Aria’s assistant pastry chef Andrea Madrid arranges treats in the retail area during the unveiling of the holiday lobby display created by pastry chef Mathieu Lavallee and Madrid on Nov. 20, 2020, in Las Vegas. Madrid and Lavallee were the winners of Netflix’ Sugar High competition. L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Lighting and decorations hang from the ceiling as part of Aria’s unveiling of the holiday lobby display created by pastry chef Mathieu Lavallee and Andrea Madrid Nov. 20 in Las Vegas. L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
A pulled sugar technique is used to create flowers and vines as part of the Winter Wonderland lobby display, a Sugar Palace, created by pastry chef Mathieu Lavallee and assistant pastry chef Andrea Madrid. L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
A small dining area is apart of the Aria unveiling of their holiday lobby display, a Sugar Palace, created by pastry chef Mathieu Lavallee on Friday, Nov. 20, 2020, in Las Vegas. Lavallee and assistant chef Andrea Madrid were the winners of NetflixÕs Sugar High competition. L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Seven sugar techniques are employed as part of Aria’s Sugar Palace created by pastry chef Mathieu Lavallee and assistant pastry chef Andrea Madrid. L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Aria pastry chef Mathieu Lavallee, left, and assistant chef Andrea Madrid at the unveiling of their Sugar Palace in Aria’s lobby. L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Nutcrackers spin in a picture window at Aria’s Sugar Palace lobby display unveiled today in Las Vegas. L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Nutcrackers are apart of Aria’s holiday lobby display, a Sugar Palace, unveiled today. L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Lighting and decorations hang from the ceiling as part of the Aria’s Sugar Palace lobby display. Guests are able to enjoy the sweet taste of a hot chocolate or a holiday cocktail while they admire the now-complete palace from Aria’s Lobby Bar, just a few yards away. L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Seven various sugar techniques are employed including a decorative flower piece below the roof as part of the Aria holiday lobby display, a Sugar Palace. L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Nutcrackers are apart of the Aria holiday lobby display, which required 4,000 pounds of sugar to create. L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Seven various sugar techniques are employed including sugar swans atop the roof at Aria’s holiday display in the lobby. L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
A decorative sugar piece on the door of Aria’s Sugar Palace. L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
The sugar shingles atop the roof at Aria’s Sugar Palace lobby display. Other sweet touches include fondant door decorations, white meringue drops on the rooftop, and 400 pounds of fondant. L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
A pulled sugar technique is used to create flowers and vines. L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
After two months of work, Aria’s executive pastry chef Mathieu Lavallee and assistant pastry chef Andrea Madrid were in the home stretch on Thursday, putting “the final touches” on the Sugar Palace that serves as the centerpiece of the resort’s Winter Wonderland lobby display.
“My favorite part is putting it together, and seeing it come together in the end,” Madrid said. “Because some parts of it are a lot more of a ‘trust the process’ kind of thing. You don’t exactly know if it’s going to work yet.”
By Thursday, it was pretty obvious it was working. The blown sugar swans were perched festively atop the 15-foot structure’s pressed sugar tile roof. Pulled sugar flowers adorned walls of pressed sugar bricks. And a small army of five wooden nutcrackers twirled behind a window, showcasing miniature three-layer sugar cakes decorated with crystal sugar snowflakes.
“It’s probably 4,000 pounds (of sugar) total,” estimated Lavallee — noting it took about a ton, simply to create the three-inch-thick bricks of blue-tinted sugar arranged in a jigsaw pattern to form the palace’s front window. Other sweet touches include fondant door decorations, white meringue drops on the rooftop, and 400 pounds of fondant.
But how does it taste?
“It would taste sweet, it would taste like sugar,” Madrid laughs as she answers questions, before adding a caveat. “We don’t encourage people to come and taste the house.” .
Guests are able to enjoy the sweet taste of a hot chocolate, or perhaps a holiday cocktail, while they admire the now-complete palace from Aria’s Lobby Bar, just a few yards away. Or they can purchase a sugary holiday treat to take home. The Winter Wonderland retail area will be open Monday to Thursday from noon to 8 p.m. and Friday to Sunday from noon to 10 p.m., selling a rotating selection of seasonal sweets such as chocolate Santas, holiday lollipops, holiday cookies, candied oranges and almond stollen, prepared by Lavallee and his team.
The Winter Wonderland is on display through January 5.
