Gluten-Free Las Vegas: dedicated bakeries, the Strip and beyond, for celiacs

The Strip is one long boulevard, and the places on this page fall into three groups. Four mixed kitchens sit inside the Strip resorts, close to the sights: Eiffel Tower Restaurant (Paris Las Vegas) and Giada (The Vanderpump Hotel) are each about 5 minutes on foot from the Bellagio fountains, Carmine’s in the Forum Shops at Caesars about 10, and Border Grill is further south in Mandalay Bay. Downtown, Le Thai is on Fremont Street, about 5 minutes on foot from the Fremont Street Experience and The Mob Museum. The three entirely gluten-free places are off the Strip, about 3 to 7 miles from the Bellagio fountains in a straight line: plan a car or a rideshare, not a walk. Guilt Free Glutton, near the airport, and Loaded Empanadas, in Summerlin, are off the Strip too. All walking times and distances here are our estimate from the map.

A day that works: breakfast at Daré Vita Café, where every dish is gluten-free in its own words (Monday to Saturday, 7am to 3pm); it is in the southeast, so take a car or a rideshare. Back on Las Vegas Boulevard South, stop at the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign. Spend the afternoon mid-Strip: the Bellagio Conservatory first, then the fountains, which play every 15 minutes from 8pm. The Eiffel Tower viewing deck opens at 4pm, and dinner can be right there at Eiffel Tower Restaurant, a mixed kitchen with a separate gluten-free dinner menu and a view of the fountains: say you have coeliac disease when you book. Keep Downtown for another evening: the Fremont Street Experience, The Mob Museum (daily, 9am to 9pm) and dinner at Le Thai, whose menu says «All curries are gluten free»; ask which sauces are gluten-free. For brunch that day, Starburst Parlor, an entirely gluten-free bakery-restaurant, is a short drive west on W Charleston Blvd.

In the US, “gluten-free” on packaged food is a voluntary claim under the rule of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and a product that carries it must contain less than 20 ppm of gluten. The rule covers packaged foods. For restaurant menus the FDA only recommends that a “gluten-free” claim matches its definition, so a GF on a menu is the restaurant’s own word. Two programs of the Gluten Intolerance Group go further: GFCO certifies products, which must test below 10 ppm (or below the country’s limit, if that is lower), and GFFS validation (Gluten Intolerance Group) reviews a restaurant’s policies and procedures, recipes, ingredients and training. Whatever the menu says, say you have coeliac disease every time: “celiac” is the spelling staff in the US know.

Las Vegas eats inside its resorts, and resort kitchens are big and mixed: buffets with shared tongs, fried food in shared oil, bread on every table. Fries are the classic trap, because many kitchens fry them in the same oil as breaded food: ask about the fryer every time. US allergen labels must name wheat but not barley or rye, so watch for malt and beer in batters and sauces. We haven’t checked a Las Vegas hotel kitchen ourselves: when you book, ask the resort about gluten-free breakfast and how its buffet handles gluten-free food, and pick a room with a fridge. Senza Gluten Free Bakery, entirely gluten-free, is the place to stock up on pastries and bread; its site gives Wednesday to Sunday, so call ahead.