Tag: las vegas

Vegan Pizza in Las Vegas – Pop Up Pizza at the Plaza Hotel & Casino

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One of the first new-to-me places we visited on our last visit to Las Vegas was Pop Up Pizza. JC found it looking for vegan pizza options in Las Vegas, and stumbling on this Eating Vegan in Vegas page. It’s inside the Plaza Hotel & Casino. At first it just looks like one of those regular old casino fast food joints (as in – why even check if it has vegan options), but it becomes obvious that it’s so much more. They have around 6 pizzas on display, and one of those was their vegan pie, The Soho, with daiya, spinach, mushrooms, artichoke, and roasted bell pepper. The thing that really separates them from a place like A Slice of Vegas is that you can buy vegan pizza by the slice. It looked and tasted great. Worth noting is that it is slightly more expensive than the regular pizzas. Both the full pie and by the slice… but they have specials printed on their counter that you might want to pay attention to, because they make the whole meal a really great deal. We took advantage of the two slices and one large pop at a discounted price. Other vegan options include garlic knots (they’ll skip the parm). And also vegan soft serve, as their default offering soft serve offering. They’ve got vanilla, chocolate, and twist options. I got the twist since merely a few days before I was lamenting the lack of vegan twist options in the world. I…

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Vegan in Vegas. Day one. Where We Nerd and Food.

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We’re actually visiting New York right now, but we’re not on vacation mode and we’re taking time to relax a bit more. Those moments seem like a good time to talk about our recent trip to Las Vegas. Especially after I’ve had a bit of time to digest it all. One of my favourite parts about Vegas is that it has a Frys Electronics. I’m sure some people would say gambling, or the night life, or just expect me to talk about the food, but I like two things most of all – vegan food, and embracing my inner and outer nerd. Frys Electronics is like the Radio Shack of yesteryear. All the electronic bits and pieces you could ever want in one place. Do you need a torx screwdriver? It’s there. Soldering gun? Yup. Need more batteries for any of your devices? Covered. Motherboards? You got it. We don’t have anything quite like Fry’s in Toronto – there is Canada Computers, and Tiger Direct, but it’s not quite the full discount nerd experience. So whenever I go to the west coast – it’s worth at least one trip. The best part about the Vegas Frys is that it’s close to Whole Foods. Generally, I’m not that enthusiastic about Whole Foods, at least in Canada, because I know of most of the lovely vegan friendly independent stores in my community, but most of the time I have no idea where to shop when I’m anywhere in the USA. We went…

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Back from Las Vegas!

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We’re back from a week in Las Vegas and while this trip was mostly focused on attending one of my favourite conferences (DEFCON) we still managed to try a lot of new places to eat, and I can’t wait to share the experience a bit more beyond random Instagram updates. Highlights include a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon, a quietly vegan-awesome Italian restaurant by the Las Vegas airport, venturing to downtown Vegas for pizza, Nerding, the traditional visit to Ronald’s Donuts, and actually eating at Las Vegas buffets for the first time ever. But for now, we’re taking this “Civic Holiday” (Which I still know as Heritage Days’ from Alberta…) and decompressing a little, cuddling with our kitties (who did actually seem to really miss us), and getting ready to leave Toronto for a second time this month later this week. It’s nice to leave sometimes, but it’s so very nice to be home right now.

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Las Vegas – Komol Restaurant – Vegan friendly thai cuisine (Throwback Tuesday)

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It’s been a long and lovely trip of reminiscences, but as of this post, my throwback tuesday Las Vegas posts are over. Our final restaurant visit before going back home to Toronto was Komol. I’ve been to Komol on every Las Vegas visit since the beginning of my Vegas adventures. It’s one of the original vegan friendly offerings in the city, so I just keep going back for more. This time, JC and I walked over, but since Vegas was unseasonably cold, it felt like an extra long walk (when it wasn’t *that* bad). Komol is a few blocks away from The Strip, and located in the Village Square Commercial Center. Most people would probably bus/cab/drive over and I’d recommend it (and have recommended it.) My own words from 2010: “It doesn’t seem like it’s all that far away when you look at the map, but it’s worth taking a cab or bus (it cost about $10+tip one way.) “ Anyway, the food is spicy and tasty. In addition to a fairly substantial non-veg menu, they have about four pages of mostly-vegan options. Tradition dictates that I must start my Komol meal with soup and the vegetarian combination plate, so that’s what we did.

