Day Five- Continued:
We made our trek back to Vegas mostly by the light of day, allowing me to take plenty photos of the lovely surroundings. It was interesting to drive from the coast back to vegas and observe the sometimes subtle and sometimes almost immediate change in vegetation, rock formation and wild life the signaled we were changing from the coast line and mountains back into the desert.
Snow Caps while the temp on the road was 89 degrees:
Luna guiding us home:
Another shot of Luna:
Changing surroundings and mountains in all directions:
Sun setting and luna rising:
When we made it back to Vegas around 7pm we made a pit stop at:
…to see what all the fuss was about their Gluten Free Pizzas.
‘Not So Locally’ Gluten Free: Part Six
Sammy’s Woodfire Pizza on West Sahara Blvd. (Las Vegas, NV)
I have heard good things about this place but like the old saying goes I guess there is no good pizza outside of New York, even if it is gluten free. The staff was pleasant and knowledgeable about gluten free diet needs and were very friendly. The location itself was cozy and large, allowing for ‘personal space’ for dining in a self seating if you wanted or restaurant seating style. Mike and I decided to purchase two gluten free pizzas to share with one another. Their gluten free selection was decently put together as almost any pizza item could be made on a gluten free crust if it had gluten free ingredients. In addition this particular location had one oven, and corresponding tools, that they used for gluten free items. I chose the:
Garlic Chicken Pizza
Sautéed mushrooms, bell peppers,
sliced red onion, roasted garlic sauce
While Mike chose the:
Diavola Pizza
Salami, smoked Gouda, fresh mozzarella,
roasted red bell peppers, spinach,
crushed red chiles, with our their sauce
First off, while the pricing seemed decent upon first ordering I was disappointed when my pizza arrived at the table a lot smaller than a typical gluten free in NY. Both pizzas were on very thin and incredibly dry crusts and while these two traits are somewhat typical for gluten free pizzas I felt that in this case the negated the quality of the toppings and the pizza all together. I was too distracted by my pizza breaking and flaking to enjoy it as a whole, in addition the dry texture of the crust took away from the flavors on top for both pizzas. The Garlic Chicken Pizza also threw me off because the vegetables on top were either lightly cooked or uncooked, something I do not enjoy on top of my pizza. The Diavola pizza was lacking sauce, making it more dry, and was also thrown off because the spice of the meat was not counter parted well by any other flavor. All in all I was disappointed with the quality of the food as well as the price vs. food size ratio. I would love to go back to another location and give them another chance, maybe not all the pizza’s are bad, but unfortunately they are halfway a cross the country! All in all it’s a good place to stop and make a decision about their food on your own, especially given the gluten free consideration they have for their customers.
Gluten Free Options: 1
Atmosphere: 1
Price: .5
Hospitality: 1
Food Quality: 0
TOTAL: 3.5 Shamrocks
After eating we spent some time relaxing after the long car ride. We were doing nothing spectacular or worth noting, although none the less wonderful given that I was with two of the best people in my life.
Day Six
The Sixth day was the final full day in Las Vegas, and it also happen to be Mike and I’s 3 year anniversary of his asking me out. We had no particular plans until the evening so we woke up late and choose a hotel room for the day/night since we would be leaving in the middle of Liz’s work day and wanted to spend some time alone on our vacation.
We choose to send settle into a suite, courtesy upgrade for the same price as a king size bed room, in THE Hotel @ Mandalay Bay. Luckily we were able to check in around 1030 AM, so our bags were stowed away for the afternoon.
This was our room:
The view from the 20th floor:
THE TP- Note the trend…
We heading to the strip for the remainder of the day before our ‘secret’ plans later in the evening, hitting up some good stops along the way:
Mike and I wandering:
The inside of the Luxor:
The Sphinx outside the Luxor:
We stopped for lunch at Nine Fine Irishmen, reviewed in my earlier Las Vegas Post . I can tell you that their gluten free lunch menu was as good as their dinner menu and as I said they are highly recommended by me! After Lunch we: We visited Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. I am a sucker for Aquariums but I was somewhat disappointed with this one as it was very small and I expected the Shark tunnels to be larger! We did see a lot of unusual aquatic life that you don’t see at most aquariums but I think we were definitely luckily with getting a discount to 5 dollars. I would have been very disappointed to pay full price.
