Ditch the kitchen and spend Turkey Day on the Strip
This Turkey Day, ditch the family drama, the stress and hours spent cooking and cleaning up, and take your most beloved loved ones to Sin City. Plenty of restaurants serve up Thanksgiving-esque meals with all the trimmings, and you’ll even have time to catch a show or win back the cost of your meal afterward. So pack your stretchy pants and your Alka-Seltzer, and come to your (Vegas) mama.
Get your tryptophan fix at Hash House a Go Go, known for its huge portions and “twisted farm food.” Hash House celebrates Thanksgiving Day with a special holiday menu that feels like home (or the home you wish you had): roasted turkey breast with homemade mashed potatoes, rosemary gravy, old-school dressing, carrots, baby green beans, grilled corn on the cob and cranberry sauce. Burp a couple of times then top it off with homemade pumpkin bread pudding with vanilla ice cream.
Carmine’s is all about putting you into a food coma, and Thanksgiving is no different. Big enough to feed eight hungry Midwesterners, the 18-pound perfectly roasted turkey will make you forget all your troubles. Keeping the jumbo bird company is sausage and sage stuffing, marshmallow-covered sweet potatoes, baby carrots, saute¿ed string beans, and Brussels sprouts with caramelized onions and bacon.
And like everything at Carmine’s, the pie is also ginormous — your choice of pecan or pumpkin. Have your Thanksgiving dinner at 3 a.m. if you so choose at the Pantry at the Mirage, open 24 hours.
Affordable and casual, the Pantry is a great place to indulge without the judgment. Everything on the three-course menu can be ordered a la carte. Start with butternut squash bisque, and then head face first right into star of the show: citrus brined turkey with sides like cornbread stuffing, creamed kohlrabi and roasted Brussels sprouts. Finish your feast with pumpkin pie in a mason jar.
Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare is known for serving some of the freshest, most exquisite seafood this side of the Mediterranean. But (no surprise here), double-James Beard award winner Paul Bartolotta manages to make a mean turkey, too. The five-course prix fixe Thanksgiving meal includes tacchino (that’s turkey in Italiano) served with chestnuts, sausage, Tuscan cabbage and sage gravy. Along for the ride will be crustaceans like cappesante dorate (seared sea scallops) with porcini mushrooms, and cappellacci di zucca (butternut squash ravioli) topped with brown butter.
If you want just a taste of Thanksgiving without the turkey, head to Sprinkles from Nov. 20 to 29. The bakery will feature T-Day- themed cupcakes such as pumpkin, orange cranberry, red velvet and dark chocolate — all adorned with turkey and maple leaf sugar decorations. Or try the new pumpkin cheesecake, available all month long.
ONE FINAL NOTE: Check the menu and the prices closer to the holiday, and be sure to make a reservation. Nothing is worse than being turned away from your own Thanks- giving meal.
-By Andrea Kahn, Tribune Content Solutions