Vegetarian in Vegas

Las Vegas is a city where money can by just about any pleasure that a person can imagine. The food, in particular, is an extraordinary array of international flavors prepared by some of the world's most talented chefs. Vegetarian dining, though, can sometimes be a little tougher than average when considering the hedonistic reputation of Sin City.

Luckily, when you know where to look, vegetarian and vegan diners can find meatless breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks that can easily fuel whatever type of bender is underway (check out other Las Vegas reviews here). While most places will be able to cater to dietary restrictions, these places go above and beyond with their fare, or are just too good to otherwise pass by.

Breakfast - hands down, the one place that vegetarian diners must stop is 
Ronald's Donuts. The small doughnut shop tucked into Chinatown makes delicious fried breakfast pastries, two-thirds of which are vegan.  

Most of the non-cake doughnuts are vegan, including the heralded apple fritter. A dozen costs $7.50. Save money on the Strip resort breakfast and eat vegan doughnuts for a few mornings. 

Chinatown is a great area for vegetarians who are adventurous eaters. There is a wide range of Asian cuisines in the neighborhood, and some places are exclusively vegetarian.

In Chinatown, the other most famous item is the house-made tofu at Raku. It was on an episode of the Food Network's Best Thing I Ever Ate. Every visiting chef talks about it. It is part of why Raku is one of the most talked about restaurants in Las Vegas.

The tofu is set in a round basket, and it carries visible basket ridges on its faces. Diners should be careful because some of the dishes are prepared with bonito fish flakes.

Lotus of Siam is one of the nation's premiere Thai restaurants. Its flavors are deeply authentic, and they take care with vegetarian dining requests.

Chef/owner Saipin Chutima prepares traditional recipes that have been passed down in her family for 100 years. It is a worthwhile stop for lunch or dinner seven days a week.

Go Raw Cafe is Las Vegas' resident old-fashioned hippie vegan restaurant. It has two locations, and offers raw, vegan fare.

Luv-It Frozen Custard is not vegan-friendly, but it is a good old-fashioned way to cool yourself in the hot desert sun. The favorite sundae is the Western, topped with hot fudge, caramel, pecans and a cherry. It is located North of the Stratosphere near The Strip.

I also had a great experience at Ferraro's, an Italian restaurant on the city's East Side. It was a great environment and the staff took great care of a large party. It offers pretty traditional Italian vegetarian options, but it's fresh and carefully prepared. The Italian singers are an added bonus.

Those that want to make their meat-eating friends jealous can also get a grilled cheese from In-N-Out Burger. This is the West Coast retro burger operation with a rabid fan base. The menu is minimal, augmented by a secret menu that allows for full order customization.

The grilled cheese is essentially a cheeseburger without the burger. Accompanied by greasy animal fries, thin fries topped with melted cheese, grilled onions and Thousand Island dressing. If it is washed down by a milkshake, a vegetarian diner can be provided with a vegetarian (in the loosest sense of the word) artery-stopping unhealthy calorie bomb from 10 in the morning until after midnight.

Ha Ha Pizza

Ha Ha Pizza in Yellow Springs is the sort of place that really has to be experienced to be believed. It is a natural fit on the now low-key Antioch College campus. But once you see the pizza box and a building with a pot-smoking Italian pizzaiolo caricature and a psychedelic jackalope, you know that you've found the place that you heard about so many times before.  

The restaurant is a little rough around the edges, like some of the hippie employees and some of the more colorful clientele. The pizza, though, will make you forget about your aversion to patchouli. 

There is a pretty solid salad bar at Ha Ha available by the trip or all-you-can-eat. It's always nice to eat something healthy before you stuff your face full of pizza.

The pizza is a medium thick hand tossed crust that achieves a delicate crisp that can perfectly support an army of toppings. The whole wheat crust adds an extra level of flavor to an already excellent base.

The sauce is sweet and clean, adding a fresh acidity to the pie along with a hint of garlic and basil. The pizza had an excellent level of toast that brought all the ingredients together.

There are a ton of other veggie-friendly options at Ha Ha, including falafel as an appetizer and in a calzone, as well as a few tofu dishes. The star attraction, of course, remains, the pizza.

Merlion Noodle and Rice

Merlion Noodle and Rice is a restaurant that specializes in the cuisine of Malaysia and Singapore. Since I am a vegetarian who has never eaten the food from these countries, I decided to head up Clintonville to see what they serve to those who like to eat food without a face.

