Legendary Le Cirque Restaurateur Sirio Maccioni Dies

Restaurateur Sirio Maccioni — the man behind seminal French fine dining restaurant Le Cirque, and one of New York’s grandest maitre d’s — has died, the restaurant reports on Instagram. He was 88.

Maccioni opened the original Le Cirque in Manhattan in 1974. A second flagship at the Bellagio hotel sits at the front of the resort with a view of the Fountains at Bellagio. The restaurant that opened when the Bellagio debuted in 1999 was designed by Interior designer Adam Tihany, who created the circus tent ceiling in a jewel-box setting. The fine dining restaurant is known for its impeccable service with tasting menus adorned with the diner’s name and iconic French cuisine, including a lobster salad that debuted on the menu in 1978. While not a complete duplicate of the original in New York. the Las Vegas flagship with its 17 tables offers a more intimate and upscale version of the original.

Maccioni opened Osteria del Circo, the Italian restaurant from the Maccioni family at the Bellagio, in 1999 as well. The restaurant closed in 2014 after 15-year run serving Tuscan cuisine overlooking the Fountains at the Bellagio. His restaurant Sirio Ristorante at Aria also closed in 2014 after five years.

In 1995, the restaurant in New York was awarded the James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Restaurant.

Maccioni immigrated to New York from Italy and worked at restaurants across the city before opening Le Cirque in 1974. Some of New York’s most acclaimed chefs spent time in its kitchen, including Daniel Boulud, David Bouley, Geoffrey Zakarian, Jacques Torres, and Michael Lomonaco. In 2013, Esquire magazine wrote that “no restaurant in America, perhaps the world, has graduated so many renowned chefs as Le Cirque.”

““Our thoughts are with the entire Maccioni family at this time,” MGM Resorts said in a press statement to Eater Vegas. “When Sirio agreed to bring Le Cirque to Bellagio in the late ’90s, before the city was known as the culinary destination it is today, the resort’s position as an industry leader was cemented. Sirio was the epitome of ‘one of a kind,’ leaving behind an extraordinary legacy in the hospitality and culinary worlds that will live on forever. “

• Legendary Le Cirque Restaurateur Sirio Maccioni Has Died [ENY]

• All Coverage of Le Cirque [ELV]