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Las Vegas – Ronald’s Donuts

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After we mostly enjoyed brunch at Tableau and spent an hour or so laughing at (and playing) slot machines, we opted to walk over to Ronald’s’ Donuts before they closed (at 4pm.) It’s not close, it’s around 3 miles away from the Encore towers, but it was a reasonably nice day, albeit windy, so it was a good opportunity for a very long walk – especially considering it was real winter in Toronto at the same time. I’ve been to Ronald’s a few times already, but it’s still pretty exciting to have a vegan donut option that’s truly similar to vegan Tim Horton’s experience. P.S. Not all of the donuts are vegan, it’s usually the top two rows, but asking doesn’t hurt! There were already a couple of other vegan-tourists in the shop when we got there shortly before closing excitedly looking at the variety of vegan donuts in the two big display cases. We ordered a dozen (…to take with us) but ate two inside. Delicious looking as usual! Ronald’s Donuts 4600 Spring Mountain Rd, Las Vegas, NV IMPORTANT: Here are their hours (subject to change… but they haven’t changed in a while) Mon-Fri 4 am – 4 pm Sat 5 am – 4 pm Sun 5 am – 2 pm So where are we on Throwback Tuesday so far? We’ve travelled through time and space, from San Francisco, to Las Vegas. – Millennium – Happy birthday to me! – St. Francis Fountain – Brunch of Champions – Souley Vegan – Amazing vegan Soul Food in Oakland…

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Las Vegas – Breakfast at Tableau

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In another edition of throwback Tuesday, I attempt to recap the food and fun we had in San Francisco and Las Vegas in December 2012 /January 2013. Our first morning in Vegas and JC had made brunch reservations at Tableau. Tableau is one of the Wynn restaurants, right near the lobby of the original Wynn Towers. We were seated in a beautiful sunny room with big windows and a view of the pool. Our hostess wasn’t selling the vegan menu very well to anyone and was noticeably surprised when we wanted two, but our server was awesome as soon as she appeared. Friendly, professional service, attentive when needed, and delightfully absent when we didn’t. We both started with vegan ceasars, coffee, and grapefruit juice. Let me tell you something – grapefruit juice in Vegas is not as awesome as grapefruit juice in San Francisco, but they make a mean ceaser. After looking over the menu, JC and I both ordered the “Eggs” Benedict with “Hollandaise” sauce. Tofu Scramble, with a yellow tomato hollandaise sauce, gardien breakfast patty on an English muffin, and shared some potatoes.

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Hello Las Vegas – Encore Hotel Vegan Room Service

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Our trip from San Francisco on Virgin America was uneventful and quick. Every trip out of Vegas comes with a free pat down (for us, since we always opt-out) but it’s gotten pretty routine at this point. From the moment we got out of the plane, it was a non-stop cacophony of gambling and lights and noise, as people prepared to ring in 2013 in one of the biggest parties Vegas has to offer (which is really saying something.) First stop was our hotel, one of vegan tycoon Steve Wynn’s imposing towers – we were staying at the Encore, and it was opulent and slightly over the top, while also amazing. I soaked in the view and we contemplated our next move. Every Wynn property restaurant has vegan options, so we didn’t have to leave the hotel to eat, I was already pretty happy with that… that was until I picked up the room service menu. I do this at every hotel we stay at, not expecting to see anything more exciting than a plate of fruit or a basket of fries or at most a veggie (probably-not-vegan) burger of some kind. Imagine my surprise and excitement at the special “vegan” menu section. JC tells me (yesterday) he knew that the Encore had room service, but I was completely taken by surprise. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. There were options, and lots of them. You can see the menu here I’ve never had room service before beyond a soggy container of fries, so this…

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Ronald’s Donuts – Vegan Donuts in Las Vegas

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Well, yesterday was the day I finally went over to Ronald’s Donuts after being in Las Vegas for nearly a week. There is one main thing I love about the place; it’s totally normal. It’s just a random coffee shop, that just happens to have vegan donuts. Vegans and non-vegans alike happily munch on them. It shows how good vegan baking can be, and how unnecessary certain ingredients are. It’s been voted the best donut shop in Vegas, with no qualifiers. And in case you are wondering are these donuts too good to be true, like I was, check out the Quarrygirl blog post about the lab tests commissioned by Ray Ortega from Sun Flower Baking California. (in short… they really don’t have eggs in them.) Shortly after I got there (on the 203 bus from the Strip, by the way. Those instructions actually worked!) a couple from Germany walked in and asked “Are all these donuts vegan?” then two tattooed girls from the Rollercon walked in and said, “Which are your vegan donuts?” While sitting across from me were three seniors, drinking coffee and chatting. Such a interesting mix of people in one place. In case you’re wondering, it’s usually the top two rows that are vegan.

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