Friday, May 22, 2009

Gluten Free fun in Vegas!!

They don't call it "sin city" for nothin!  I've been back from Vegas for a good month now and have yet to blog about it so I figure before I do anything else this Memorial Day weekend I better get on it!  Vegas was a total blast and I'm more happy now than ever that I went and that I enjoyed some great times with AC & LMO!  


For all of you non Celiacs, my gluten free restaurant rundown might bore you but to you I say, use this to your benefit for tips on good "overall" places to eat!

We stayed at the super fabulous New York New York Hotel & Casino.  The first restaurant we ate at was the Nine Fine Irishmen right in NYNY.  GF menu, awesome tasting food, live Irish music!  A wonderful welcoming experience to Vegas!  I ate the Brie Stuffed Chicken Breast and it tasted great!  

What better way to ring in the NFL draft on Saturday then to have lunch at the ESPN Zone, also in our hotel/casino?  Not to mention that the place was crawling with testosterone!  No GF menu here but I got a burger, no bun and a baked potato.  

PF Chang's inside Planet Hollywood was a favorite.  I've indulged in PF Chang's here in Michigan so I am very familiar with their GF menu.  I got my usual Singapore Street Noodles w/sauce on the side.  I would say that if you've never had PF Chang's, gluten free or not you absolutely need to!

The one and only unpleasant GF eating experience I had while I was in Vegas was on Saturday night ay the restaurant Olive's inside the Belagio.  Olive's was an early choice because of the awesome atmosphere.  A very positive email from the executive chef assuring us that there would be many GF options available set my comfort level pretty high.  Well let's just say there were NO GF options available.  Both managers on the floor knew I was frustrated and neither bothered to come over to the table to talk to us.  It was awful.  I ended up eating very little of this raw beef dish that our waiter, Rick, drummed up.  Thanks again Rick for your efforts and sorry again for my slight rudeness.  All frustrations were postponed until later the next day as I proceeded to enjoy the rest of my evening!  

Sunday night, after seeing the Cirque du Soleil show Zumanity we went out with a bang for our last meal of the trip at Gallagher's Steakhouse.  No GF menu here but I asked the waitress if the chef could accommodate and they did!  I got the filet with a baked potato and it was so amazing!

Overall, my Vegas GF dining experiences were very good.  You just have to do a little research before your trip.  Make sure you know your surroundings and be aware of the types of restaurants that are going to be in close vicinity to you.  You don't want to get there and be like, "duh, I don't know" and waste your whole trip trying to figure out where to eat!  

Yay!  Can't wait to go back!

3 comments:

Rick, from Olive's said...

Your welcome. I tried to help. I take my job in food service, extremely seriously.

momoftwinz said...

That was so nice or Rick to comment. I was so bummed Olive's didn't take care of you! Glad you enjoyed your meals...hopefully next time I can enjoy them with ya~

gfe--gluten free easily said...

Hey, Christine--I had totally forgotten that you had gone to Vegas with the girls and I was actually sitting here today contemplating Vegas for a family vacation (our son is 21) with a side excursion to the Grand Canyon for several days.

The way you approached your trip is pretty much the way I do gf eating wherever. Yesterday, we did a motorcycle day trip and I ate at a place called the Pig 'n Steak (no kidding) and had the barbecue without a bun and it was fantastic. The waitress knew the ingredients and how they prepared all their meat and the sauces that all came on the side. She understood the cross contamination issue, too.

Thanks for this post and so glad you girls had a terrific time (less the one bad experience, but kudos to Rick for doing his very best)!

Shirley