Executive chef Miguel Magana, left, and assistant chef Rolando Uclaray display Thanksgiving dinners, turkey left, and ham, at Vics Las Vegas, a restaurant and bar in Symphony Park near downtown, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023.
Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Families across America on Thursday will be preparing their grandparents’ recipes and unearthing their fine china during one of the most popular days of the year for preparing a family feast.
A look at the Thanksgiving menu at Bazaar Meats, by Jose Andres, featuring Green Bean Casserole, Delmonico Potatoes, Croquetas de Espinaca, Butifarra & Cornbread Stuffing, Bill Niman Ranch Heritage Turkey, Spiced Cranberries and Apple Cinnamon Roll Cake.
But for some in Las Vegas, especially those who are less savvy in the kitchen and not eager to have a massive cleaning project afterward, Thanksgiving dinner is all about eating out.
In a city with fine-dining establishments up and down the Resort Corridor, and plenty of mainstay local establishments throughout the valley, there are numerous outlets where locals and tourists alike can feast.
Hundreds of restaurants either stay open on Thanksgiving Day or offer pickup options earlier in the week. Options range from a traditional Thanksgiving dinner to the restaurant’s usual specialties.
Take Vic’s Las Vegas, an Italian-American restaurant at Symphony Park in downtown, which is offering its Thanksgiving meal for $42 per person.
Owner Chris Lowden considers this and the other holiday meals to be an “extension of family,” especially since his own family will be channeling the Vegas out-to-eat energy and dining at the restaurant on Thanksgiving. “(You) get to a certain point where nobody wants to clean up, I guess,” Lowden says.
They are expecting a good turnout this year, with more of a local crowd. Reservations are highly recommended. In fact, many establishments are booked weeks in advance.
Vic’s menu includes the choice between a house salad and butternut squash soup with cream for the appetizer. For the entrée, the offering includes roasted turkey breast, honey glazed ham or a combination of both.
The meal comes with three side dishes, such as mashed potatoes, candied yams, green beans, Brussels sprouts with bacon, mac and cheese, and homemade vegetarian stuffing. Dessert options include apple, pecan and pumpkin pie.
The menu is the product of weeks of preparation, with staff doing taste testing and working with vendors for ingredients, said Miguel Magaña, executive chef.
“We expect good quality — and our providers, they’re really working with us hand-to-hand,” Magaña said.
For those craving a nontraditional holiday meal, Vic’s will also be serving its full regular menu all day, which includes lots of Italian-American favorites. The chefs recommend trying dishes such as their swordfish and pastas.
Locale Italian Kitchen in southwest Las Vegas prepares 80 Thanksgiving meals to-go, which annually sell out early in the week. The meal is $125 and feeds up to four people. All the patron needs to do is warm the food.
Locale Italian Kitchen offers its own take on a traditional Thanksgiving meal, with items such as sliced organic turkey breast and its house-baked sourdough bread, which also makes an appearance in the stuffing. Dessert features a new heirloom pumpkin bread pudding. And, of course, it comes with a bottle of wine to-go as well. The Thanksgiving to-go package is complete with preparation instructions.
“For people to come in and get Thanksgiving dinner for their family to-go without having to worry about going to the grocery store, worry about cooking it, we do all the cooking, we do all the setup, we do all the instructions for our guests picking it up,” said Andy Hooper, CEO of Hooper Hospitality Concepts, the management group behind Locale Italian Kitchen.
The noncooking tradition in Las Vegas is so popular that Bazaar Meat by José Andrés at the Sahara was fully booked six weeks ago.
Bazaar Meat’s meal includes Bill Niman Ranch heritage turkey, which comes from a farm that is a prominent advocate for sustainable agriculture.
Bazaar Meat side dishes include: smoked green beans with seasonal mushrooms, spinach croquettes and a stuffing made with a traditional Spanish sausage and cornbread. The cost is $120 a person.
“I feel like Thanksgiving revolves around tradition, so we try to respect (it) in our culinary approach,” Executive Chef Frank Medina said.
That tradition in Las Vegas is the approach of eating out. And being thankful for not having to clean afterward.
