• 5
• A vegan oasis in the desert

Short version: great food, great atmosphere, great service, great location. Everything a vegan could ask for and more! Long version: I was recently in Vegas (staying on the strip) with a group of non-vegan family and friends. I knew going in that there were not going to be a whole lot of vegan options, but I was OK with this since my next stop was Portland, which is a gourmet vegan paradise. But after a week of dining on the strip, the slaughterhouse ambiance started to get to me (several places literally showcased hanging animal carcasses). My travelling companions all had flights out a day earlier than me, so on my last day there I pulled up the HappyCow app on my phone and it told me that there are exactly 5 vegan options within 100 miles of Vegas, of which only 2 are actually sit down restaurants. One of these is the newly opened VegeNation which is not on the strip but in the nearby and newly revitalized downtown area, right across the street from Container Park which I had been planning to visit anyway. I went for brunch and the food was so good I returned for dinner and an early breakfast the following day. I thoroughly enjoyed every meal, not just for the food, but also the atmosphere is very pleasant and the service was fantastic: fast when you need it to be but happy to let you just relax and hang out. Everything on the menu looked good to me, so for dinner I ordered three different appetizers: vegan sushi, mushroom/spinach dumplings, and lentil/pumpkin tamales. The sushi was good, the dumplings were great, and the tamales were absolutely amazing (my only suggestion to the chef: increase the filling/masa ratio, the lentil/pumpkin filling is to die for). The restaurant has a very pleasant interior, with a large communal table as well as plenty of individual tables, and a wall covered in plants. The chef and the staff are clearly all highly motivated to make the restaurant a success, and I urge you to visit VegeNation whenever you are in Vegas. It is not on the strip, but you can easily hop on "the deuce" (the #2 bus that runs up and down Las Vegas Blvd) and it is just a few blocks off Las Vegas Blvd. While you are there you can check out Container Park (the fire-breathing grasshopper out front is very cool), and if you are into the Vegas nightlife thing, check out the Fremont St. experience a few blocks away (it is basically a huge street party with people zip-lining overhead -- a lot of fun but very loud).