I hardly mix my professional and personal life here on this blog. I will every now and again throw in some thoughts and feelings from my personal beliefs into my blog posts, when appropriate.
The last time I did a Jewish perspective on a technical conference was VMworld 2014 in San Francisco - VMworld - from a Religious Jewish Orthodox Perspective. It was really interesting to see the comments in the blog post and also the feedback I received on Twitter - which lead me to realization that people are completely unaware of the challenges others face because of the their religious beliefs and faith, and explaining these in a public forum - goes a really long way to help them understand
I was quite surprised that when I reached out the re:Invent team to ask about Kosher food at the event - the answer was that there was none. When I was at VMworld in Vegas (a good number of years ago) there was kosher food as one of the options (I don’t really understand why this was not a possibility at this event). It was actually quite amazing to see some of the looks from the people when I walked past all the lines straight to the “special meals” section without having to wait in line, and more than once.
Sometimes eating Kosher does have its perks.
Back to re:Invent (from the FAQ)
Basically - that means no kosher food throughout the day, which kind of sucks. The good thing about food in the US is that a good portion of the larger product manufacturers already are certified kosher - the most common being the OU. So I assume that some snacks and most of the drinks will not a problem.
So that means for me - bringing my own lunch. Dinner will be in one of the Kosher restaurants in the surrounding neighborhoods. I have never eaten at any of these so I cannot vouch for the quality of their food or their service.
There is also a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf at the Venetian / Palazzo that might have a few kosher items during the day, personally I would not bet on it being a good option for lunch.
Here is a list of Kosher restaurants in Las Vegas (and information I took from Google Maps)
- Ace of Steaks (5825 W Sahara Ave Unit M. - +1 702-899-4223). Open till 23.00 Sun.-Thurs.
It is about a 17 minute drive from the Venetian - Anise Tapas and Grill (3100 S Durango Dr. - +1 702-586-4088). Open till 22.00 Sun-.Thurs.
It is about a 20 minute drive from the Venetian - King Solomon’s Table (4561 W Flamingo Rd. - +1 725-244-4034). Open till 22.00 Sun.-Thurs.
It is about a 10 minute drive from the Venetian - Haifa Restaurant (900 E Karen Ave # H102 - +1 702-940-8000). Open till 21.00 Sun.-Thurs.
It is about a 11 minute drive from the Venetian - Jerusalem Grill & Bar (4825 W Flamingo Rd. Suite 10 - +1 702-341-5555).
Open till 22.30 Sun.-Thurs. It is about a 11 minute drive from the Venetian. - Sababa Grille & Restaurant (3220 South Durango Dr. - +1 702-547-5556). Op
It is about a 20 minute drive from the Venetian - Shawarma Vegas (2521 S Fort Apache Rd. - +1 702-703-7700). Open till 21.00 Sun.-Thurs.
It is about a 25 minute drive from the Venetian - Simon & Joe’s (3720 W Tropicana Ave. - +1 702-759-0333). Open till 21.30 Sun.-Thurs.
It is about a 10 minute drive from the Venetian.
Kosher Supermarkets (these are much further out - but have a good Kosher selection)
- Albertson's Market (2550 S. Fort Apache). 25 Minute drive from the Venetian.
- Smith's Food and Drug Store (2211 N. Rampart Blvd.) 25 Minute drive from the Venetian
Last but not least.
Eating alone sucks - it really does. I know for a fact that there will be a good number of people who eat only Kosher at re:Invent - but no real way to contact one another while at the event.
I have opened up a WhatsApp group - where you can feel free to ask if someone would like to go out for a kosher dinner on one of the evenings.
Please feel free to join in and share this information with whomever you feel it might useful.
Click on the link below to join the group and join someone for dinner.
See you all in Vegas next week!!