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Mi Casa Grill Cantina

Silverton Casino Lodge, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

The Silverton Casino Lodge in Las Vegas wanted a festive themed restaurant that drew from the bright, vibrant colors of Mexican art. Mi Casa Grill Cantina makes guests feel at home, drawing from the phrase “mi casa es su casa,” and features vibrant lighting from Philips.

Lighting designer George Huang of shop12 design was tasked with creating an inviting atmosphere throughout the restaurant in several distinct areas including the tequila bar and the cozy ‘Palapa.’ In addition, Huang had to meet new strict energy codes, which is a complex task in the City of Lights.

In the glamorous tequila bar, Huang chose Philips iColor Cove® NXT fixtures to properly accentuate the tiered backdrop. Behind the crushed glass, over 72 linear feet (22 m) of the wide-beam LED-based fixture dazzles patrons with various light shows such as rolling color effect, color chase and a slow color fade from tier to tier. In addition, iColor® Flex SLX, a strand of individually-addressable LED nodes, illuminates each bottle displayed on the tiered shelving. The flexible strand is discretely tucked in the front of each shelf and hidden from view, but strobes random effects onto the bottle display.

In the area called the Palapa, hand painted glass color globes are embedded in the wall. iColor Flex SLX strands illuminate the glass globes with colorful effects including a slow color fade, random flash and strobe effect fading from one color to another. Additionally, iColor Flex SLX greets patrons as they enter the restaurant. The flexible strands are placed behind the restaurant’s signature signage illuminating the flowers and the eyes of the skull with dynamic effects, such as shifting the eye color from red to orange or changing the colors of the flowers.

All of the Philips fixtures are controlled via Philips Ethernet Controller Keypad, a wall-mounted solution that allows complete control with a touch of a button. This controller works in conjunction with Philips Light System Manager, an integrated software/hardware solution that facilitates the management, authoring, and control of show effects for large scale installations.

This project served as one of the first installations that needed to meet a new energy code that had been mandated in Las Vegas. The lighting power allowance is scarce, allowing only 0.9 watts per square foot for a highly themed restaurant. The LED sources inherently consume little energy, while at the same time delivering wide-ranging design capabilities.