The San Francisco ‘49ers will take on the Kansas City Chiefs for Super Bowl LVIII this Sunday. At least 15,000 people will celebrate by heading to the game’s host city, Las Vegas, where celebrity chef and television personality Guy Fieri is throwing a massive tailgate festival.
Hosted by Caesars Entertainment, Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Tailgate takes place on February 11 and is strategically located near Allegiant Stadium and adjacent to Caesars Forum. The event offers a family-friendly environment, including live performances from country music star Dustin Lynch and electronic musical artist Diplo.
Flavortown Tailgate/Instagram
The event is a collaboration between Guy Fieri and Medium Rare—which helped put on the inaugural event in Phoenix, AZ last year, which broke records for the world’s largest tailgate party.
“Holy moly, we are back,” Fieri said in a statement. “This Tailgate is on fire—the perfect mix of food, drinks, tailgate fun, and music … It’s a recipe for success.”
Billed as the largest food festival in the United States, Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Tailgate will offer a dynamic mix of options, including vegan food hand-selected by Fieri.
Guy Fieri takes vegan food to Flavortown
The event will feature more than 20 restaurant pop-ups, including unique Guy Fieri concepts and a “Taste of Las Vegas” section. Pepsi is sponsoring the event so plenty of cold sodas will be on hand to complement the food.
As one would expect, the festival is fairly meat-heavy, with Fieri-created specials such as Kobe Cheeseburgers, Shaved Prime Rib Sandwiches, and Trashcan Nachos. The event counts meat giant Tyson Foods and Papa John’s as partners and will feature a meat smoke pit courtesy of grill company Kingsford.
Food Network
It will also highlight more than 10 eateries that Fieri has visited as host of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives—a long-running Food Network show that has increasingly highlighted plant-based options across the country.
Fieri himself has delved deeper into cooking and eating plant-based food, often showcasing vegan options at festivals such as Stagecoach in Indio, CA and the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, CO.
For his Las Vegas event, Fieri made sure that vegan options had their moment in the spotlight, too.
No Butcher/Instagram
One of the featured eateries at the tailgate will be No Butcher, the first vegan butcher shop to open in Las Vegas. No Butcher serves an array of plant-based sandwiches and other deli options that feature its housemade vegan meats and cheeses. It also offers these items by the pound, just like other butcher shops.
“Over the last years we already saw a trend that a significant percentage of our customers are not vegans (yet), but enjoy our sandwiches,” No Butcher posted to social media. “We always tried to offer food that is appealing to everyone.”
For the event, No Butcher will offer the Greek Sandwich, a favorite of Fieri’s from the show that features plant-based gyro meat, tzatziki sauce, greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions, all served on a crispy ciabatta roll.
Down2Earth
Another local eatery, Down2Earth Plant Based Cuisine, will also be at the tailgate serving its thoughtfully crafted vegan soul food. Attendees can expect Truffle Mac n’ Cheese along with Southern Fried Oyster Mushrooms.
Chef and owner Stephen Parker hopes the eatery’s decadent dishes will satisfy tailgaters in more ways than one.
“Our mission is to provide plant based comfort food to nourish our souls and strengthen our minds,” Parker tells VegNews.
Admission to Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Tailgate is free, with general tickets available through TickPick. The Taste of Flavortown Ticket, priced at $119.99, guarantees access to the event and comes with a unique souvenir passport, offering 13 tasting vouchers to sample dishes from selected Guy Fieri concepts and other participating restaurants.
Las Vegas’ vegan food scene
If you have trouble finding 13 vegan options at the festival, you can pop over to many of Sin City’s vegan-friendly restaurants for a veritable buffet of plant-based fare.
Upscale options such as Crossroads Kitchen offer gourmet vegan dishes, while Chef Kenny’s Asian Vegan Restaurant caters to a diverse palate with everything from steak sushi rolls to vegan dim sum.
Tacotarian
Tacotarian boasts an impressive selection of plant-based tacos and Graze Kitchen serves up an array of comfort foods, from Korean BBQ nachos to grilled marinated tofu.
Even traditional steakhouse settings such as Barry’s Downtown Prime have embraced plant-based cuisine, offering luxurious vegan dishes from meatloaf to desserts.
For pizza lovers, Guerrilla Pizza’s Detroit-style vegan pizza is a must-try, too.
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Anna Starostinetskaya is the Senior News Editor at VegNews and is always keeping an eye on all things vegan in her home city of San Francisco, CA and everywhere else.