The cuisine of Singapore and Malaysia is an interesting hodge podge that combines influences from the cultures that surround them. There are Chinese, Indonesian and Indian elements to dishes, and they can be rooted in some or all of these cuisines.  

There are not a tremendous amount of vegetarian dishes at Merlion. There are five vegetarian appetizers, which include vegetable spring rolls, tofu nuggets, sesame tofu, edamame and fried eggplant. There is one vegetarian entree on the dinner menu. The hot plate tofu is prepared with pork. There are a number of traditional Chinese tofu dishes on the lunch menu.

The fried eggplant is prepared with a delightful breading that is thick and soft yet delightfully crunchy. The thick pieces of eggplant soak up the sweet and sour dipping sauce. 

The clay pot tofu is a traditional preparation of tofu and Chinese vegetables in a mild brown sauce. The triangles of tofu are tossed with onions, carrots, baby corn, water chestnuts and bok choy. The dish is slow cooked in an oven in an adorable Hello, Kitty clay pot. 

The slow cooking gives the tofu a crisp exterior with a soft interior. The vegetables are steamed during the cooking process. The bok choy in particular has a great texture that walks a fine line between supple and crunchy. The sauce has a nice flavor, but it could benefit from a little more seasoning or a greater reduction. 

The restaurant is small. It seats about 20. The staff is friendly. They speak English as a second language, so obtaining information about ingredients in dishes requires persistence.

The house-made beverages at Merlion are excellent. The soy milk has a round, clean flavor. The ginger tea is bright and herbaceous. 

While there isn't a tremendous amount of vegetarian food at Merlion, the fresh ingredients combined with exotic flavors make it definitely worth a second look.

Lai Lai

Lai Lai is a slightly upscale Chinese restaurant located in a nondescript strip mall in Blacklick. After selling previous suburban restaurants with the same name (now closed) and staying out of the restaurant business for a decade, owner James Miao opened a new Lai Lai on the far East side.

Lai Lai is an authentic Chinese eatery with classic dishes. Although the decor and plating suggest a top shelf experience, prices are reasonable with nothing more than $15 and most priced around $10.

The menu at Lai Lai is not exceptionally vegetarian friendly, although like most Chinese restaurants, there are about five or six vegetarian entrees and three vegetarian appetizers available. The only dish that puts up warning flags for vegetarians is the ma po tofu, a traditional Szechuan tofu dish that is prepared with pork.

Vegetarian starters are a fried vegetable spring roll, a breaded tofu dish with peanut dipping sauce and sesame noodles. The spring roll was crisp and artfully presented. The accompanying condiments were a nice touch, especially the hot mustard, which provided an explosive accent to the dish.

Vegetarian entrees are usually made with tofu. The Chinese eggplant is one of the non-tofu main courses, while choices like kung pao tofu and Szechuan black bean tofu occupy the other side of the spectrum at Lai Lai.

The black bean tofu is prepared with blocks of tofu, bok choy, pea pods and sauteed mushrooms. The black bean sauce is somewhat mild at Lai Lai considering the dish is traditionally very spicy. While I would have preferred it to be spicier, the earthy flavor added by the tender mushroom caps still adds a nice touch to the dish.

Service at Lai Lai was prompt, friendly and capable. The staff on hand was unable to answer my questions about vegan dishes, so vegan diners might want to call ahead before visiting.

Lai Lai

Bahn Thai Bistro

Bahn Thai Bistro is a small restaurant hidden in an Upper Arlington strip mall. Despite its low-key appearance and its Siamese provenance, the place churns out tons of delicious vegetarian fare.

While most Thai restaurants find sneaky ways of feeding diners animal parts (hello, fish sauce), Bahn Thai is able to prepare almost every dish on the menu in a vegetarian fashion. The staff was also fully knowledgeable about vegan dining concerns, and although vegan options are less plentiful than their vegetarian counterparts, vegan diners can easily be accommodated.

The majority of Bahn's business appears to be take-out. The decor is colorful, and there is a substantial amount of patio seating (for summer diners) and about 12 seats inside.

Vegetarian appetizers include veggie spring rolls, edamame, and deep fried tofu served with either sweet and sour peanut sauce or cucumber sauce and a peanut/coconut milk sauce. The spring rolls, which are prepared with egg, are crispy rounds stuffed with cabbage, carrots and mushrooms. It is served with house-made sour sauce and chile puree.

The fried tofu is perfectly breaded. The presentation is simple yet refined.

Meatless entrees include a variety of classic Thai dishes, including Pad Thai, drunken noodles and the rainbow of curry dishes. The red curry was a spicy preparation of bamboo shoots, bell pepper, eggplant and sauteed tofu garnished with Thai basil. It had layers of intense flavor.

One of the other interesting options is the wrap sandwiches. Vegetarian choices are basil and garlic.

Bahn Thai Bistro

Nida's Thai on High

Nida's Thai is a gem of a restaurant that is more vegetarian-minded than many other of its Thai brethren. The flavorful fare and abundance of meatless options make Nida's a destination for those with a taste for the food from a land once called Siam.

Many Thai restaurants utilize fish sauce as an ingredient in curries as well as in the form of a condiment. Fish sauce is used to bring umami to a dish in much the same way that soy sauce does, and it's a common ingredient in Southeast Asian cuisine. Luckily, the curries at Nida's are completely vegan, and the menu indicates which dishes contain fish sauce. It saves the trouble of having to ask about fish sauce, and I'm a sucker for convenience. The menu is also excellent at pointing out other vegetarian-unfriendly ingredients like shrimp and chicken broth.

Vegetarian starters include veggie spring rolls, fried tofu with sweet and sour sauce, and fried tofu with peanut sauce and cucumber salad. I ordered the peanut sauce tofu, which was a perfectly-fried, savory delight. The texture of the tofu was firm, the peanut sauce adds a rich character to the dish, and the clean flavor of the cucumber salad provides a delightful palate cleanser that wraps the whole thing up in a bow.

There are a variety of curries and noodle dishes on the menu at Nida's. I was most interested in the curries, which showcase a variety of interesting spices and vegetables. Instead of limiting the choices to red, green, yellow and massaman curry, Nida's features six different curries that can all be made with tofu.

I chose the gang kua, a spicy red curry flavored with tamarind and basil with cherry tomatoes, peppers and small pieces of pineapple. The tomatoes and pineapple add a bright, sweet layer to a sauce that is already exploding with flavor.

The lunch menu does not offer the range of choices for vegetarians that the dinner menu does. The dinner menu also has a section of vegetarian specialties that are not on the lunch menu. In addition to catering to vegetarians, Nida's also offers many dishes that are safe for diners that avoid gluten.

Nida's offers a good selection of flavorful cocktails. Service is prompt, friendly and capable. My server did an excellent job addressing questions about vegetarian items on the menu.

Prices at Nida's were fair. Although the menu prices seem low for food of this quality, the portions were a little small. It is advisable to order an appetizer (or even many appetizers to share with the table) along with the entree in order to experience a fully satisfying meal.

Nida's makes great Thai, and it does a tremendous job catering to diners of all shapes, sizes and dietary requirements. The food will appeal to the novice diner, and it's adventurous enough to offer new and exciting options for the seasoned pro.

Nida's Thai

Thai Orchid

Roses are red. Violets are blue. Orchids come in a variety of shades, and wild orchids decorate the Thai countryside. All of this is hopefully enough of a lede to get you to read about my lunch at Thai Orchid.

Thai cuisine can offer a great variety of vegetarian options. Spring rolls can be prepared for vegetarians, and many Thai restaurants offer curry dishes with tofu and vegetables. There are, however, some warnings that vegetarians should be aware of in Thai dining. Thai curries are often made with fish sauce, a salty concoction that adds a savory character to the curry in a Thai dish. Many Thai dishes contain fish sauce, but asking your server to omit the ingredient at the Thai Orchid or other restaurants will usually get you a vegan dining entree.

The lunch menu has few vegetarian options printed for the diner to peruse. However, almost every item on the menu can be prepared vegetarian, with tofu exchanged for the meat and fish sauce excluded. The dinner menu offers more vegetarian selections. I started with the tofu tod, which is deep fried tofu served alongside a seasoned honey peanut sauce. This sauce is sweet and rich, not unlike a Chinese sweet and sour sauce with a crunchier texture because of the crushed peanuts.

Since it was lunch time, the menu lacked veggie options. The server suggested that I order a holy basil chicken vegetarian style. The dish is pictured above. Tofu was substituted for chicken and fish sauce was omitted. The basil provided a great base for the slightly spicy curry, which flavored the tofu nicely. The dish was listed as hot, but medium spicy probably would have been a more apt description.

Thai Orchid does a pretty brisk lunch business. They also offer a 10 percent discount for take-out orders. Get a sense for the place through the pictures below, or stop in to experience Thai Orchid yourself.

Thai Orchid