Columnist Muriel Stevens: Plate is nearly full on holiday

Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2004 | 8:20 a.m.

Still shopping for a place to dine on Thanksgiving Day? Here are some more suggestions to add to the list I started in Friday's column. Wherever possible make a reservation. Some restaurants will serve a family-style dinner. The host gets to take home the leftovers, if there are any.

Celebrate Thanksgiving in a beautiful sylvan setting, complete with snow, at the historic Mount Charleston Lodge. Enjoy traditional holiday fare prepared by Master Chef Yves Menes, who somehow manages to retain the same prices year after year -- $23.50 for adults; $13.50 for children.

Included are Waldorf salad and butternut squash soup and a choice of turkey, baked ham, prime rib, baked salmon or a turkey-and-ham combination. All dinners include pine-nut dressing, giblet gravy, candied yams and apples, vegetables and a choice of apple or pumpkin pecan pie. Dinner service is from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Reservations are recommended. Call 872-5408.

Mount Charleston Lodge is again offering the popular horse-drawn carriage or sleigh ride -- $15 per adult; $8 per child. For more information about activities and lodging at the lodge, visit www.mtcharleston- lodge.com.

America restaurant at New York-New York will feature a three-course menu with a choice of bibb lettuce salad or roasted acorn squash soup, a main course of roasted turkey with cornbread dressing, giblet gravy, mashed potatoes, baby carrots, spaghetti squash and green beans. Dessert is a choice of pumpkin or apple pie.

Service is from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Price per person is $15.95. For reservations call 740-6451.

The Firelight Buffet inside Sam's Town on Boulder Highway will serve champagne brunch for $11.99 per person. Traditional turkey and all of the trimmings are offered, as well as prime rib, honey-baked ham and a vast selection of the regular buffet items, including Chinese and Mexican specialities, and special holiday desserts.

Firelight buffet service is from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; champagne brunch is offered from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, call 456-7777.

Simon Kitchen and Bar at the Hard Rock Hotel will celebrate Thanksgiving with a three-course menu that includes roasted pumpkin soup, a main course served family-style -- roasted turkey breast, turkey leg confit, wood-roasted fall vegetables, cornbread stuffing and a choice of pumpkin, deep-dish apple or cranberry-pecan pie for dessert.

Price per person is $45. Dinner hours are from 4 p.m to 9 p.m. For more information or a reservation, call 693-4440.

Gallagher's Steakhouse inside New York-New York will offer traditional Thanksgiving favorites and special seafood selections for this year's Thanksgiving menu.

Start your Gallagher's meal with a savory crab bisque ($8) or bacon- wrapped day boat scallops ($14). The roasted turkey ($26) includes pear and dried-cherry dressing, giblet gravy and green beans. Or have the pan-roasted Alaskan halibut ($32) with wild mushroom ragout drizzled with spicy lobster oil.

Pumpkin cheesecake ($6.50) for dessert sounds just right. Thanksgiving Day hours are from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Reservations are recommended; call 740-6450.

Thanksgiving Day feasting at Caesars Palace:

Bradley Ogden will offer Thanksgiving Feast 2004, a multicourse prix fixe dinner for $115 per person plus tax and gratuity. Service is from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. For reservations call 731-7731.

Neros Steak & Seafood (5 p.m. to 11 p.m.), Terazza (5 p.m. to 11 p.m.) and Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill (11 a.m. to 11 p.m.) will feature special Thanksgiving selections in addition to their regular a la carte menus.

Cafe Lago Buffet, in addition to the regular buffet, will include festive Thanksgiving items from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. for $25.99 per person.

Cafe Lago a la carte will offer an a la carte Thanksgiving menu ($17.99 per person) from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. David Osborne, a frequent White House pianist, will entertain from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Hyatt Regency Lake Las Vegas is featuring a lavish Thanksgiving buffet from noon to 8 p.m. in two restaurants -- Cafe Tajine and Japengo. In addition to traditional Thanksgiving foods, a Pan-Asian station will showcase the exotic sushi creations that have brought Japengo such renown. Buffet prices are $44.95 per adult; $21.95 for kids ages 6 to 10; no charge for children 5 years and younger.

An a la carte Thanksgiving menu is offered at the Carmel Room at the Rampart Casino at the Resort at Summerlin. Turkey ($21) is carved tableside and includes all the side dishes. Other items are available. Dinner service is from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Rampart Buffet ($15.99) service is from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and includes a wide array of foods.

Promenade Cafe Thanksgiving dinners are $12.95 per person. Service is from noon to 10 p.m.

Primm Valley resorts will offer Thanksgiving menus at all three venues: Buffalo Bill's, Primm Valley and Whiskey Pete's for $10.95 (plus) per person. Includes an extensive array of traditional and other holiday foods. Primm Valley resorts are located 35 minutes south of Las Vegas on Interstate 15 at Stateline. Visit www.primmvalleyresorts.com for more info.

Le Cordon Bleu students have been busy this week preparing Thanksgiving dinner baskets for less-fortunate families. Directing the humanitarian effort is Cordon Bleu Executive Chef and Chefs for Kids Treasurer Heinz Lauer.

Monday and Tuesday, Le Cordon Bleu students cooked and prepared the baskets. Delivery was made this morning. Each basket included a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for six.

This will be a delicious Thanksgiving for the recipients. With Chef Lauer as their mentor, Le Cordon Bleu students have much to be thankful for. Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Las Vegas is in Summerlin at 1451 Center Crossing Road.

Don't eat the facial -- the pumpkin spice facial that is. Pumpkin spice facials are available at the Bathhouse Spa at The Hotel at Mandalay Bay through Dec. 30. Bathhouse Spa is open to the public, but treatments require appointments, so call ahead.

Getting one of these fabulous facials is no small punkin -- the price is $135 for 50 minutes. Designed to leave your skin silky smooth, it might be just what's needed after Thanksgiving dinner. For men and women. Call 632-9240.