Wolfgang Puck’s Spago Departs The Forum Shops

The restaurant that launched the celebrity chef craze in Las Vegas leaves the Forum Shops at Caesars and heads to the Bellagio. Spago from Wolfgang Puck makes the move next spring, taking over the Todd English’s Olives space, which shutters this winter.

Puck originally brought Spago to Las Vegas in 1992 and since opened five other restaurants including Cut at the Palazzo, two Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grills, Lupo at Mandalay Bay and his Cucina at the Shops at Crystals.

Puck foreshadowed the move in 2015 when he said that his lease Forum Shops ends in two years, and the swanky mall wanted to up the rent. "…if I cannot make a deal work out well, we will go somewhere else.”

At the Bellagio, the restaurant plans to feature an open-air patio with views of the Fountains of Bellagio.

Spago plans to continue to serve Puck’s California cuisine including pizzas topped with salmon and caviar for lunch and dinner, as well as an à la carte menu and Puck’s multi-course California Tasting Menu. A special bar menu of Wolfgang Puck favorites also will be available, along with a cocktail program and an international wine list.

Architects Massimiliano Locatelli and Annamaria Scevola of CLS Architetti plan to design the new restaurant, taking inspiration from Spago’s original flagship location in Beverly Hills.

The restaurant will have an entrance along the resort’s Via Bellagio with a lounge and bar. Brass fixtures, smoked-oak wood floors, leather chairs and couches are among the pieces that decorate the space. A wine room lit by a neon light fixture commissioned for the space becomes the focal point of the room. The main dining room will feature floor-to-ceiling floating glass windows.

• All Coverage of Spago [ELV]