Vegan in Vegas!!! 2.0

For those of you that read last years Vegas post, you will be pleased to see that everywhere I went this trip was completely different than the last. That's right... brand new west coast food porn to feast your eyes on! Like my last trip, I was lucky enough to be invited to stay at the Bellagio while my mom was there on a business trip. I'll start out with my favorite... room service.

I will say last year was much easier in coordinating with the room service chef. This year took a little more persistence. While technically the only thing vegan on the breakfast menu is fruit and oatmeal, you can call and speak to the chef to see if he can whip up something a little more exciting.

Again, I couldn't resist their sugar-glazed ruby red grapefruit...

(and I can't totally knock the oatmeal, because it's pretty good with some brown sugar and berries)

The chef sent up this tofu and veggies concoction one morning with a fruit plate. Really dealicious!

There were many non-food related highlights of the trip that I also wanted to share. Like seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time!!! We even went on the Sky Walk! And it was completely terrifying!

One of the less expensive places I ate was at the Bellagio Cafe. I had the grilled Portobello burger, minus the cheese, plus avocado. The fries were awesome.

Then we tried cocktails at the Bellagio's new bar and lounge, Lily. I had their signature drink, "The Lily", which had lime juice, blood orange juice and ground cloves. The flower was even edible (though probably not vegan)!

I tried some take-out from Noodles in the hotel (if you haven't noticed, I didn't really leave the hotel).

Agedashi Tofu, Hot and Sour Cold Cucumber Salad (YUM!), Kake Soba Soup, and Spring Rolls....

I was in a bind one day and needed to get something last minute when I discovered this vegan Sesame Noodle bistro box from Starbucks. Did you guys already know about this? It's a complete little vegan meal. It comes with cold sesame noodles, tofu cubes, cucumber and carrot salad, sesame coated nuts, and even a dark chocolate square for dessert. And it honestly wasn't bad at all

One place you have to check out if you go to Vegas is The Neon Boneyard Park. It's a lot full of donated signs from Las Vegas. They do a tour and give you a little history about the signs. It was really cool and great for taking pictures.

The best meal I had in Vegas was at Michael Mina in the Bellagio. All you do is tell your server that you're vegan and the chef will prepare something especially for you.

I had a lightly dressed spring salad with apple slices to start

My entree was awesome. I'm not sure exactly what it was so I'll try and guess... fried tofu with what I think was fried ginger on top. It was served with pickled cucumbers, crispy baby bok choy, bamboo rice (the flavors in the rice were incredible and I'm still not sure how to describe it), tempura mushrooms, and some mystery vegetable I never figured out. This seriously tasted like what I imagine a top chef meal would taste like. At first I was surprised it didn't come with some sort of sauce, but everything tasted so good that I didn't even care.

For dessert they sent a trio of sorbets... Coconut Lime, Cranberry, and Passion Fruit

And there you have it! It was fun but exhausting...

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New York Food Tour - Take Three!

Finally, we've reached the last leg of our food tour. My favorite day in New York was definitely when Tess and I rode our bikes up the Hudson River Greenway, napped in Central Park, and ate one of the best vegan meals I've ever had at........

Peacefood Cafe!



If you go, I HIGHLY recommend getting the following items. It was the perfect meal to share with someone and every dish went together so well...

Potato Salad!



A Veggie Savory Biscuit with vegan butter (amazingly good!)!!!



a "PFC" Un-Chicken Basket with Chipotle Dipping Sauce!!! (SO SO SO GOOD)



Cesar Salad with Smoked Tempeh!



Now on to the dessert case. Admittedly, dessert was my least favorite part, but I think my mistake was in not getting the Tiramisu.



Strawberry Short Cake - The Cream filling was a little too savory and the biscuit was too dense.



If you LOVE peanut butter, I recommend the peanut butter cheesecake. It was a little too much peanut butter for me though :/



Then, In true VeganPANDAmonium fashion, we saw Panda Bear (aka Noah Lennox of Animal Collective) perform in Williamsburg.



It was a really excellent show. This was my favorite song of the night...



Now, any vegans interested in indulging in some seriously unhealthy vegan junk food need to head over to Foodswings. It was our last stop on the food tour and we were so dedicated to eating at Foodswings before we flew home that we lugged all of our luggage to the restaurant (as we were cutting our flight very close).



It was everything I had hoped for AND MORE. I was most excited when I saw the long list of french fry sides they had. They had everything from bacon and cheese fries to gravy fries. I opted for the "Metal Fries" which were (a little overly doused) in blue cheese dressing and buffalo sauce.



Then we had the Chick'n Bacon Ranch burgers with a hot dog (they even had vegan corn dogs!!!)



A Butterfinger shake (INSANE!!!!)



and a "My Little Pony" shake (strawberry ice cream with orange juice)



Aside from the awesome food New York has to offer, my favorite thing about the city might be all the dogs. I saw so many great dogs that I almost considered starting a dog blog. Plus, Tess had some pretty adorable critters in her apartment too. Meet 'Cow'...



But at the end of the day, I'm so glad to be back home with my boy...

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New York Food Tour - Take Two!

So we're back for part two! Let's start off with the fantastic grub we ate at Rockaway Beach. First, we stopped for some tofu tacos with an insanely good guacamole at Rockaway Tacos. I honestly can't think of a more perfect snack for a beach day.



For those of you that don't know, Babycakes now has a spot RIGHT ON Rockaway beach. Not only did they have mini doughnuts, but they also had gluten-free pizza AND freshly made HOT WAFFLES!!!!! Obviously we both opted for the hot waffles, topped with sweet cream, maple syrup, powdered sugar, and a scoop of chocolate ice cream. We also tried a slice of pizza and a mini coconut doughnut. Absolutely amazing. I mean... vegan tacos and waffles on the beach?! sold!






inevitable beachy food coma...




If you're looking for a quick bite in the city, I also recommend Little Atlas Cafe. We had a truly yummy No-Chicken Salad Sandwich there.



If you are in the Chelsea area, you HAVE to stop by Cocoa V, a vegan chocolate, dessert, and wine shop. It would be a super cute place to have a date, because they even have a cashew cheese and dried fruit platter on the menu (fancy!). It is a little on the pricey side, but even if you just stop in for hot chocolate it's worth it. I mean it... it was THE BEST hot chocolate I have ever tried! Tess got their Signature Hot Chocolate and I had their Spiced Hot Chocolate. They were both absolutely out of this world good!! I felt like I had found the hot chocolate I have been searching for all my life. They also had an assortment of adorable chocolate truffles.



As great as everything looked, there was no avoiding the vegan butterfinger bars. I found this version more "peanutbuttery" than the original, but still really, really tasty.



For the 4th of July, Tess and I met up with our friend, Julia, for brunch at Bliss Cafe in Williamsburg. All in all, this place might have been my least favorite meal while in New York. That being said, everything was good, just nothing special.





We started out with the quesadillas as an appetizer.




Julia had the Citrus Sensation Seitan... tasty, but too pricey for how little seitan they gave you.



Tess and I each had the tofu scramble and tempeh bacon on a bagel with a side of homefries.



Later that night, we attended a vegan potluck in Brooklyn and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset on the roof followed by the Macy's Fourth of July fireworks show in Manhattan.




Believe it or not, I've decided to make this a three-parter. That's right, I ate THAT much food in New York. You won't want to miss the next post because it includes THE BEST meal I had in New York/my life!

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