Blinders Burgers & Brunch, a new 100% plant-based restaurant, opened in the Northwest Las Vegas (6410 N. Durango). Blinders uses non-GMO, all-natural and local ingredients and serves breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner daily. To celebrate the grand opening, they offered free impossible burgers and sandwiches to the first 100 guests.
Owner, Shantell Connor, created the concept and the name, “Blinders” due to her hopes to break down the barriers and stigma of vegan food. “We all wear blinders when we eat in one sense or another. By our comfort level, family history, or beliefs. Blinders brings comfort, fun food to the forefront, and being 100% plant based allows you to eat it without guilt,” says Shantell Connor, of Blinders, Burgers & Brunch. “Being plant based means you can enjoy a burger and shake that not only tastes like a real burger and shake, but also has 0% cholesterol, increasing fiber and plant sterols all have been shown to reduce the incidences of cancer, level out blood sugars, and lower risk of heart attack…and seriously, it’s a burger that equals a protein packed salad. That’s my kind of salad.”
Connor’s passion for the nutritious menu selections is due to her former background in healthcare and medicine. As a previous owner of a medical staffing company and sonographer, the entrepreneur saw first hand how certain foods would affect one’s body. “I’ve been a vegetarian since the age of 14, it just seemed to suit my body type. My husband was the opposite. He used to ride his bike 100 miles a week, yet his cholesterol still hovered around the 260 range, and his AC1 test was elevated giving him an increased risk for heart attack, stroke and diabetes. He went through a 10 day plant based diet program and we saw an 80 pt drop in cholesterol and his a1c go back to normal in 10 days. That was in 2014, and now his cholesterol and a1c remain normal today. The one thing we both missed was the ability to go out with friends with any diet to a place where we could all just get a burger and a shake…and maybe a beer. That is how Blinders was born.”
The trendy restaurant features notable partners in the community such as local plant-based meat and cheese makers, No Butcher, Nourish Creamery and Juice Bar and Virgin Cheese. Additionally, they align with, Herbivorous Butcher, (i.e. the maple bacon is featured in Blinders Shakin’ Bae-con), Brewing Good Coffee Company and Jones Soda.
With an eye for corporate social responsibility with the environment and the community, the restaurant created a workforce program with local non-profits, New Vista, Best Buddies and The Garden Foundation, to hire young adults with intellectual disabilities. “Putting the needs of people, communities and the planet at the heart of how we work, eat and live today, will help build a better tomorrow,” says Connor. Additionally, everything in the restaurant is eco-friendly and recyclable, such as the corn straws, cups, wraps and bags.
Blinders offers a wide variety of eats from breakfast burritos, smoothies, salads, fresh veggies, sandwiches and rosemary fries. And, of course, the signature burgers including the protein packed, Impossible Burger, the gluten-free/soy-free Beyond Burger, veggie superfood patty, and even the non-burger, butcher pulled pork smothered in BBQ sauce. The menu features something for everyone, including a kid’s menu, with both chicken nuggets, mini corn-dogs, as well as delicious desserts such as brownies, ice cream sandwiches and shakes.
“Our mission is to be inclusive and improve the health of people and animals through a plant-based diet,” explains owner Shantell Connor. “Whether you strive to be healthier, to help the environment or save animals, join us. We aim to bridge the gap and make plant-based food from delicious and approachable — you aren’t missing a thing at Blinders.”
