Biography
Elizabeth Blau, a James Beard Award nominee, is founder and CEO of restaurant development company Blau & Associates and is widely credited with helping transform Las Vegas into a world-class culinary destination. A renowned restaurateur, Blau’s influence extends across Las Vegas and internationally.
A graduate of the School of Hotel Administration (now the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration) at Cornell University, Blau began her career in New York with restaurateur Sirio Maccioni of Le Cirque and helped expand the brand to Las Vegas. After opening Le Cirque at Bellagio, Blau was recruited to Mirage Resorts as vice president of restaurant development. She later served as executive vice president of restaurant development and marketing for Wynn Las Vegas, where she oversaw the creation, development, operations and promotion of hundreds of food and beverage concepts. Blau helped attract award-winning chefs to Las Vegas, reshaping the city’s dining culture and elevating its culinary reputation beyond a buffet-focused model.
Blau founded Blau & Associates in 2002, building it into a leading restaurant development and consulting firm. She has since launched a series of successful restaurant concepts across Las Vegas.
In 2012, Blau and her husband, chef Kim Canteenwalla, opened their first independent venture, Honey Salt. The following year, Blau & Associates partnered with Buddy Valastro to open Buddy V’s Ristorante on the Las Vegas Strip. Andiron Steak & Sea followed in 2015. For Parq Vancouver Resort & Casino, which opened in 2017, Blau led the development of a portfolio of five restaurants, including a Honey Salt location at the JW Marriott that remains in operation.
She has appeared as a judge on Food Network’s “Iron Chef America” and has been featured on the Travel Channel and “The Martha Stewart Show.” She co-starred on CNBC’s “Restaurant Startup” as a Season 3 investor and co-authored “Honey Salt: A Culinary Scrapbook,” named Best Cookbook of 2018 by Food & Beverage Magazine.
Her honors include the IFMA Gold Plate Award, Cornell’s MMH Outstanding Alumna of the Year Award and a Stevie Award for Women in Business. In 2020, she received the Silver State Award’s Innovator honor.
Blau serves in multiple leadership roles, including as an international advisory board member for Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne; a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board for the Nolan School; and a member of the global advisory board at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She is also chairwoman of the Culinary Council of Three Square Food Bank in Southern Nevada and serves on the board of Communities in Schools. Blau completed a 12-year trusteeship with the Culinary Institute of America in 2020.
In 2020, Blau co-founded the Women’s Hospitality Initiative, a Las Vegas-based nonprofit dedicated to advancing women in leadership roles within the restaurant industry. She also co-founded Delivering with Dignity, a program that partners with local restaurants to provide thousands of meals each week to food-insecure community members.
Blau lives in Las Vegas with her husband, Kim, their son, Cole, and their two golden retrievers.