James Beard Winner Chef Sarah Thompson Brings Coastal Mexico to Vegas
She didn't want to move to Las Vegas. She moved anyway for a restaurant that was supposed to open March 16th, 2020. And then she stayed, kept pushing through two years of pandemic uncertainty, and built something so extraordinary that just the other month she became the 2026 James Beard Award winner for Best Chef: Southwest, the first time Las Vegas had been recognized on the James Beard platform in 15 years.
Chef Sarah Thompson is the executive chef of Casa Playa at Wynn Las Vegas, a coastal Mexican restaurant she opened in September 2021, now approaching its fifth anniversary. She is also…
The skinny
The skinny isn't ready yet — notes appear once the transcript is processed.