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2024 Thanksgiving Menu and Meal Prep Timeline

* image These past few months have been busy for our family, especially since our oldest joined a local swim team. Between juggling our work schedules and balancing school with practices... we're all pretty wiped out. Although it's a lot of work, I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving. Preparing the holiday meal for our family fills my heart with joy, and I can't wait to get started. To make things easier for me, I don't deviate much from  our first Thanksgiving  as a family. The dishes I make are familiar ones, and the recipes for them live at my fingertips. Keeping the same menu year after year means I don't have to spend time researching recipes or planning a new one. Here are my tried-and-true Thanksgiving recipes, as well as my prep timeline for the big day!

Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill

Menu at Wolfgang Puck Bar and Grill - Photo
Menu at Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill at MGM Grand in Las Vegas


Just when I thought I had said everything I had wanted to say about April's trip to Las Vegas, I find a handful of forgotten photos from our dinner at Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill at MGM Grand. Looking at them now, I could very well scrap the review and pretend the meal never happened, especially since the dinner was a disappointment. But there's a lesson to be learned from the experience.


Having a celebrity chef's name on the sign out front does not mean you're going to receive the A-list treatment while you're inside.

Caramelized Brussels Sprouts at Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV - Photo by Taste As You Go
Caramelized Brussels Sprouts 
at Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill at MGM Grand in Las Vegas


The meal started off on shaky ground. While we didn't have to wait to be seated, we had to deal with a high level of cigarette smoke lingering in the air from the people who were sitting at the slot machines less than fifty feet away. Yes, I know smoking is permitted inside casinos, but I've been relatively spoiled in New York, where smoking is not allowed inside of restaurants. Trying to ignore the smell proved extremely difficult, especially for me.

Also, we had a direct view into the casino, which meant we heard everything that was happening around us, from the unfiltered conversations to the pinging of the machines. If you're looking for a place to enjoy a quiet meal (or even a moderately loud one), then skip Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill. Unless you like practically sitting on the laps of the people dining at the next table over. Then, by all means...

Of the various items that we ordered off of the dinner menu, the Caramelized Brussels Sprouts stood out the most. Our server raved about them so much, two of us ordered them to go "on the side" of our entrees. Given that we each ate one sprout apiece, we could have done perfectly well with one order.

The Brussels sprouts were barely cooked, hardly tender at all, with next to no caramelization. We were expecting to be dazzled by these sprouts, anticipating some type of revelation that only Wolfgang Puck could provide. Unfortunately, the Brussels sprouts we received were extremely bitter and showed us that the chef on the vegetable station that night just didn't care.

We notified our server that we did not care for the Brussels sprouts, explaining that they weren't cooked all the way. Rather than apologize for the error or offer to have the kitchen prepare another order, he huffed off and just left the plates of vegetables on an already crowded table.

At least we weren't charged for the sprouts.

Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill (MGM Grand) on Urbanspoon

Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill
MGM Grand
3799 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 891-3000 | Online Reservations | Map

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