One of the first exhibits:
We got to Meet and pet some very long tailed Rays and Mantas (my favorite part):
Love the Jelly Fish:
We hung out with some sharks:
The Sunset from the hotel room before departing for our evening plans:
Making our way down the strip:
Lions at MGM (In a sound proofed ‘cage’):
Our final evening destination was the:
Venetian:
Now, being the skeptic that I am I was convinced I had figured out Mike’s anniversary plans after he gave away the name of the hotel the show was being held in. He has been meaning to take me to see Phantom of the Opera since we met so I knew that must be what we were seeing. On the way home from LA I slipped the name of the show, only to get scolded for ‘snooping’. Ironically, when we got to The Venetian Liz had already picked up our ‘resident’ tickets and they discussed how I had fooled them by figuring it out. However, when I went to the bathroom and came back about showtime both Mike and Her had a giant smirk on their faces so I knew I was in for something. Turns out they had played me! Instead of seeing Phantom Mike and I were seeing… BLUE MAN GROUP!
The only actual show I wanted to see in Las Vegas! It was SO much fun, a lot more interactive, rocking and comical than I had expected. It was a very good official end to a very good vacation!
Day Seven- also known as the end of vacation 🙁
Our flight that day was mid afternoon, around 1pm, so Mike and I had little time for anything but checking out of the hotel and grabbing a bite to eat. We attempted two places, somewhat unsuccessfully:
‘Not so locally’ Gluten Free: Part Seven
Bayside Buffet @ Mandalay Bay
To preface, or to sum things up rather, This place is NOT worth your time if you are gluten free. As you always should when you are gluten free we asked before entering if we could get an idea of what items I would be able to definitely eat. We waited about 5 minutes at the front to speak to a chef. This chef was very abrupt and very unsure of the ingredients in his foods. The only thing he could point out which would be 100% gluten free was the salads and cooked vegetables. When I pressed further into the ingredients and potential gluten state of the rest of the food he said something a long the lines of “I don’t know how everything is cooked, you would need to ask the each individual server at every station”. I would think that this lack of respect, regardless of how busy a place is, is an automatic turn off for any customer (especially one with food issues). From what we could see as well this Buffet was also greatly smaller with cramped seating, less overall food options, higher priced lunch and seemingly lower quality food all around. As you can probably tell we did not opt to eat here. All in all this buffet gets a big fat:
Gluten Free Options: 0
Atmosphere: 0
Price: 0
Hospitality: 0
Food Quality: N/A
TOTAL: ZERO SHAMROCKS
Hungry, and at this point grumpy, we attempted one last pit stop for food with only about 40 minutes left to grab something. Our last Vegas dining experience was at:
‘Not So Locally’ Gluten Free: Part Eight
Fleur @ THE Hotel of Mandalay Bay
I neglected to take photos of this place and it’s food since we were in such a rush. The hostess and waitress unfortunately also seemed in a rush, although the place was empty, as they sat us quickly and continually asked us what we wanted to order. However, everyone I spoke to was incredibly friendly and knew right off the bat which dishes were gluten free and what could be modified to be so. The location made the restaurant seem like a sidewalk cafe, although with all the hustle and bustle of the casino right next to it it did not bode well for a relaxing meal. Being in a rush Mike and I quickly ordered 2 over priced items, the steak for myself and the mac and cheese for him as he wanted something filling for the flight. The food quality was great even if the portions were small. All in all a knowledgeable staff and tasty food but only if you are willing to pay about 30$ for two small tapas sized plates. I would highly recommend this place if you have a lot of time, $ and friends. That way you can select your dishes cautiously, have many dishes to taste and split the cost. If I were ever back in Las Vegas I would try this spot again on a slower, more expensive feeling night.
Gluten Free Options: .5
Atmosphere: .5
Price: .5
Hospitality: .5
Food Quality: 1
Total: 3 Shamrocks
Following lunch we made our way to the airport for take off, with one final view of the strip on the way:
Thus ends this chapter of ‘Destinations’. This vacation was a wonderful respite from the winter weather, a great opportunity to visit a best friend (Liz) and a wonderful journey. It was no thanks to Liz’s driving and adventurous personality as well as Mike’s persistence and paychecks that I was able to see so many places, do so many things and eat so much food! Thanks to both of them and I hope I can take on some more adventures in the future.
I hope you enjoyed my travels and will share some of your own soon. I’ll he going back to my usual postings and look forward to seeing you around!
Celtic Celiac @ http://celtic-celiac.blogspot.com/