He is Executive Chef of both FIX, at Bellagio, and the new STACK Restaurant & Bar, which opened in December, at The Mirage. Both operations are the creations of The Light Group, headed by Andrew Sasson and Andy Masi, well-known for their ultra hip and ultra successful nightclubs in Boston, Miami, Las Vegas, and New York City.

MEET THE CHEF Brian Thomas Massie comes from strong chef stock: his grandfather was a chef in Ireland and his father, while an engineer, inherited love for the kitchen. Brian played football in college and briefly considered a career in finance before entering the Culinary Institute of America.

After graduating from the prestigious CIA, he worked for celebrated New York Chef Lidia Bastianich, in 1996, moved to Italy to apprentice with Guiltier Marchesia at Erbusco and, later, Annie Floydee in Florence. Two years later, he was sought by renowned Chef Charlie Palmer who signed him to help open Aureole at Mandalay Bay. A year later, Brian became Executive Chef of Charlie Palmer Steak at the Las Vegas Four Seasons.

Q: What originally inspired you to cook for a living?

A: When I was a kid, I would spend weekends with my dad at our country house in upstate New York. He would do all the cooking and I’d stick to his hip, helping him make sausage or cook a turkey he had just shot. We had a great time.

Q: What was your first impression of Las Vegas?

A: I had never seen it before I opened Mandalay Bay. I wasn’t wowed by Vegas food. I mean, I came from New York, “the Big Apple”, and I had cooked in Italy. I saw tons of room for improvement in the food.