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Give yourself a gift this holiday when pros do the cooking at these Las Vegas restaurants open on Christmas Day and Eve
You’ve decked the halls, sleuthed out the perfect gifts at the city’s best shops and learned that Christmas songs don’t have to suck. Next on the agenda: planning the holiday feast. By which we mean making reservations at one of these restaurants open on Christmas Day and Eve. From a carnivore’s dream dinner to a new Thai tradition, there’s a meal for every type of celebration.
RECOMMENDED: See the full Christmas in Las Vegas guide
How does Buddy “Cake Boss” Valastro do Christmas? With a three-course menu of butternut squash soup, herb crusted prime rib and, yes, cake in the form of a chocolate yule log with Bavarian cream. Fruit cake has nothing on this. 702-607-2355. Christmas Eve 11:30am–11pm; Christmas Day 11:30am–10pm.
Price: $49, $20 bottle of prosecco, $30 wine pairing
Leave the cooking to the professionals this Christmas at chef Michael Mina’s eponymous Bellagio restaurant. You’ll get to indulge in a four-course feast featuring dishes like lobster pot pie and wagyu ribeye, and you won’t even have to do the dishes afterward. Consider Christmas a drinking holiday? Ante up for the wine pairings and you’ll go home sauced and stuffed. 702-693-7223. 5–9:45pm.
Price: $138, $88 wine pairing
For better or worse, Christmas is all about family and this gorgeous eatery at the SLS is ready to welcome even your annoying uncle with a family-style feast that includes Mediterranean dips, roast Sonoma lamb and sticky toffee pudding. Thanks to a set menu, you won’t have to argue over the apps or brace yourself for the cousin who always balls on someone else’s bill. That kind of simplicity may be the greatest Christmas gift of all. 702-761-7612. 6–10:30pm.
Price: $60, $50 for localsThe holidays are a time to indulge, and it doesn’t get more decadent than a nine-course Christmas feast from French master chef Guy Savoy. This year’s lineup includes dishes like scallop tartare, grilled venison with braised baby pears and a final course dubbed “the Thirteen Desserts.” Vegetarian guests can opt for a full meat-free tasting menu that’s equally opulent thanks to liberal use of black and white truffles. 702-731-7286. 5:30–9:30pm.
Price: $375
If your idea of Christmas dining is more potstickers than prime rib, Wing Lei’s Holiday Dim Sum Brunch, served December 24 through January 1, has your name on it. Grab a seat inside the Wynn’s elegant Chinese restaurant decked in emerald and gold and get ready for a parade of table-side treats in addition to buffet items and carving stations. Who needs dinner when you can have brunch? 702-770-3388. 11am–3pm.
Price: $69, $59 children under 6
Chef Scott Conant’s five-course Christmas menu reads like a greatest hits list of holiday flavors put to unexpected use: chestnuts (in a squash soup with confit turkey), hazelnuts (crumbled onto butternut squash raviolini), red wine sauce (served with a beefy duo of NY Strip and short rib alongside truffled potato puree). By the time you hit the peach crostata for dessert, you’ll barely have room for another bite. 702-698-7960. 5:30–11pm.
Price: $115
If you believe the Christmas season should bring joy to the entire world, indulge in an international feast at Sushisamba. Billing itself as the intersection between Japanese, Brazilian and Peruvian cuisine, the restaurant offers sushi and churrasco meats, as well as plenty of dishes that pull from multiple cultures, like the jumbo shrimp sashimi with passion fruit and cilantro or Wagyu taquitos with truffled tofu crema and ponzu. 702-607-0700. Christmas Eve 11:30am–2am; Christmas Day 11:30am–1am.
Price: à la carte
This see-and-be-seen steakhouse, popular with the pre-party set, offers its full regular menu as well as a one-night-only special of beef Wellington with black truffles and foie gras ($90). Splurge on that decadent dish or have a choose-your-own-adventure steak dinner with plenty of sides, toppings and sauces to create your ideal meal. 702-698-7990. Christmas Eve 5:30–midnight; Christmas Day 5:30–9:30pm.
Price: à la carte
Anyone familiar with this New York import knows it’s impossible to get a seat at the original location. Lucky for you, this family-owned Italian landmark has also set up shop at Caesars Palace, where it will host two separate holiday menus for Christmas Eve and Day. The festivities start December 24 with the Feast of the Seven Fishes and a menu bursting with fresh fish and seafood (hello, lobster, shrimp and scallop pappardelle). The next night, Rao’s serves a more traditional American meal, including dijon and honey-glazed pork loin and apple pie. 702-731-7267. Christmas Eve 5–10:30pm; Christmas Day 5–10:30pm.
Price: à la carte
The belligerent British TV star and chef (who we hear is actually a pretty nice guy) serves up a hearty holiday dinner at his Caesars Palace pub. For starters pumpkin and chestnut risotto with pancetta followed by beef tenderloin with stilton mashed potatoes and gingerbread with eggnog cremeux. Wash it all down with a pint of Gordon’s favorite beer: Scottish ale Innis & Gunn. 702-731-7410. 11am–11:30pm.
Price: $75Ever since Dickens sung the praises of goose in A Christmas Carol, the fowl has had a firm connection with the holiday. And yet, when was the last time anyone you knew made a goose for the December celebration (or any other meal for that matter)? Well, Tom Colicchio’s Heritage Steak is putting the bird back on the menu for its Christmas special, which complements the poultry with winter salad, glazed endive and gingerbread figgy pudding. 702-791-7111. 5–10pm.
Price: à la carte
On Christmas Day, the Mandarin Oriental’s third-floor eatery serves an international holiday brunch that includes sushi, charcuterie selections, ceviche, a carving station and Greek salad. Still hungry? Entrees range from roasted trout to caprese Benedict or matcha waffles. There also happen to be more dessert choices than anyone deserves—no matter how good you were this year. 888-881-9367. Noon–3pm.
Price: $75
How do Italians celebrate the holiday? With lots and lots of seafood. Portofino’s “not-so-traditional” take on the Feast of the Seven Fishes is an Italian-American cioppino, a tasty stew brimming with salmon, lobster, scallops, shrimp, calamari, cod and more in a white wine, tomato and saffron broth. If you have room after all of that oceanic goodness, there are Italian Christmas cookies—and spiked eggnog—for dessert. 866-339-4566. 5–10pm.
Price: à la carte
Feeling a bit Grinch-y this holiday season? Crush’s Christmas Day dinner takes inspiration from Dr. Seuss’s fictional burg of Whoville, where the green one staged his famous Christmas coup. The two-course menu features “roast beast,” a 16-ounce prime rib served with Yorkshire pudding and horseradish cream, and “Who-pudding” (aka chocolate risotto) for dessert. 702-891-3222. 5:30–10:30pm.
Price: $38If spending the holiday at Emeril Lagasse’s house sounds good, dinner at his Venetian steakhouse might be the next best thing. The special Christmas menu features dishes like slow-roasted duck strudel with brie and porchetta with balsamic and mustard reduction for a meal that’s kicked up a few notches beyond your aunt’s dried out roast. 702-414-3737. 5–10pm.
Price: à la carte
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