"Sensi" at the Bellagio

NEW REVIEW: We can't seem to stop eating at this place! To spread the blog-traffic-wealth around, I have posted the latest review of Sensi at the sister blog: The Valley Vegan Go check it out, leave a comment here and there, and let's get this place recognized by the greater vegan community as a premiere vegan destination in Vegas. I think they deserve it, and I am more than happy to shout their praises from the mountaintops!

EXCITING UPDATE DIRECTLY FROM GENERAL MANAGER JASON REIPLINGER:

Lisa,

I wanted to thank you again for your wonderful article featuring Sensi! Since that time we have had several requests for the now famed “vegan risotto” and this week we officially made it a menu item. I thought I would let you know how much we appreciate your kind words and take your input seriously. Many vegetarian and vegan guests have another wonderful option thanks to you and I believe in giving credit where it is due. I hope the next time you are in town you will come and enjoy the dish so we may be sure we are making it as well as you remember.

We sincerely appreciate your patronage.

Jason Reiplinger

General Manager

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It has been months since I moved from Vegas to LA, but the simple fact is that while my parents still live in Las Vegas, I will continue to visit Las Vegas on a regular basis. Therefore, I will maintain this blog for those times I eat an extraordinary meal in Vegas!! And this week... this was a visit to remember!!

Friand and I spent a wonderful week at The Bellagio. We went into this visit with expectations of eating elsewhere, but once we settled into the hyper-decadent fantasy world that is the Bellagio, we found ourselves loathe to leave. So we checked out the dining options the best way we knew how: walking through the casino and reading the posted menus. We were not thrilled with the options (Noodles, Jasmine, Le Cirque, Yellowtail, Olives) .... I know, I know! Most people would DIE for these places, but we just felt kind of "meh".

Being the chocolate fiend that I am, I told Friand that I wanted to show him (*cough*me*cough*) the

chocolate fountain at Jean-Phillipe. We stood at the chocolate fountain devising plans for breaking into the glass & lying under the pouring chocolate... marveled at the pastries and gorgeous chocolate creations in the cases. We left Jean-Phillipe & wondered what was beyond the bend in the hall. Any shopping? Any more restaurants? We have all the time in the world, let's go find out!!

And what did we find? This stone and water and glass creation that is Sensi. We were instantly drawn in by the design of the place, read the menu posted at the door & decided on the spot we would go in. There was one vegetarian item on the menu (Vegetable Pad Thai) but this place looked so fancy that I wasn't going to be afraid to ask for something special or off menu. This was a place I *knew* would deliver!

But... it was only 4:30pm. The restaurant didn't open until 5! So we left our name at the front desk & took a seat at the bar for appetizers & martinis. Again, only one vegetarian item on the bar menu, but that was fine with me! Vegetable Samosas! I wasn't entirely certain about the condiments it would come with, but I quickly learned (or rather was reminded) that "Raita" is a yogurt based sauce. The three samosas were accompanied by a mango chutney, raita, and a tomato puree that was out of this world! Friand took one for the team by eating the samosa that sat in the raita. The potato samosas were everything I love about Indian food: a balance of opposing forces: spicy/sweet, crunchy/soft, hot/cooling. They were little pillows from heaven!

At 5pm, we were seated in the dining room. One of the most breathtaking features of Sensi is the glassed in kitchen at the center of the dining room. Sleek & metallic, clean & functional, this kitchen is filled with staff that never looks hurried or hectic, who wipe up the counters at every opportunity, and who interact with each other in what appears friendly banter. I often joke that food tastes better when it's made with love, and this is true. Everyone in the kitchen zoo appears to enjoy their job and put their energy into creating artwork, and it is clear as day in the food that makes its way to the table.

