The awards ceremony will take place at Wynn Las Vegas next June.
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants has selected Las Vegas as the host city for its awards in 2024. This annual event, which started in 2002, is widely considered as one of the most prestigious gatherings for the world’s culinary elite.
Las Vegas is an interesting choice for the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, which has largely neglected the United States in recent years. New York’s Atomix (No. 8) and Le Bernardin (No. 44) are the only US restaurants in the 2023 list. We’ll have to wait until June 2024 to see if World’s 50 Best puts Las Vegas or any other American cities beyond New York on its list.
In Las Vegas, World’s 50 Best will have five days of events at hotels including Wynn, Resorts World and The Venetian. There will be panel discussions, parties featuring 50 Best chefs cooking with local talent, a “chefs’ feast” that will showcase Vegas dining and entertainment and an educational event with chefs and local culinary students. The culmination will be the awards ceremony at Wynn on June 5, 2024.
“Just like the city itself, the culinary landscape in Las Vegas is constantly evolving, and we are thrilled to showcase the breadth and depth to world-renowned chefs, restaurateurs and culinary leaders from around the world.” Steve Hill, president/CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said in a statement.
Las Vegas dining and entertainment are clearly on the upswing with everything from U2’s shows at The Sphere to the recent opening of HaSalon at The Venetian to the forthcoming Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix week pop-ups with chefs like Mario Carbone, David Chang, Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Michael Mina adding excitement. Tao Group Hospitality (Tao, Lavo, Hakkasan and Beauty & Essex) has teamed up with members-only reservations platform Dorsia for F1 week, and Dorsia plans to announce other Las Vegas drops soon.
In November, the off-Strip Durango resort (across the street from the buzzing Sundry food hall at the UnCommons mixed-used development) will debut and feature a dining collection that includes Summer House from Lettuce Entertain You and the Eat Your Heart Out food hall with Fiorella, Irv’s Burgers, Uncle Paulie’s Deli, Prince Street Pizza and many others. In December, the long-awaited Fontainebleau resort will open with 36 first-to-market restaurants and bars that include the first Las Vegas spots from Mexico City’s Gabriela Camara, LA’s Evan Funke, Miami’s David Grutman and New York’s Masa Ito and Kevin Kim.
“It’s an extraordinary time for the city,” said Elizabeth Blau, a prolific Las Vegas restaurant-development executive, operator and consultant who’s had a longstanding relationship with World’s 50 Best. “World’s 50 Best is the preeminent recognition of restaurateurs internationally. The importance of it coming to North America is that it gives us exposure to their community of voters. More so, they could have chosen any culinary city. They could have chosen New York or San Francisco or Los Angeles or Chicago. They’re finally recognizing Las Vegas as the culinary destination that we are.”
