What Happens in Vegas
August 12, 2020
Las Vegas is an ideal start/end for escapes to the desert’s surrounding natural beauty. But before I run to the red rocks of Utah, some of Vegas’s offerings, starting with an immediate drive to all-vegan VegeNation. I was shocked to learn that their head chef Donald Lemperle has major New York City cred–raised in the family’s restaurant business on Staten Island and nabbing executive chef positions in some prestigious NYC eateries. After a cancer diagnosis in 2005, he went plant-based and got “woke” to the major dysfunction in our food system. VegeNation is a culmination to his upbringing and enlightenment. Though it relies on packaged products for some of its most popular dishes, like mine: The Chicky Chicky Bang Bang.
It’s a Nashville style battered and fried Gardein chicken sandwich topped with slaw, ranch and bread and butter pickles. And I got the tots on the side.
It was a little cold in the middle. Hard to reheat processed food with a lasting heat.
And while I am in town I was really excited to tick a box of my “to go” box, booking entry at the The Neon Museum. The museum offers visitors the chance to stroll through an outdoor “neon boneyard” of defunct Vegan neon, some dating back to the 1930’s. With strict photography rules, they don’t even allow real cameras in, only phones. As a vintage, neon, and Americana aficionada and an avid road tripper, this place was up my alley in many ways. But the 110 temperatures and blazing sun both created limitations to my enjoyment. I guess I better get used to it! But here’s a mother load of vintage neon.
Are you bored of neon? Well… [insert neon-related witticism]
Chemical lights! Atomic number 10
The only Vegas I really like is old Vegas. Staying on The Strip reminded me that it is a terribly annoying place… Trashy with a capital T.
Explosions in the sky
Sassy and classy.
I have been dreaming of this stop… the OG vegan donut shop: Ronald’s Donuts for fresh donuts for my drive. This place is an absolute and somewhat baffling gem. Having first visited in 2012, they had already been on my “must go” vegan list for years. Now, years later, today, they are still slaying it.. with non-violence that aligns to their Buddhist ways. The bare bones, unpretentious, open at the crack of dawn donut shop with real deal vegan donuts was and remains one of the best vegan finds in the country.
Thanks Vegas but I am ready for some red rock now!