Our server, Michael, took our order, and I informed him that I was vegan and of course asked if the Pad Thai was truly vegan. He said no, but that the chef would modify the dish to be sure that it was absolutely vegan for me. Of course I appreciated this assurance by Michael that my meal would be vegan. When my pad thai arrived it was a beautiful version of pad thai! Crushed peanuts, barely cooked mung bean sprouts, carrots, golden tofu, and a delicate and wonderfully salty sauce that hooked me at first bite. Being the bottomless pit that I surprisingly am, I ate every last bite of this dish. I thanked Michael profusely for his help, and we left the restaurant swearing that we would return the following evening.

This became our routine this week: drinks at 4:00 at the bar, dinner at 5:00 in the dining room. And of course everyone got to know us! One of the bartenders is from Ithaca, NY (where I went to Ithaca College) so we had a fun little conversation about our home towns in Western NY, made us wonderfully dry gin martinis and again served me samosas, this time, without the raita. Again, we moved to the dining room...

Michael was our server yet again and was pleasant in his welcoming of us back. This time, though, he was confident in telling me he would speak to the chef about making me something other than pad thai if I wanted. Of course I *wanted*! I am not at all afraid of allowing a chef to do what they do best: create food art. If the chef is willing & creative enough to take the time to make me something off menu, I will ALWAYS be open to trying it! Michael returned to tell me that the chef would modify an already existing scallop dish to be vegan. Yes please!!!

What arrived was a gorgeous representation of this chef's abilities: perfectly stir fried tofu & vegetables (shiitake mushrooms, snow peas, green & white asparagus, lemon grass, green onio

n, tofu, jasmine rice) in a sweet & salty sauce that did not intrude on the natural flavors of the veggies. But tonight... we were ready for dessert!! I ordered the sorbet. You're given the choice of 3 flavors, so I paired the raspberry, blood orange and coconut. I should have just ordered 3 scoops of coconut -- it was the creamiest, most insane coconut sorbet I've ever had. In fact, it was so creamy, it may as well have been coconut milk ice cream!! It was almost as if someone was asked to make a dessert to explain to a blind person what coconut was and this is what appeared.... I could write an epic poem about this coconut sorbet... that's how good it was.

Thursday evening, our third visit to Sensi, began the same as always: at the bar with martinis and samosas. This time, we barely had to order, our bartender knew what we wanted as soon as we walked in the door. Of course, we were happy to sit there & suck down food & drinks! At 5pm, our cue to eat, we were greeted by Michael who showed us to a seat next to the glassed in kitchen. We were then informed that the chef had our entire meal planned for us! Friand was at least given the chance to order his main course, but otherwise we were given appetizers predetermined by the chef!

For my appetizer, I was sent a delicious asian noodle salad presented in an iced water

droplet. Sounds cool, doesn't it?! It was!! Cold noodles with a light sesame and soy coating, tofu, lemon grass and green onion, in a size that only angered my hunger. I love love love when an appetizer truly excites my stomach for the rest of the meal rather than filling me up. A perfect portion to be sure.

But my meal.... oh my meal.... This was love in a dish. Completely off menu, I was presented with risotto - chanterelle mushrooms, more lemon grass, fava beans, English peas, saffron, and the mack daddy of all mushrooms: morrel.

Three words: oh.my.god.

This may be the best risotto I have ever had in my life. Hear that? IN-MY-LIFE!!! I tried very very hard to not suck this risotto in as fast as I could. I had to learn to savor each bite, it was difficult, but I found a way to do it.

After our main courses were finished, the waiter asked if we were going to have dessert - because the chef, again, had something in mind for us.

Well bring it on, I say!! And out came two fantastic desserts! I'm not sure if what Friand was served was on the menu, but he was given a beautiful presentation of fresh tapioca, a mango lassi "shooter" and a scoop of that unreal coconut sorbet. And me? Fresh berries, with a strawberry reduction sauce, and the chef's choice of lemon & mango sorbets. And don't forget the edible flowers!! I'm not a girl who just likes to receive flowers, I like to EAT the flowers!!! nom nom nom

If you have been to the Bellagio and not discovered Sensi yet, it is a must eat place! Understated & elegant, the food is beautifully presented, but comes with such craft & skill anyone can appreciate the talent behind that glass cage!

