Ethical, fun Las Vegas Restaurant?

February 14, 2018 7:26 PM

I need recommendations for a Vegas restaurant that is 1) accessible from the Renaissance Hotel (light rail is fine), 2) ethical for a bunch of leftist historians, and 3) not super expensive.

So I am attending a history conference in Vegas in April, and volunteered to lead a "dine-around" where folks interested in a common topic come together to eat and discuss said topic. My topic is "Shit is Fucked up and Bullshit: Public History in the Age of Trump." (I am way impressed that the organizers accepted this!) As the person who proposed the dine-around, it is my task to make a reservation for 12 people at a restaurant that night. The conference is at the Renaissance, so that is where we will depart from.

Reader, where should we dine? Given the theme, I want to make very sure we are not paying Steve Winn or Sheldon Fucking Adelson. Also, these are historians, so somewhere old school might be welcome? More important--these are historians, so somewhere of moderate expense.

Thanks, friends.

posted by LarryC to Food & Drink (6 answers total)

Best answer: It depends on your bar for ethical, but most of the hotels and casinos on the strip are unionized and the people who work in most of the restaurants in them have good union contracts. So if you eat on the strip, just make sure you avoid the non-union hotels, and the few non-union restaurants in unionized hotels. This resource will let you know what's what.
posted by cushie at 8:31 PM on February 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: People rave about Lotus of Siam. It's about a mile off the Strip/a 5ish minute cab ride.
posted by HonoriaGlossop at 8:45 PM on February 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I was also going to mention Lotus of Siam. Delicious and IIRC vegetarian friendly.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 9:47 PM on February 14, 2018

Response by poster: Cushie: Good to know about the unions--that is reassuring.
posted by LarryC at 2:54 PM on February 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

Everything on the Strip is going to be tied (directly or indirectly) to not-very-good people like Adelson and Wynn (or others who supported Trump). I'd recommend going off the Strip -- and there are so many amazing options. Here is a list/map of Chinese restaurants (see off-the-Strip suggestions).
posted by Cwell at 3:53 PM on February 15, 2018

Best answer: Lotus of Siam is great, although I'm not sure how appropriate their new/temporary location would be for a discussion-type dinner, having only gone to the original location.

As a fellow historian, may I suggest something that has "stood the test of time" would be appropriate? Like one of the "22 Classic Bars and Restaurants every Las Vegan Must Try"? Or perhaps something in the historic downtown (Fremont Street)?

A steakhouse might also be appropriate for the "bull"shit theme.

What I'm saying is you should be looking for an old school steakhouse on Fremont Street, but it looks like Hugo's Cellar and Top of Binion's are probably out of your moderate historian budget.
posted by Preserver at 7:41 PM on February 15, 2018