Hella Hold'em

Where does time go? Life sure got busy there for a second.

I'm happy to report that I will be in Vegas once again in July (this time, for a friend's wedding - but I'm fairly certain some poker-playing will occur at some point).

The last time I was in the Mother Land, in December 2010 for the WPBT tourney, it was my first trip there as a vegetarian. I have great memories! My first time trying my now-favorite falafel... a fantastic veggie burger from the Burger Bar at Mandalay Bay.... This time, it will be my first visit as a vegan.

It's going to require some planning ahead, for sure. It will also require me to grow some cojones and ask servers at restaurants to accommodate my dietary needs. The latter, I'm not so good at. I suppose if I was medically unable to eat these things, I wouldn't feel bad asking for special accommodations. Since it is my choice not to eat these things, however, somehow I feel like I'm applying undue burden (read: being a pain in the ass). There's probably something here that needs to be worked out on a therapist's couch.

Besides - I will be paying these people to prepare a meal and serve it to me. What's wrong with expecting a reasonable bit of accommodation?

One place I will definitely be hitting up for food is the Wynn. Steve Wynn is vegan, and has implemented pretty extensive vegan dining options at his Wynn and Encore properties.

Next on my list, I just might give sushi a go, possibly at the Yellowtail restaurant at Bellagio. I'm one of those people that mistakenly thought all these years that sushi meant fish. Well, it actually means, rice - and what gets mixed with that rice is very often vegetables. Sensi at Bellagio also appears to be very vegan-friendly, and blog-rumor has it that they've added a vegan risotto dish to their menu.

The Grande Lux Cafe at Venetian looks like it has a decent menu - easy enough to customize to a vegan's liking. I did read though that their crispy sesame tofu dish (which you would think is a dead ringer to at least be vegetarian) is made with an oyster sauce, so is neither vegetarian nor vegan. Bah! I'd love to find some good tofu on the Strip.

I have to imagine that most of the finer dining establishments on the Strip will either have veg options, or be willing to customize something on the menu. I don't usually eat at the fancy-fancy places when in Vegas, so I'll have to budget accordingly, but this might be my most delicious trip to date!

Does anybody have any other vegetarian/vegan dining suggestions on the Vegas Strip?