Sensi gets 5 Sprouts, but really, it should be in a category of its own!

Thank you to everyone who made our 3 trips to Sensi memorable! We will (I repeat: WILL) return to Sensi on our next visit to Vegas. And you will (I repeat: WILL) go there when on The Strip!

Reservations:
Suggested by calling 866.259.7111 or 702.693.7223

Location:
Within the Via Bellagio shopping promenade.

• Executive Chef:
  Martin Heierling
• Cuisine:
  Simply prepared Italian, Asian, Grilled and Seafood classic

Las Vegas Vacation Deals

Disneyland

The "Happiest Place on Earth" is not such a treat for Vegans. Perhaps vegetarians (lacto- ovo-) and semi-vegetarians (pesce-, pollo-) would find Disneyland a much more friendly place, but Vegans beware! There is nothing for us in the "land of a million dreams." Unless you count the "million hallucinations" you will have in your hunger-induced stupor.

We were at Disneyland for the Music in the Parks competition festival with my husband's high school concert band. I went along as a chaperone & of course we brought our 6 1/2 year old son! For the price we paid (about $100 for the 3 of us) it was a great deal. Our day would begin at 4am on Saturday April 19th and end at 3:30am on Sunday April 20th. That's a long day for grown-ups, that's a long day for high school age kids, and that's a mighty long day for a lone kindergartener.

On Friday morning, while grocery shopping, I had a "moment". I paused by the Odwalla shelf and remembered back to how convenient those bars had been at the San Diego Zoo last month. I grabbed 4 bars (strawberry pomegranate and chocolate chip peanut) and hoped that I wasn't going to need them.

Unfortunately, I ended up eating 3 1/2 of those bars while I watched everyone else eating whatever suited their fancy. Thankfully, I only had to worry about one meal in the park because breakfast was eaten on the bus (1 strawberry pomegranate bar for me) and lunch was found at a stop in the town Placentia, CA, where the competition was held. Thankfully, there was a Starbucks so I was able to purchase a citrus fruit salad to eat along side my chocolate chip peanut bar. I was feeling pretty proud of myself at this point - 2 meals down and so far on track with what I'd normally eat calorie-wise on a regular day.

Once in the park, we treated our son to some cotton candy but we refrained from spending too much money on ourselves for snacks. My husband & I started to get the munchies around 2pm, so we split another Odwalla (1 strawberry pomegranate). But when dinner rolled around... the sidewalk menus at the various restaurants in Disney were chock full of meat sandwiches, meat soups, meat gumbo, meat salads, meat on a stick, meat in a piece of foil, meat on the bone, meat meat meat meat meat! There was one sandwich shop that had "vegetarian po' boys" but one look told me I did not want to eat this. First, the guys making the sandwiches were wearing latex gloves to handle the food but they did not change their gloves between orders or really even wipe off the counter they were making them on. All I could picture was meat juice on my "vegetarian" sandwich thus negating any vegetarianistic qualities my sandwich may have been clinging desperately to in the first place. We left. There was another soup counter that served "vegetarian gumbo" but again... are crayfish vegetarian? I don't know if that was what was in it, but I don't trust any "vegetarian" meal at Disney especially given that the "cast members" don't seem to be trained in open-minded free thinking.

My husband was actually disgusted watching a little kid near us gnawing on a turkey leg. He said between watching that kid and then watching those guys make all those sandwiches with the same gloves, he wasn't in the mood to eat any meat anyway. He left my son & I sitting on a bench (Andrew eating a peanut butter & jelly sandwich I had packed for him & I finished off the last Odwalla bar) while he scoped out the food situation. He found a small window, out of the way, that served "baked goods" like bagels, croissants & fritters. He bought himself a croissant & I ran over to get myself a bagel.

