief steakhouse from chef Cory Harwell and Metro Pizza Sliceteria (opening in January) from pizza legend John Arena. But Arakaki is not a newcomer to Vegas. He was a field representative for Monster Energy, after its debut in the early 2000s, and Vegas was part of his territory; he also worked in nightclub marketing.

“I traveled a lot for the brands, so I saw so many great restaurants, from the local dive bar to the top culinary experiences,” Arakaki said. “I took inspiration from my favorite experiences.” Arakaki said his neighbors at The Bend, a Dapper Companies project, confirmed his choice of the development for his entry into the Vegas market.

“I just wanted to be part of this group. I find these businesses very inspiring, and it’s very exciting for me to just be neighbors. I want to be another part of the fabric of this community and not just some outsider from L.A. who is serving it.”

In its home city, St. Felix occupies a Hollywood building that once housed a famed recording studio (the soundtrack album for “Grease,” for one, was reportedly tracked and mixed in the studio). “We have a long history of entertainment there,” Arakaki said.

By contrast, the lack of provenance for the Vegas space formed part of its appeal, he said. “The difference from L.A. to here, we got to build out from a blank canvas, not from a studio that wasn’t meant to be a restaurant.”

Cocktails, never batched

The other evening at St. Felix Sin City, the dining room begins to fill, customers taking seats at low tops, high tops and communal tables, on banquettes, and in curving booths. Walls covered in an arabesque pattern rise behind the booths to 15-foot ceilings. The wallpaper, designed to replicate the version in L.A., soaks up the lighting that turns its surface purple.

Cocktails touch down around the room.

A Purple Reign blends Martin Miller’s English Gin, fresh squeezed lemon juice and mariposa butterfly pea flower tea that turns violet; the drink is named for the Prince tribute show at the V Theater in the Miracle Mile Shops. A Stockholm Syndrome shakes together Miller’s gin, pure pomegranate juice, strawberries, rosemary, mint and fresh lime juice.

A skewer of roasted marshmallows rests across a S’mores Espresso Martini with a graham cracker rim and chocolate shavings.

“I do not believe in batching cocktails. They are made to order, they have been for 17 years, and we’re not changing to make it easier,” Arakaki said. “I think our cocktails are crafty and well thought out, but they’re not pretentious.”

Thai eggs, L.A. waffles

Dishes follow drinks.

For Peruvian-style Magic City ceviche, marinated whitefish joins avocado, mango, pickled onions, cilantro and a splash of cream; the ceviche hums with the heat of spicy Peruvian chiles.

A St. Felix sampler platter convenes truffled Parmesan popcorn, mac and cheese, vegetarian tacos, Southern fried chicken and wagyu sliders, Malaysian steak skewers with a hit of fish sauce, and deviled eggs drizzled with Thai peanut sauce, a dish inspired by nibbles Arakaki had at a New York City restaurant.

“I love peanut sauce, but I don’t love deviled eggs,” Arakaki said. “An employee told me, ‘I know you like peanut sauce, and on deviled eggs, that’s either the greatest thing ever or the worst thing ever.’ And it turned out to be so good.”

Blackened chicken fettuccine Alfredo, the chicken roasty and nicely salty, makes a return from the Cajun craze of the late 1980s. Braised boneless short ribs bed down in a drift of goat cheese mashed potatoes. Churros become waffles, L.A.-style: showered with cinnamon-sugar, striped with chocolate and caramel, backed by vanilla bean ice cream.

Sounds and images

Arakaki, a onetime musician and songwriter with longtime connections to the L.A. entertainment world, creates the playlists and reels that help shape the mood at St. Felix Sin City.

The other evening, “Love Come Down,” a 1982 hit for Evelyn “Champagne” King, unfurls from the sound system. Nancy Sinatra in a black sequined mini dress shimmies in “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ ” on one video screen. Another screen shows a scene from “Logan’s Run,” the 1976 science fiction film in which people are killed on their 30th birthdays to control the population of a domed city.

“That’s my go-to: ’70s sci-fi,” Arakaki said. “I like the effects — it’s not CGI. I go to midnight movies. I find these clips. I try to find great pacing. It takes hours to put together a short reel.”

A third reel plays above the bar — Naomi, Christy, Linda, Cindy, Claudia, et al., storming down the runway of an early 1990s Versace show.

“Versace,” Arakaki said with a laugh, making the name rhyme with “trace,” repeating Elizabeth Berkley’s blunder from “Showgirls,” one of the most famous Vegas movie moments of all time.”

IYKYK.

Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram.