Lotus of Siam

Lotus of Siam is Las Vegas' most talked about Thai eatery. It could be the most heralded Thai restaurant in the country. Every food personality visiting Sin City stops in Saipin Chutima's restaurant. The kitchen specializes in cuisine from the Northern and Eastern regions of the country, and they deal well with vegetarian diners.

Some dishes on the menu that might not be recognized by less adventurous diners, but most of the usual suspects can also be found here. The restaurant features a world class wine list full of carefully selected choices that pair excellently with the spicy cuisine.

All of this amazing fare would seem easy to miss in this unassuming location on the East Side. The restaurant shares a strip mall with Vegas' premiere swingers club and a number of seedy looking massage parlors and spas that may or may not specialize in happy endings. Though not exactly dangerous, a drive around the lot is good for a few laughs.

Sauces at Lotus of Siam are more nuanced than the Americanized Thai restaurants that fill most of the country. The peanut sauce that accompanies the fried tofu at Lotus of Siam, for example, uses crushed peanuts in oil to convey a subtle spice, unlike the sweet, peanut butter-filled goop that is common labeled peanut sauce at most places.

The panang curry is also built on layers of flavor. Coconut milk, galangal, lemongrass, chili pepper, cumin and coriander coat each piece of tofu, carrot and pepper. The $2 sticky rice upgrade is a good call.

The staff is capable of putting together more adventurous Thai vegetarian dishes upon request, like the spicy mushroom dip. Of course, safer options like veggie egg rolls and curries also fill the menu. Like most Thai restaurants, it is good to inform the staff of dietary guidelines when ordering.

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon is the workshop of the Chef of the Century Joel Robuchon in the MGM Grand Las Vegas. The open kitchen allows diners to see artful modern French cuisine made right before their eyes. It is located next to Joel Robuchon, the chef's top-of-the-line restaurant.

While French restaurants often offer limited options for vegetarian diners, there is a complete vegetarian menu and degustation available nightly at L'Atelier. Vegan diners were out of luck on the menu - dishes were almost always made with cheese and/or eggs - but the talented kitchen is capable of turning out great items for just anybody with advance notice.

The open kitchen concept has been utilized by other chefs to great success - visit The Catbird Seat in Nashville to see the approach absolutely shine. The dining room itself is a show with chefs performing acts of culinary precision in a way that puts every diner at the kitchen table.

The beverage program at L'Atelier shows the same rigorous care as the kitchen. The cocktails were divine, and the wine list was filled with gems. The second wine of Chateau Musar (Jeune), a Lebanese red blend, was a steal by the glass.

The amuse bouche was a vegetable fondant topped with avocado cream. Sweet tomato was fattened up by the whipped avocado, and it displayed a rich palate of green herbs.

The soft boiled egg in a vegetarian spinach veloute with a parmesan tuile makes great use of texture. The sauce is thick, the egg is soft, almost hidden in the dish, and the cheese crisp adds a nice crunch that unifies the dish.

The basil tomato spaghetti is rooted in Italy, but the olives give the dish a slight Mediterranean spin. While the pasta was excellent, it paled in comparison to the similar dish at Scarpetta. 

The gelato was artfully presented. It was a fitting conclusion to a great meal. 

L'Atelier isn't cheap, but it is a great introduction to one of the world's luminary chefs. The Michelin-starred restaurant is a destination worth finding in the Las Vegas desert.

Thai Style Noodle House

Thai Style Noodle House is one of the many interesting destinations in Las Vegas' Chinatown. It is located next to Veggie Delight, another good destination for vegetarians, and they make classic Thai dishes with a rotating cast of more adventurous specials. The restaurant offers take-out and delivery, and the dining room does steady dine-in business for much of the day.

The kitchen can prepare vegetarian and vegan items on request. Entrees can be ordered on a 10-point scale of hotness. The top end of the scale is hot but not truly overwhelming.

The vegetarian egg rolls were rolled in house, stuffed with cabbage, onions, mushrooms and carrots. The chili garlic sauce on the side adds a nice spicy sweet note to the egg rolls.

The tofu red curry was made with green and red bell peppers, carrots, onions and pumpkin. The coconut curry was rich with layered flavors.

Michael Mina Pub 1842

Pub 1842 is Michael Mina's pub, located in the MGM Grand The District shops. The San Francisco chef with a global empire makes classic bar fare here with modern twists and a few Mediterranean accents. The bar has a decent selection of beer and great cocktails to enjoy with the burger-centric menu.

The restaurant is named for the year pilsner was first brewed. The grill is a sight to behold, lowered by a pulley system over a roaring flame. The atmosphere is sports bar with a refined spin.

The hummus is served with grilled pita and about any fresh or pickled vegetable imaginable. It had great roasted garlic notes.

The falafel burger is speared with pepperoncini and pickles and dressed in tzatziki sauce. The house fries are fried in duck fat, but vegetarian fries are available by request.

Sin City sweets

Las Vegas is a place that profits from the sale of pleasure. It is like a 21+-version of Disney World, hawking sex, gambling, drinking, gluttony and other excessively hedonistic behaviors that would get you kicked out of your local religious youth group.

The food in Las Vegas is designed to blow your mind - or at least make you forget that you lost a bunch of money at the tables. After a hedonistic afternoon and a good meal, epicureans might also take pleasure in dessert. Sin City is full of great desserts that fit right in with the background of over-consumption.

Sweets Raku is hidden in a Chinatown strip mall. The only signage is a giant silver spoon on the outside wall. It makes dessert for Raku, the izakaya recommended by every chef, host and random celebrity that visits Las Vegas.

Chef Mitsuo Endo's restaurant offers single desserts and small three course dessert tasting menus. It seats eight to ten people, and the theater that is the composition of each dish is a sight to behold.

Even the menu is edible. After ordering, the sugar-string wrapped menu could be dipped in raspberry sauce and eaten.

The Mt. Fuji roasted chestnut creamcake with chestnut 'grass' and chestnut wafers is nearly too beautiful to eat. The strands of chestnut grass, fed through a pastry tube with multiple holes so that it coats the base like pasta noodles, carry a beautiful roasted essence that lingers on the palate. 

Haute pastry can be found all over the Strip. Last time I was in town, I stopped at Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery in the Venetian. It is great for breakfast baked goods - or sweets any other time of the day.

If you are aiming for big names in pastry, there are few names as famous as Francois Payard. His career in New York City involved stints at Le Bernardin and Restaurant Daniel. His patisserie in Caesar's Palace makes macarons to die for, and the brunch seems to be merely a precursor for an inevitably sweet conclusion.

Jean-Philippe Maury, the pastry chef of the Bellagio, has a patisserie in both Bellagio and Aria. There is a chocolate river in the Bellagio location. 

The playful takes on Snickers was a chocolate mousse with a rich nougat ribbon topped with pink sea salt flecked roasted peanuts. It was rich with a layered flavor.

There are plenty of options available for reasonable prices as well. The hot Vegas sun makes Luv-It Frozen Custard a useful destination to find to cool off. Located just off Las Vegas Boulevard Downtown, the custard shop has four flavors a day. Two are the normal chocolate and vanilla, and the other two rotate daily.

The Western sundae is the signature order. It is topped with hot fudge, caramel, pecans and a cherry. The custard is a slightly richer base to deliver these classic ingredients. A $5.75 sundae is huge - it's easy to share.

Ronald's Donuts in Chinatown is a great spot for vegans. Half of the donuts are vegan. The staff pointed out that the top shelf was vegan while the bottom shelf was not. Despite the vegan wrinkle, the shop is full of old timers and kids wasting time, as well as a few police - the hallmarks of a good donut shop in any place in America, vegan or not.

The apple fritter was sweet, soft and studded with cinnamon and sugar. The vegan cream donuts were rich enough that it seems impossible they were made without eggs. The options at Ronald's are pretty middle of the road in terms of adventurousness, but it does score points with the low-key vegan options.

Also on the list of had-to-do-it-because-I-heard-about-it: the cupcake ATM outside Sprinkles Cupcakes at the Linq. The cupcake didn't particularly stand out, but there is a great novelty to watching a camera arm grab a cupcake that you paid for on your credit card, delivered from an opening like a sugar shot. It is ironic to spend  money at an ATM, but I guess you can think of it as a tasty banking fee.

Scarpetta

Scarpetta is Scott Conant's flagship restaurant. The Chopped judge has Scarpettas in New York, Toronto, Miami, Beverly Hills and Las Vegas. The Vegas location enjoys a picturesque view of the fountains of Bellagio, and that is the one that I visited.

The atmosphere is modern, clean and elegant. The wine list is filled with Italian trophies as well as great American, European and other international labels. The cocktails were nice but seemed expensive.

There is a vegetarian menu available each night, and a number of dishes can be prepared for vegans upon request. It's Italian - expect to eat carbohydrates.

While there was variety in the vegetarian offerings from the kitchen, the staff seemed confused about the vegetarian request at the beginning of the meal. It took two tries to have bead brought to the table without a meat-threaded calzone. Despite the initial misstep, the rest of service dealt well with vegetarian concerns.

The truffled mushroom risotto was a joy. The unctuous mushrooms added layers of flavor to the creamy, cheesy rice underneath. The execution was perfect.

Spaghetti in a tomato basil sauce sounds like a rudimentary dish. However, when prepared with this much care, it allows the talent in the kitchen to shine. The house-made pasta was surprisingly filling.

The chocolate souffle with hazelnut gelato was also well done. The souffle collapsed slightly, but still towered from out of its serving dish. The interplay between hazelnuts and chocolate is subtle and satisfying.

Scarpetta fits nicely in the stylish Cosmopolitan. The view makes it a perfect spot to take a date; however, the food is good enough to make it worth a visit on your own.

Mughal Darbar

Mughal Darbar occupies the old location of Taj Mahal, one of the city's original Indian restaurants on High Street in the middle of campus. One member of the family took over from the other, and the new operation offers the full bar, buffet and Indian fare that made its predecessor famous.

The menu focuses on Mughalai cusine, a North Indian regional fare rooted in the 350+ year rule of the Mughal emperors. It is related to Persian food, and like any other Indian menu, it has plenty of options for vegetarians. Vegans can also have dishes made without dairy upon request. There is a vegetarian combo platter as well as a lunch buffet for those who can't choose only one item.

The restaurant kept the multiple room format from Taj Mahal. The decor is subtle and welcoming.

At a recent visit, there was a Gujarati street food addition to the buffet because of a holiday. The bhel puri, a puffed rice dish made with onion, potato, tamarind and mint chutneys, should be consumed by the bucketful.

The other classics, chana masala and saag paneer in particular, are full of fresh ingredients and a rich spice level. The samosa has a nice thick exterior that allows the potato and pea filling to support a variety of Indian condiments.

The veggie kebabs and oven-roasted paneer entrees look great. There are many common Indian dishes on the menu, but some of the items like kadhai paneer, a hot onion sauce bathing cubed cheese, and dum aloo, cheese and nut stuffed potatoes in creamy sauce, are not found on many menus around town. There are breads from many flavors of naan to fluffier paratha and crispy roti.

Bakersfield

Bakersfield Short North is the first local location of the Cincinnati hipster taqueria with a handful of locations. Much in the style of Chicago's Big Star, Bakersfield dishes up modern takes on classic Mexican tacos accompanied by a loud hillbilly/hard rock soundtrack and carefully crafted cocktails.

Although the meatless tacos on the menu list cheese as an ingredient, vegan items may be ordered on request. Taco fillings include rajas (poblano peppers cooked in cream) and huiltacoche (corn fungus - essentially the Mexican answer to truffles).

The guacamole is fresh and bright with hints of garlic, citrus and cilantro as well as a nice crunch from the radish garnish. The tortilla chips are dusted with red and black pepper, which gives them a nice punch.

The rajas tacos have a hint of roasted pepper that is fattened up by cheese. The huitlacoche is subtly rich. Umami explodes from the taco shell.

The margaritas are excellent. They are a great value with the right balance of tartness and sweetness. They are a great deal, particularly the house margarita at $6.

Service was very good. The staff answered all vegetarian questions, even quickly double checking with the kitchen on some inquiries. 

The word is out about Bakersfield, and the wait at night, especially on weekends, can be long. The line at lunchtime is typically shorter.

Red Brick Tap and Grill

The Red Brick Tap and Grill was thoroughly transformed by the owner of Easy Street Cafe. Walls once decorated with ghastly baseball caricatures now have been replaced by neon lights and a fun comic book montage. The cheap but limited bar has now been replaced by one with a wider selection of taps.

The bar changed through the years. The kitchen once sold DiGiornio Frozen Pizzas, advertising it as if the brand name were a badge of honor five years ago. The new menu is a big step up from those roots. 

The atmosphere also makes Red Brick more welcoming than it used to be. There are still plenty of dive bars in Merion Village if the place seems too refined for your tastes.

There is a decent amount of vegetarian items on the menu, which is classic pub grub including sandwiches, pizza, calzones and bar staples including soft pretzels that can be dipped in a rich beer cheese soup. There is a nice variety to the offerings.

The veggie burger is a grilled mushroom cap that has the perfect texture to deliver layers of smoky flavor. It is topped with spinach, artichoke, onions and mild white cheese.

The pizza, while certainly not good enough to knock Harvest off of its best pizza in the city pedestal, is certainly another excellent option for the neighborhood. The crust is a medium thick hand tossed pie available in small (12 inch) and large (16 inch) sizes as well as by the slice.

The veggie pizza is the Lisa Simpson. Topped with sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, mozzarella, smoked tofu, red onions, peppers, tomatoes and black olives, the pizza has great balance. The tofu acts like a vegetarian sausage, adding a nice savory punch to the sweetness of the vegetables.

Service for the most part was excellent. Vegetarian questions were answered quickly and effectively. The floor was extremely short staffed on a recent weekend, creating a delay in seating and meal service that was inconvenient. However, this was not the case with later visits. The staff performed well even with the deck stacked against it for one evening. 

The bar can fill Red Brick growlers for home consumption. The televisions surrounding the dining room make the place a good spot to watch sports.

Club 185

Club 185 is a solid lunch, dinner and late-night dining option that I have overlooked writing about previously by mistakenly believing that I had written about the German Village pub before. I had not, and that means it was worth revisiting the popular spot that has anchored this part of the city since the 1950s.

The owners of Club 185 operate a mini-empire in Columbus with the Rossi, PhilCo, El Camino Inn and the Little Palace. There are a decent amount of vegetarian items on the menu at all of the places but El Camino. The menu at Club 185 revolves around pub fare and comfort food.

Most of the starters and sides are meatless. Most of the items on the menu contain eggs or cheese, so vegans would probably have to special request main courses.

Vegetarian appetizers include spinach artichoke dip, quesadillas and house-made chips and onion dip, as well as the salads. The cheesy black bean dip with house-made tortilla chips was tasty, although it was shimmering with a deep oily varnish that covered my hands in grease.

 Vegetarian entrees include the open-face veggie sandwich, the grilled cheese, pizza and a fried egg sandwich. The open-faced veggie sandwich is portobello mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, red onion and roasted red peppers atop melted provolone dressed in a bright green pesto that adds an herbaceous note that delivers a subtle hint of garlic. 

The grilled cheese sandwich is Havarti cheese between two griddled slices of Texas toast with a tomato. It is an elevated version of a classic dish many grew up loving.

The bar makes nice drinks and features a decent selection of beers with a few Ohio taps. Club 185 is a place that sometimes can be overlooked because it has been around for so long. With food this good in a convivial atmosphere, it is easy to enjoy.