So... Are bagels made with eggs? No. At least they're not supposed to be made with eggs. Milk? Nope. Should be flour, yeast, water, sugar, salt. What makes various breads so different is the ratio of yeast & flour and of course the way you cook the bread. I decided I was so hungry, & so tired of Odwalla bars that I would go for the bagel & strawberry preserves. It felt so good to chew something other than a protein bar... and the preserves were just the sugar hit I needed.

Our score:
Vegan: 1 point for finding a bagel
semi-vegetarian husband: 1 point for the croissant
lacto-vegetarian son: 1 point for cotton candy and 1 point for grabbing the last quarter of my bagel & stuffing it in his mouth before I could stop him
turkey-leg-eating-little-boy: 10 points for grossing us all out

DISNEYLAND:

The Vegas Vegan Does San Diego

Traveling & eating at the same time can be a scary prospect for a vegan. At home, you know your favorite restaurants, or if you're trying some place new, at least you know you're guaranteed your next meal will be more well-rounded because you'll be cooking it for yourself. But what if you're taking a 3-day trip to a strange new land? I've had trouble in the past with eating a well balanced diet while on vacation (once I almost passed out from lack of nutrition after a 5-day trip to Washington DC) and I wasn't about to let it happen this time.

We planned a 3-day trip to San Diego to visit the zoo & wild animal park. And in all the excitement of making hotel reservations, travel plans and eventually a "soft" itinerary, I realized that the meal planning had fallen by the wayside. What will this vegan eat while on vacation? Paying for 3 meals each day at restaurants is totally out of our budget. So the solution was simple: PACK YOUR OWN FOOD!!

For myself, I brought Odwalla Bars for breakfasts & lunches. For Andrew & Matt I packed cereal bars, a jar of peanut butter, 6 banansa and a loaf of whole wheat bread. Problem solved: 2 meals per day for all 3 people were provided by ourselves. I think I did ok with the Odwalla + banana combination: I was satisfied & fueled. Probably not the best decision in the world, but it seemed to work.

We decided that we would eat out every evening for supper, though, and here's where the Vegas Vegan both shined & failed in her task. You can be the judges...

Day 1: We stayed in a Motel 6 in Escondido, CA, just north of San Diego. Our first evening we walked across the street from our motel to "Panda Express."

-=Edit=- This portion of the blog entry has been recanted thanks to an email from a fellow vegan in Vegas who pointed out that Panda does not offer any vegetarian choices. At this moment, even a couple of months later, I am feeling betrayed & unclean knowing that I ate a stir fry that was chicken base. I am disgusted at myself for not being as informed as I should have been. Now I am questioning all food I have eaten out in public. What else have I consumed and not known it?? Thanks to MS for bringing this to my attention. For better or for worse, I learn something new every day about Vegan choices. In the words of GI Joe: "Knowing is half the battle."

PANDA EXPRESS gets ZERO SPROUTS. End of story.


Day 2: Tuesday evening supper. Matt decided he wanted to go some place "nice" on our vacation. Unfortunately, he'd picked out a Sushi place via the internet before we arrived in Escondido, and after arrival realized just how far we'd have to drive to get there. We had to change our plans, so we asked the people at the front desk for some suggestions. They said there was a great little American Grill not far called Jag's. There's a menu online which says they have "tomato & basil over pasta" and that was enough for me to give the thumb's up. Sure, I'll go American if there's at least one thing for me. And what the heck, pasta is always a good thing to bulk up on when you're doing as much walking as we were. So we hopped in the car & drove from Escondido to Valley Center, about 20 minutes away.

Upon arrival, it was a bit frightening - where the hell were we?! Um, pretty much the middle of no where. But, the website is pretty hip, so it must be ok. Walking in, it was a 50's style restaurant themed toward the local high school's sports teams. "Jag's" being the home team's mascot: A Jaguar. We took a booth near the front end of a Jaguar (car) sticking out from the wall & opened the menu. Um... no tomato/basil/pasta. I politely asked the waitress where it was! She said the online menu is old - they haven't served that dish in at least 2 years. (I refrained from commenting on how they should update their website more than once a decade) She asked if I'd like spaghetti with butter, which I wouldn't have accepted as an "alternative" even if I did eat dairy! Who goes out for that crap? I settled on the fried vegetable appetizer. (don't say it... I'm getting to that part...)

