PUCK, NO! Health Dept. Closes Las Vegas Wolfgang Puck Restaurant

Posted on: January 4, 2025, 06:28h. 

Last updated on: January 4, 2025, 07:59h.

Corey Levitan Read More

Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Restaurants, Las Vegas Myths.

In what is believed to be the first time a celebrity chef’s Las Vegas restaurant has ever been closed by the health department, the Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill at MGM Grand was shuttered following a routine Jan. 2 inspection that turned up multiple frightening findings. It is expected to reopen on Monday.

The upscale eatery’s hot line (where hot food is cooked) and prep kitchen (where ingredients are prepared) were the main culprits. The Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) gave them 16 and 15 demerits, respectively, while five other related operations received 0-3.

Both the hot line and prep kitchen received demerits for “effective pest control measures” and “food protected from potential cross-contamination by employees and consumers.” In addition, the hot line received demerits for “food at proper temperatures,” and the prep kitchen received demerits for “food thawed and cooled using proper methods/fruits and vegetables washed prior to preparation,” “chemicals properly identified, stored and used,” and “food contact surfaces of equipment properly cleaned and sanitized.”

In addition to the restaurant, hot line and prep kitchen, four additional related food service operations were closed: the bar, server station, butcher shop and exhibition kitchen.

In all, the SNHD dished out 42 demerits to the Wolfgang Puck’s MGM Grand operation. SNHD closes facilities if an inspection results in 41 demerits or more, or if inspectors observe the facility operating under an imminent health hazard.

What the Puck?

Puck, 75, was the first celebrity chef to open a restaurant in Las Vegas. When he debuted Spago at the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace in May 1992, the Strip was still widely regarded as a haven for cheap buffets.

The Austrian-born chef’s MGM Grand restaurant, which debuted in December of that same year, was the second in his Vegas empire. It was followed by the Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill at Crystals at CityCenter in 2010, the Wolfgang Puck Pizzeria & Cucina at Crystals at CityCenter in 2011, and Lupo by Wolfgang Puck at Mandalay Bay in 2013.

SNHD’s running list of restaurant closures typically includes unfamiliar names frequented only by locals.

Once in a great while, however, a major Strip property will show up. In September, for instance, a room service kitchen at Bellagio, also an MGM Resorts property, was closed for violations including “sewage or liquid waste not disposed of in an approved manner.”

However, according to Casino.org‘s research, a closure associated with one of the world’s most prominent celebrity chefs has never happened before.

To a huge casino company like MGM Resorts — which co-owns the Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill with the restaurateur — a health department closure is almost as embarrassing as a Nevada Gaming Commission closure.

Typically in this atypical case, fixing all violations is given top corporate priority, heads quietly roll, and then the SNHD is invited back for an inspection within 1-2 days that inevitably produces an “A” rating and wipes the recognizable name from the SNHD’s website.

The MGM Grand’s website lists reservations available at Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill starting 11 a.m. Monday, Jan. 6.

A PR rep for the MGM Grand did not reply to Casino.org’s request for comment.