On Saturday Night in Las Vegas after the wedding, the bride treated the whole group to dinner at Wing Lei, a beautiful Chinese food restaurant in the Wynn with a separate vegan menu (like all restaurants in the Wynn).

The restaurant itself is elegant and dramatic, set with pomegranate trees and a beautiful sculpture. The service was phenomenal, and the meal mouthwatering.

Something about ordering wine in a fancy restaurant with fancy glasses really appeals to me.

There were 9 of us, and though not all of us are vegan, most are and we decided to share an assortment of appetizers and entrees.

Each appetizer comes with 5 bite size pieces, so we each tried one item.

I sampled one of the little morsels on the right, the one with the orange sauce on top. Truthfully, I don’t remember what it tasted like, but I remember liking it. That’s what happens when you wait a month to write a recap, I suppose.

We ordered an array of dishes for our entrees. I was in charge of gathering suggestions and ordering. I think there was a total of 6 entrees for 8 of us to share, plus the two appetizers. It was certainly enough for those of us with small-average appetites.

The tofu dish was very popular among those friends of mine who like soft tofu and bok choy. I am not one of those people, but I really enjoyed the flavors and the sauce. I prefer my tofu to be crispy. Fry it if you got it, folks.

This Gardein dish was simple and lovely and my favorite. Kung Pao sauce, red and green bell peppers, and peanuts— I think this is the one we liked so much that we ordered another plate.

The fried rice was okay. I like fried rice, but never go nuts for it, and it tasted just like fried rice you’d get at any Chinese food restaurant in the world. I’m not sure how you can make fried rice taste more special than it is, but at a higher price point, maybe some Gardein thrown in or larger chunks of vegetables would have brightened this dish up.

The chow mein was nice. I love noodles, so enjoyed this dish. It tasted like a traditional Chinese chow mein—oily, salty and satisfying. Again, the dish could have been brightened up by a few more vegetables or Gardein, or even a little extra spice, but noodles > rice, so I enjoyed this dish just fine.

The little Gardein nuggets were good, though I’d pass on the lemon sauce if I ordered it again.  I don’t know what to compare them to do from a traditional Chinese menu. The breading outside coated a chewy—in a good way—inside. The lemon sauce was unnecessary; I would have preferred perhaps a peanut sauce or spicy chili sauce.

We finished the meal with a cup of coffee before dashing off to catch the late showing of Zumanity at New York New York. (Which was great and fantastic and funny, by the way. No pictures allowed, unfortunately.)

Catching up on the other posts?

Part One: Vegan Dining at Switch Steak House

Part Two:Vegan Dining at the Pool and Terrace Point Café

Part Three: Vegan Dining at Sinatra

Know who’s classy?

This guy.

(source)

So when faced with dinner options for our last night in Vegas, we knew which restaurant to choose.  (Go classy or go home, you know?)

It didn’t hurt that the menu listed a Gardein Marsala with gnocchi. Didn’t hurt at all. Marsala is traditionally a dish made with mushrooms, chicken and marsala wine.

You had me at wine.

The restaurant (actually located inside the Encore, The Wynn’s sister hotel) was old-fashioned and swanky.

Sinatra’s started us out with a bread basket and Earth Balance. We were all STARVING—a long day at the pool sipping on bloody marys will do that to you—and devoured this bread basket—and a second un-pictured basket after this one.

The menu looked so good. So good. Parmigiana is traditionally a baked dish with layered cheese and tomato sauce, and eggplant or animal pieces (like veal—gag—or chicken). I couldn’t decide between the Marsala and the vegan Parmigiana.

So I started with the Caesar salad.

Oh my stars, this was so good. So good. I passed it around the table and we all agreed: this Caesar is AMAZING. I loved loved loved it. I loved the presentation, I loved the taste and I most definitely loved the croutons.

The marsala gnocchi sounded amazing, and the waiter told us that the couscous was Steve Wynn’s favorite.

So what did I choose? I went for the Parmigiana. Color me spontaneous, but I just couldn’t resist.

Guys, I admit the picture doesn’t do the dish justice.

But—it was very nice. It was basically 2 thick Gardein pieces covered in vegan cheese (though what kind?? It didn’t taste like Daiya) and smothered in red sauce and baked. Simple, basic, expensive, tasty. I liked it. It was a very filling dish, too, so if you’re wicked starving, and not craving any vegetables, definitely order the Parmigiana.

I also had a few bites of my friend Betsy’s penne pasta with red sauce and ‘sausage’. It was fantastic, though such an easy dish to recreate at home I don’t think I’d choose to order it again.

In the picture below you can see the Marsala dish in the foreground. I had a bite, and it was very very tasty, though it didn’t taste quite as good as it sounded and a smaller portion than my friends were expecting. It’s pretty hard to go wrong with creamy mushrooms, wine and gnocchi, though.

gimme.

This is the couscous. I didn’t get the chance to try it, but it looked beautiful and my friend Kerri said it was lovely. I think she was craving vegetables (apparently the celery from the poolside Bloody Marys didn’t cut it for her) and this was the most vegetable-laden entrée.

I wholeheartedly suggest Sinatra’s for fine Italian vegan dining if you’re in Vegas. Especially if someone else is paying or you just won some scratch at Pai Gow. The Caesar Salad is worth the trip alone, and all the entrees we tried were good enough you could drag your grumpy father-in-law or picky little sister and everyone would find something they liked off the vegan menu. Plus, there’s wine. We found an affordable bottle of white that was crisp and clean, and a perfect accompaniment to the meal.

Missed the other Wynn Dining posts?

Part One: Vegan Dining at Switch Steak House

Part Two:Vegan Dining at the Pool and Terrace Point Café