2 “Cheap” & Tasty Gluten-Free Breakfasts on the Vegas Strip

Vegas, baby!

I love Las Vegas. Like, I really love Las Vegas. Anyone who knows me knows this. However, Vegas isn’t always the easiest town to find good gluten-free food — especially for breakfast.

I have a spreadsheet that outlines all of the times I’ve been to Las Vegas. I have a Google doc that contains my guide to Las Vegas that I share with friends and family because so many people have asked me over the years for my advice. If you ask nicely, I may just share it with you!

However, after I got diagnosed with Celiac disease, my love affair with Vegas got more complicated. Gone were the days of grabbing a beer here, grabbing a slice of pizza on the go there. Instead, I had to be even more doubly plan-happy than I had been, so I knew every possible eating spot with gluten-free options depending on where the winds took me. It’s been a challenge, but I’ve managed to overcome and even find some new places I might not have otherwise gone.

This last trip I took to Vegas, I was staying at The Cromwell. Despite it being a great place to stay, it is severely lacking in places to eat: they only have Giada’s and Eatwell. Despite its name, Eatwell has next to nothing gluten-free. Therefore, I knew going in that I was going to have to leave The Cromwell if I wanted to eat something besides a fruit cocktail for breakfast.

Gluten-Free at Carlos ‘n Charlie’s at the Flamingo

The first morning, my friends and I just started walking north from The Cromwell and decided to spend a little time at the Flamingo. Soon, though, we started thinking it might be a good thing to grab something to eat. I am pretty down on Flamingo for its dining options, but I also had never been to Carlos ‘n Charlie’s. They had pretty great drinks specials on brunch drinks and margaritas, so we decided to try it.

I decided to try the Mexican omelette, which was chorizo, cheese, diced onion, tomatoes, and jalapeños, topped with red sauce and sour cream. You could get it with diced potatoes or refried beans. It also came with toast, which I gave to my friends, of course.

The red sauce was absolutely the star of the dish, giving an otherwise good and spicy omelette some real flavor. I also love this kind of potato, because I am basically a sucker for anything even remotely fried. The drinks were also really good, so Carlos ‘n Charlie’s ended up being a great option. I neglected to record how much everything was, but the drinks were under $7 each, and the omelette under $16. Now, that may not seem like a bargain, but for the Strip, that’s pretty good.

While Carlos ‘n Charlie’s doesn’t label gluten-free items on their breakfast menu (BOOOOOOOO), a lot of items seemed to be gluten-free, including:

• Oatmeal
• Chilaquiles
• Steak and Eggs
• Eggs and (whatever meat)
• Huevos Rancheros
• Enchiladas
• Classic and Veggie Omelettes

Gluten-Free at Café Americano at Paris

The next day, we moved south from The Cromwell. By the time we hit Paris (in other words, in basically no time at all), we were having hunger pains. We decided to hit up Café Americano because it had a big enough menu that everyone could find something. Unlike Carlos ‘n Charlie’s, Café Americano had the decency to label items as gluten-free, so my searching was made a bit easier.

That being said, I chose something that wasn’t explicitly gluten-free because, with its attendant toast, it can’t technically be said to be gluten-free: the “All American,” which is basically just your basic egg dish (“Two Eggs any Style, Choice of Ham, Bacon or Sausage and Toast. Served with Breakfast Potatoes”). Clocking in at $24, does this qualify as a great deal? Heck no, but for a place with delightful service, ambiance, and drinks, it was good enough for us; since I love Vegas (and gambling), I had some Caesars reward credits that made everything a little more palatable.

Speaking of palatable, I really enjoyed my breakfast. The bacon was cooked to perfection (please note that in 1995, my first website was rating brunches, wherein I had a separate score for bacon; in other words, I’m serious when it comes to bacon), the eggs were very good, and the potatoes were again those fried potatoes I really enjoy.

All in all, Café Americano ended up being a solid experience at a decent price. Their other gluten-free breakfast items included:

• Seasonal Fruit Platter (technically the only gluten-free option, according to their designation)
• Barbacoa Chilaquiles
• Steak and Eggs
• Denver Omelette

Verdict

As the title above implies with its scare quotes, these places are only cheap if you use scare quotes: certainly they’re not the cheapest places one can find. However, for a sit-down experience in a nice atmosphere with nice drinks and good service, I was perfectly happy to have a good breakfast at these prices — and have good gluten-free selections to boot.