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Personal always ranks higher on the list of must-haves at the holidays, so each gift on this 2019 holiday guide comes with a touch of thoughtful combined with love. They’re all specific to Las Vegas, with gifts ranging from edible cookie dough and gourmet ice cream to cooking classes, salt and pepper shakers, wine glasses, olive oil, and more, plus special appearances from celebrity chefs (and their favorite gifts) on the list. Take a class with a top chef or get up close and personal with a seat in the kitchen or inside a special restaurant. Of course, no shopping guide is complete without a cookbook and a Prohibition cocktail primer.
If you’re still stumped after this list, check out Eater’s national guide for more ideas. Happy shopping.
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Salt Man and Pepper Pants
The happy vs. healthy restaurant SkinnyFats offers some of the quirkier items diners find in the restaurants. The Salt Man and Pepper Pants salt and pepper shaker make a perfect stocking stuffer for the person who already has everything. Of course, the restaurant’s line of sauces, rainbow silverware, goblets, and more make an appearance.
Price: $10
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Kitchen Table at Delmonico Steakhouse
To “kick it up a notch” this holiday season, give the gift of the Kitchen Table at chef Emeril Lagasse’s Delmonico Steakhouse at the Venetian. Inside this 20-year-old landmark, the very private Kitchen Table looks out through a picture window at steakhouse’s kitchen where chef de cuisine Ronnie Rainwater and staff prepare a multi-course, off-menu dining experience customized for the table. Dry-aged bone-in rib-eye steak, seafood towers, vegetable preparations, and dramatic desserts are paired with selections from their Wine Spectator Grand Award wine list.
Price: $125
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Lost Recipes of Prohibition
American Prohibition was far from watertight. Those who knew the right people, or the right place to be, could get a drink most likely a variation of the real thing, made by blending smuggled, industrial alcohol or homemade moonshines with extracts, herbs, and oils to imitate the aroma and taste of familiar spirits. Most of the illegal recipes were written out by hand and secretly shared. The “lost recipes” in this book come from one such compilation, a journal hidden within an antique book of poetry, with 300 entries on making liquors, cordials, absinthe, bitters, and wine. Lost Recipes of Prohibition features more than 70 pages from this notebook, with explanations and descriptions for real and faked spirits. Readers will also find historic and modern cocktails from some of today’s leading bartenders, including rum shrubs, DIY summer cups, sugar-frosted “ice” cordials, 19th- and 21st-century cinnamon whiskeys, homemade creme de menthe, absinthe-spiked cocktail onions, caramel lemonade, and more.
Price: $27.95
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Red Heart Amore Dish
Have a little Giada De Laurentiis in the home with her amore catch-all dish. The handmade dish made from earthenware clay found just outside of Florence adds a little bit of Tuscany to any home. Use it as a spoon holder on the stove or as a place to drop keys or jewelry at the end of the day.
Price: $18
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Bonji and Hozon Set from Momofuku
For years, home chefs have wished there was one perfect ingredient to use in savory dishes and cocktails, as a sweet sauce and a dipping sauce. Momofuku’s bonji and hozon are an iconic duo of flavor, perfect for any and every dish. Sweet, light, herbaceous, and spiced, bonji acts as the ideal addition to any cocktail, sweet or savory dish. Perfect for dipping sushi, marinating, meats and fish or flavoring soups and salads, bonji can act as an elevated soy sauce. And, for sweet dishes, bonji is an amazing element to caramel, adding more depth to the traditional sauce.
Price: $21
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Mora Ice Creams
Even in the dead of winter, ice cream is still a great idea, and Mora’s ice cream (coming soon to Las Vegas) is unlike any scoop you can pick up from a grocery store. Hand-crafted in small batches, each flavor incorporates locally sourced ingredients such as fresh fruit and hand-shaved chocolates. Mora Iced Creamery uses an Argentinian recipe with low-butter fat, meaning not only does this ice cream offer deeper and fresher tastes unlike than anything you’ve ever tried, but it’s also a little healthier than your average ice cream. Classic flavors such as dulce de leche and blackberry are year-round staples, but the menu also evolves with the seasons to incorporate Bob’s Peppermint, eggnog, pear sorbet, and ginger for the holidays.
Price: $44.95 for a box (four pints)
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Reservations at é by José Andrés
Chef José Andrés has the golden ticket when it comes to tough tickets to land. Tucked away within Jaleo at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, his restaurant é by José Andrés is one of the most magical dining experiences, bringing wonder and delight to diners with its clever and creative tasting menu featuring more than 20 avant-garde dishes. A perfect blend of culinary masterpiece and ingenious performance, complete with a red velvet curtain and world-class service, é embodies the magic of the holidays in one unforgettable and delicious experience. With only two seatings a night, nine seats per seating, now is the perfect time to book your reservation while they last.
