Photos provided by:
McClain Restaurant Group
Notorious for its decadent and unique culinary experiences, Las Vegas makes us feel so lucky and at the same time spoiled! Everything here is at your service – best cuisine, mixology of beverages, cocktails, and presentation. Las Vegas is also home to a brilliant individual in the culinary world, Executive Chef, and Managing Partner at Sage, FIVE50 and Libertine Social Shawn McClain.
Chef McClain discovered that the Las Vegas culinary community was very supportive and created a fertile environment with a rich variety of fresh produce that wouldn’t make it to the Midwest. From his focus on artisan meats, to his seafood dominant and vegetarian small plate concepts; nothing is impossible for Chef McClain. Everything he touches turns into esthetical perfection. Raw ingredients take exotic shapes and forms and turn into edgy wide spectrum of flavors.
Contrary to many chefs that grew up around parents or grandparents who cooked or owned restaurants, Chef Shawn McClain’s talent blossomed despite the lack of cooking environment in his family.
“I grew up in a big family of 6 kids, we rarely ate at home. We were busy with school, playing sports and mom was not a big cook.” Chef Shawn McClain
In fact, his family tradition of eating out and going to restaurants had a positive influence on his career. As a child, McClain was magically enchanted by the ambiance of restaurants, food presentations, textures, and tastes. He didn’t know much about cooking in his teenage years, but exploring the fun and dynamic environment of restaurants was perhaps his first teacher.
Today, you can see Chef McClain’s collection of award-winning restaurants such as, Spring in Chicago, Sage at Aria Las Vegas, and his latest hotspot Libertine Social at Mandalay Bay.
Inventive concepts earned McClain multiple accolades, including James Beard Award nominations for Outstanding New Restaurant, Esquire magazine’s “Chef of the Year,” and Desert Companion’s “Restaurant of the Year.” In addition, McClain’s culinary portfolio has been praised by The New York Times, Bon Appétit, FOOD & WINE, and several other prestigious publications.
If you are coming to Sage for the first time, we would highly recommend you to try Shawn McClain’s Foie Gras Brulee. From personal experience, it was an incredible combination delivering a visual and culinary experience. I’ve tried many different versions of Foie Gras all over the world, including the best French restaurants in Paris and nothing impressed me like McClain’s.
With more than 30 years of experience, McClain has evolved his own style of culinary perfection. His unique appreciation for Asian cuisine and variety of culinary influences, coupled with his innate understanding of taste, has revolutionized the culinary industry. We can continue to enjoy McClain’s culinary vision as he prepares to create a cookbook this year to share some of his famous recipes. What a treat that will be! We’ll be able to re-create some of his most popular recipes from the comfort of our homes.
