Elizabeth Blau

Elizabeth Blau is a James Beard Award nominee recognized for the impact of her leadership, innovation and philanthropy during a nearly four-decade career. She is widely credited with transforming Las Vegas into a world-class culinary destination and is known for helping shape the global dining scene by bringing award-winning chefs and restaurateurs to international real estate mixed-use projects as well as luxury resort developments.

In 2002, Blau founded Blau + Associates, expanding it into one of the leading restaurant development and consulting companies. Along with her husband, chef Kim Canteenwalla, Blau operates successful signature restaurants including Honey Salt in Las Vegas and Vancouver, Buddy’s V’s Ristorante on the Las Vegas Strip, Crown Block Restaurant at the Reunion Tower in Dallas and a portfolio of acclaimed restaurants at the Parq Vancouver Resort & Casino. She is the author of "Honey Salt: A Culinary Scrapbook," which was named Best Cookbook of 2018 by Food & Beverage Magazine.

Recipient of the 2022 Cornell Hospitality Innovator Award, Blau serves the global hospitality community through advisory and board roles for organizations such as École Hôtelière de Lausanne and the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, her alma mater. She is trustee emeritus of the Culinary Institute of America and global advisory board member emeritus at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. In 2020, Blau co-founded the nonprofit Women’s Hospitality Initiative to develop and implement programs for women to achieve leadership positions in the restaurant industry. During the pandemic, Blau co-created Delivering with Dignity, a program that has delivered over 750,000 chef-prepared nutritious meals to the food-insecure community.