Celebrity chef Shawn McClain exits Aria

Celebrity chef Shawn McClain will no longer be represented at Aria.

MGM Resorts International has announced that his fine dining restaurant Sage, currently closed, will not reopen. His more casual Five50 Pizza Bar, which also has been closed since the COVID-19 shutdown, is being converted to the company’s in-house brand Moneyline Pizza & Bar.

The latter will operate from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays only, with service at its pizza counter only, starting this weekend. The chef’s company, McClain Camarota Hospitality, will continue to operate Libertine Social in Mandalay Bay.

Aria President and COO Steve Zanella has issued a statement saying, in part, “After a 10-year run as one of Las Vegas’ most beloved dining destinations, the iconic Sage has closed. We appreciate all that Shawn McClain and his team have invested in making this restaurant so special and successful.”

McClain was named Esquire magazine’s Chef of the Year in 2001, and received the Best Chef Midwest award from the James Beard Foundation in 2006. Sage was his first Las Vegas restaurant.

Contact Al Mancini at amancini @reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlManciniVegas on Twitter and Instagram.