Five50 is the latest restaurant by James Beard Award-winning chef Shawn McClain, executive chef of Sage at ARIA Resort & Casino. His latest venture embraces a more casual concept. The restaurant’s name is a reference to the ideal temperature for baking wood oven pizzas. Rockwell Group’s design concept for Five50 is inspired by New York pizzerias, and also reflects its Las Vegas location and the city’s nightlife culture. Both the food and the design emphasize the craft of making pizza, with an honest approach to ingredients and materials.
Located in the ARIA Resort & Casino, Five50 will feature three dining areas – a pizza counter where guests can get a quick slice, a main dining area, and a semi-private back dining room. Rockwell Group selected a palette of natural finishes and materials that reveal the maker’s hand and, like pizza, are formed at high temperatures.
To emphasize the handcrafted look and feel of the space, Rockwell Group selected stamped, multicolored concrete tiles for the floor and covered the convex ceiling in chevron-patterned wood. The slice counter is located in front of the pizza oven and features a red glazed lava stone counter. The pizza oven is clad in a subtly curved white tile.
In a nod to urban pizzerias, Rockwell Group commissioned LA- d studio and street art collective Cyrcle to design a site-specific mural inspired by a New York City streetscape along the upper half of the space's back wall. The lower half of the back wall is covered in a dual glazed (matte and glossy) deep green tile handmade in California by Hearth Ceramics.
The main dining area is defined by a wall comprised of aged, hand-cut and carved wood bricks made out of locally sourced spalted maple, supported by a l work that threads through the bricks. Rockwell Group designed the wall and commissioned John Houshmand, a designer d in upstate New York, to produce. The dining tables, as well as most of the furniture in Five50, are made from reclaimed wood and were fabricated in the United States. Custom chairs have exposed l joinery and aged leather seats.
The horseshoe shaped bar, which is located in the center of the main dining area, has a zinc bar top, a penny tile covered , and handcrafted wood and leather bar stools by the Brooklyn furniture company, Token, whose Red Hook workshop and showroom was nearly destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. Three custom, bar height tables made of charred wood cast in l s are located in front of the bar. Pendant lighting fixtures comprised of brass found s with hand blown glass shades designed by Lindsey Adelman hang above the hightop tables.
A small semi-private dining area that seats 8-10 people is located in the back of the restaurant. Rockwell Group selected materials in dark tones to create a more intimate space. The area is defined by a charred wood wall and a custom, jet-cut brass chain curtain. A chandelier in wood lined with black and gold gilding is suspended above the private dining area.