Now, I haven't really had "fried" food in ages. I mean, as a vegan, when does one really deep fry anything? Not often. But man does grease taste good sometimes. I devoured a bunch of fried green beans and some mushrooms, zuchinni & sweet corn. Matt snitched a sweet corn nublet & said, "mm, that tastes kinda buttery." [screeeeeeeeech]

"Really? Do you think there's butter in it?" I put down my fork, and my face must have turned pasty white.

Matt quickly regrouped by saying, "I'm sure it's just the corn itself that tastes sweet. Don't worry honey, it's ok."

I'm sure he was right because there's no way the batter would have stuck to the corn if it had been buttered....

The batter? "Honey, what's in this batter?" It was his turn to go white.

"Well, flour, bread crumbs, and probably some eggs...." Well, crapola. There goes my appetite. Was I really that stupid to forget that there's probably egg in batter? I know there's egg in tempura batter which is why I avoid it at Asian restaurants, so why would I overlook this one detail at this place? I decided that I wouldn't beat myself up over it. It was a mistake, an oversight, I wasn't going to let it ruin my evening. But it did ruin my appetite. I was done. Matt finished the rest of my plate.

The creepiest part, I learned, about this restaurant was that it used to be a turkey farm/slaughterhouse. Yikes. It said on the menu the farmer that owned the land during WWII raised his own turkeys to feed his workers. They slaughtered the turkeys right there - and fascinating enough the brackets on the ceiling (now used as decoration) used to hold the line that carried the birds to slaughter. The original building had been knocked down to make way for the place we were now sitting in, and though we were assured there were no turkey ghosts, there were turkey tracks that mysteriously appeared in the freshly poured cement in the kitchen. Right there & then I decided that this was no place for a vegan. The beedy eyes of all those slaughtered turkeys were upon me & there little turkey voices were whispering, "hypocrite....." to me all evening. I have never breathed so deep as when we walked out of that place to reach the car.

JAG'S :

Day 3: After a long day at the Wild Animal Park, it was time to head home. We planned to stop at a place that was featured on the Food Network: The Mad Greek in Baker, CA. Mediterranean seems to be one of the easiest ways to eat vegan these days. Hummus is always an easy, high protein, fix. And this was sure to deliver.

And there ya go! Hummus & pita in hand, I was filling a belly that was mildly rumbling after the failed meal the night before. I don't know about you, but one bad supper leaves me hungry for days afterward. But that hummus filled me up right! The usual ingredients in hummus are: chick peas, olive oil, lemon, garlic & tahini. Not very difficult. BUT beware, some places actually put yogurt into their hummus, so be sure to ask first before diving in. I did ask to confirm the ingredients before ordering.

I don't know what to say about the Mad Greek except that the hummus was worth the trip to Baker! The atmosphere was more like a fast-food hamburger joint - ordering at the counter & taking your number back to your vinyl booth. It was clean, efficient and friendly. But most importantly, they had great hummus topped w/paprika, olive oil & calamata olives. Their pita was warm & soft (pita is made w/flour, yeast, sugar, salt, olive oil & water, not an egg bread) and filled my belly up right!

Unfortunately, the hummus & pita was the only item available for vegans. It may be possible to find a few other options as a lacto-ovo-vegetarian, but I was not specifically looking for those items...

So if you're on Rt. 15 traveling through southern Californina between LA & LV, be sure to stop at The Mad Greek!! Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

THE MAD GREEK:


In all, traveling as a vegan wasn't too difficult, but it was more stressful than I'd anticipated. Mostly, that was my fault. I learned a few things: like ask what ingredients are in everything and assume nothing, because no one else cares what you put in your body. Only you care what you eat.

Happy Travels!