Three decades ago, buffets ruled the Las Vegas table. Transformation into today’s global culinary capital began in 1992 when Wolfgang Puck brought his L.A. fine-dining flagship Spago to Caesars Palace (since relocated to Bellagio) and sparked a celebrity-chef-led revolution.
Las Vegans championed another change agent, though: Kerry Simon. Crowned “The Rock & Roll Chef” by Rolling Stone for his rock-star clientele at New York City’s Plaza Hotel in the 1980s, the Philadelphia native, adored for loving spirit and approachable New American cuisine, was no less revolutionary, opening Prime Steakhouse at then brand-new Bellagio in 1998.
Simon subsequently flourished in Vegas, launching landscape-shifting restaurants with Elizabeth Blau, the trailblazing innovator who remains a primary architect and arbiter of Vegas’ culinary brand.
Alongside developing acclaimed dining concepts in Vegas, North America and around the globe through her namesake strategic consultancy, Blau is equally devoted to philanthropy and helping women to advance in the industry.
With numerous honors, including being named a 2026 James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Restaurateur, Blau shared her career path, driving passions—and the work still ahead—in this Q&A with Senior Contributor Jeff Heilman.
Jeff Heilman: Where did your career journey begin?
Elizabeth Blau: At 16, working in a restaurant in my hometown of West Hartford, Connecticut. I loved the business and gained early front- and back-of-house experience including cooking, bartending, serving and even catering. It was not my initial career path, though. After graduating from Georgetown University with a bachelor’s in government and international relations, I worked for a liquor distributor in Boston and leading floral decorator in NYC. Law school was on the table, but I chose instead to get my master’s in hotel management from Cornell University.
What shaped your direction from there?
At Cornell, I met Le Cirque founder Sirio Maccioni’s sons Mario, Marco and Mauro, and then Sirio on a class trip to NYC. Helping the brothers develop their new concept, Osteria del Circo, paved the way for Le Cirque. Sirio put me on as hostess. That was a little grating with my Cornell degree. But he had my best interests at heart, because seating customers was an invaluable lesson in service. Sirio was renowned as the consummate host—I like to say that I got my master’s in the art of hospitality from the master himself.
What brought you to Vegas?
Sirio wanted my support in expanding Le Cirque to Bellagio. While there, Steve Wynn recruited me to Mirage Resorts. Taking senior-level culinary development and marketing roles there and then at Wynn Las Vegas, I was now squarely on the path, which in 2002 I parlayed into Blau & Associates, my global strategic restaurant planning and development company.
When did you and Kerry Simon begin putting your distinct stamp on the Vegas culinary landscape?
Kerry, my close friend for 18 years, was one of a kind. We collaborated on exciting projects at resorts including the former Hard Rock, Palms and Luxor, and ventures in L.A. He helped to redraw the Vegas dining map, including inspiring like-minded chefs to venture off-Strip. The entire Vegas community mourned his passing in 2015, when Kerry succumbed to a rare form of Parkinson’s, valiant to the end, with two Tibetan monks there blessing him on his way.
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Who else inspired you along the way?
Sirio was hugely influential. All my early mentors were men. Having been the only woman at Le Cirque, my acute sense of the male domination of the dining and hospitality industries only sharpened when I came to Vegas. At that time, there were no women property presidents and few in executive positions.
Yet there were highly influential women in town who became my mentors and role models, including Elaine Wynn; gaming pioneer Diana Bennett; Jan Jones Blackhurst, the first female mayor of Las Vegas; and current Mayor Shelley Berkley. Their unwavering commitment to philanthropy inspired a major shift in my life focused on advocacy, mentorship and advancement for women and helping those in need.
In what ways?
On multiple fronts. Gender disparity pervades every level of the hospitality community. The numbers are startling. Women are in the single digits in terms of executive chef, restaurant owner and senior leadership roles, despite representing more than half of hospitality and culinary school enrollees. This prompted my co-founding, in 2020, of the Women’s Hospitality Initiative (WHI), a Vegas-based nonprofit devoted to supporting and accelerating the development and advancement of women leaders in the restaurant industry.
Education is the only way to move people forward, so WHI is underpinned by, “From the Classroom to the Boardroom: Leadership for Women in Hospitality,” a pioneering college-level course that we launched at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada (UNLV) and the Culinary Institute of America, and extended to Florida International University.
Partnering with the National Restaurant Association, we also piloted the two-year ProStart culinary and management program in Nevada high schools.
The goal is to ensure that women are educated, informed and have the requisite leadership tools for every step of their career path. Among our key messages: Women must take personal responsibility for their advancement. Studies show that it starts in kindergarten—boys raise their hands, girls sit still. Overcoming this innate hesitancy for self-advocacy and self-promotion by speaking up is essential for advancement.
Addressing food insecurity is another personal pillar. In 2020, responding to the pandemic, I co-founded Delivering with Dignity. Partnering with local restaurants, nonprofit agencies and corporations, we delivered nearly 1 million meals to vulnerable residents and community facilities while keeping restaurant staff employed.
I also support local organizations such as model food bank Three Square, as culinary council chair, along with advisory, trustee and board roles including with Cornell, UNLV, the Culinary Institute of America, Forbes Travel Guide and Ecole Hoteliere in Lausanne, Switzerland. Purpose and passion drive me every day.
What does the future hold?
We continue to make strides, including here in Vegas, where more women are ascending to senior resort and restaurant leadership roles. Of the 14 James Beard semifinalists this year—myself included for my off-Strip Honey Salt restaurant, Buddy V’s Ristorante at the Venetian and Michelin-recommended Crown Block in Dallas—half are women.
Two are in prominent roles at Wynn Las Vegas. Mariena Mercer Boarini, master mixologist for Wynn Resorts, North America, was recognized in the Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service category, along with Sarah Thompson, Best Chef: Southwest, for Casa Playa, a coastal Mexican concept that I developed for Wynn along with seafood restaurant Pisces and supper club sensation Delilah.
Off-Strip Best Chef: Southwest nominees include Black Sheep’s Jamie Tran and Calabash African Kitchen’s Oulay Ceesay Fisher. Plus, Main Street Provisions’ Ellie Parker for Emerging Chef and Milkfish Bakeshop’s Kimberly Mcintosh for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker.
Seven out of 14 is parity, with many other talented women in key positions around town. The wider industry is far from that mark though, which is why we will keep doubling down with empowerment initiatives such as the Women in Hospitality Leadership Conference, which we launched last year in partnership with Wynn and UNLV. Returning this April, the two-day event embodies the ongoing conversation, education and inspiration needed for women—and men—to crack the code of inequality, together.
Connection
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