Price: $275 per person plus add-ons available
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MasterClass with Famous Chefs
MasterClass, which recently won a James Beard Award for Online Video, Fixed Location and/or Instructional, is the perfect gift for foodies and home cooks alike. The online platform provides affordable, engaging, and inspirational classes taught by world-renowned chefs. MasterClass makes it possible for anyone to learn from the best and become their own master in the kitchen. MasterClass chef instructors include Thomas Keller, Massimo Bottura, Aaron Franklin, Dominique Ansel, Wolfgang Puck, Gordon Ramsay, Alice Waters, and James Suckling, covering everything from the meticulous low and slow process for mouth-watering smoked meat to dough preparation, and even the filling and assembly of traditional tortellini and wine appreciation.
Price: $180 for a year-long, all-access pass (access to all 60-plus classes); $90 for unlimited access to one class page)
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Honey Salt Food & Drink: A Culinary Scrapbook
Perfect for both novice chefs and culinary experts alike, Honey Salt Food & Drink: A Culinary Scrapbook by Las Vegas restaurateur Elizabeth Blau is much more than a collection of phenomenal recipes; it’s a guide to all things food, handwritten by one of the most influential culinary voices of our time. From hosting the perfect lobster boil to hunting for truffles, crafting the perfect meatball to understanding the intricacies of British Columbia’s wine, Blau mentors readers in this image-driven spin on a cookbook.
Price: $29.95
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My Sister’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Estiatorio Milos
This holiday season, take a break from butter and dip into this Mediterranean-inspired staple instead. Estiatorio Milos’ signature olive oil is sourced from olive trees in the Greek Isles and carefully crafted by the local farmers, who have spent generations harnessing the extraordinary soil, climate and centuries of tradition in Greece to create this timeless product. My Sister’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil works for cooking, dipping fresh bread, and gifting to a favorite chef.
Price: $25
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Legit Cookie Dough Lover’s Holiday Gift from Doughp
This holiday season, treat the sweetest person on the list with the Legit Cookie Dough Lover’s Holiday Gift with fresh and fluffy cookie dough with a choice of three-12-ounce jars, six 24-ounce jars, or two 32-ounce jars. The gift also keeps on giving as it comes with a festive Doughp fanny pack and your very own “Spoonlicker” silicone mixing spoon.
Price: $35.95
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Chef J. Joho’s Alsatian Wine Glass by Steelite
These classic wine glasses are a collaboration between chef Joho and John Miles, president of Steelite International. The glass, with Joho’s distinctive “JJ” logo etched on the bottom, makes an elegant and memorable holiday gift. “I’ve always wanted to create a specialized glass that would help wine lovers discover the distinctive characteristics of the wines from my native Alsace,” chef Joho says. “The unique shape of the glass allows fruit and mineral components of Alsace wines to fully reveal themselves.”
Price: $21.25/glass
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Dandelion Chocolate Advent Calendar
Dandelion Chocolate, which opens at the Venetian in December, has an advent calendar with artwork focused around the theme Quail in a Cacao Tree, created by artist Kirsten Sevig. The quail is based on the California Quail (the California State Bird). This year, the box is re-usable as a gift box and there are 26 total gift boxes.
Price: $125
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Gift Baskets from Eataly
Send a gift from Piemonte, Italy, with a gift basket filled with foods found there. Eataly’s gift basket includes Trinca Mole cola, Piemont fungo mixed mushrooms in oil, Antignano tagliatelle egg pasta, Prunotto organic tomato puree, Aironi Carnaroli rice, and more. The marketplace at the Park MGM also has baskets dedicated to Sicily, Milan, Rome, Umbria, and more.
Price: $99.90
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Ethel M Chocolates Classic and Chocolate Covered Pecan Brittle
Henderson’s Ethel M Chocolates reigns over the sugar scene, and a box of chocolates from the homegrown chocolatier serves as a perfect hostess gift. The classic and chocolate-covered pecan brittle gift set features 24 pieces of copper kettle pecan brittle with 12 pieces in its original crunchy form, and 12 pieces drizzled on a bed of milk chocolate.
Price: $50
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The Eiffel Tower Cookbook
Chef J. Joho takes readers into his kitchen, where he shares 50 of his signature dishes from Eiffel Tower Restaurant at Paris Las Vegas. Explore recipes like The Everest Spoons, a delicate amuse bouche, to elegant desserts like Alsace apple strudel and an assortment of signature soufflés. With more than 75 photos capturing the food and ambiance of Las Vegas’s most romantic restaurant, The Eiffel Tower Cookbook brings a touch of Parisian magic back to the home kitchen.
Price: $40
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