Suzy Davis, owner of the Stripchezze food truck, shows off the gooey goodness of a Pair-O-Dice Pizza Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021. Stripchezze will set up shop this weekend at The Expo at the World Market Center.
Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021 | 7:10 p.m.
Imagine the Las Vegas Strip covered in cheese — gooey sheaths of muenster and pepper jack descending over the famed casinos and High Roller.
Look no further than Stripchezze’s take on the iconic skyline emblazoned on the side of its food truck, an image residents can see — and a cheesy menu accompanying it — in person if they attend Unicon Friday to Sunday.
Unicon, shortened for Unified Convention, is a multifaceted convention held annually in Las Vegas. Fans of comics, sports, toys and cards will converge at The Expo at the World Market Center, and along the perimeter, food trucks like Stripchezze will offer food to fuel the fandoms.
Stripchezze owner Suzy Davis said the food truck’s menu will host popular items like the “Hot Streak,” a jalapeño- and pepper jack-stuffed, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos-crusted grilled cheese on sourdough bread. The food truck always has grilled cheeses and mac n’ cheese egg rolls in its repertoire, but for Unicon, it will add cheesy fries, a staple Davis said she thinks will appeal to kids attending the festival.
“We’re going to cater to the younger folks,” she said. “We’re kind of keeping it the same as a festival menu, just so we’re faster, just trying to keep things going.”
Unicon will showcase packed half- and full-day schedules as well as an expansive selection of over 200 vendors and a bursting artists’ alley with over 300 artists’ tables. A cosplay showcase and contest, free play arcade, wrestling events, panels and celebrity signings will all take place at the convention, too.
An hour before the convention opens at 2 p.m. Friday, Unicon will also honor the 58 people who died in the 2017 mass shooting with one bell count per person — akin to the 10-bell salute given to wrestlers who have died.
While proof of vaccination is not required, masks must be worn throughout the weekend.
Unlike other conventions geared primarily toward comic fans like New York or San Diego Comic Con, the variety of fan bases that Unicon serves is what makes it stand out from other conventions, said Steve Johnston, programming and marketing director for Unicon. The key is in its slogan: “Fandoms United.”
“We’re uniting all those fandoms together to kind of create an atmosphere that cohesively gives something for everyone,” he said.
Selecting an expansive location like The Expo was essential because of its central location near the Las Vegas North Premium Outlets, accessible parking and ability to include food trucks like Stripchezze. Unicon team members sought out the food trucks and tasted each’s offering before selecting which would take root at the convention for the weekend, Johnston said.
“We looked for a fun variety of food options, which is a big knock at these type of conventions,” he said. “A lot of times, it’s standard concession foods, and that’s all that’s offered. Well, we now live in a day and time where your top restaurants here own locations in Allegiant Stadium and these different entertainment facilities, so we wanted to be able to also offer a culinary experience that was unique.”
Conventions and other Las Vegas festivals are prime spots to set up shop for food trucks and other vendors like Stripchezze, Davis said. Just last weekend, Davis brought the truck’s melted delights to the Life is Beautiful music festival, where she served raucous music lovers until 1 a.m. all weekend.
Davis said she does not know what to expect of Unicon — after seven years at Life in Beautiful, the music festival crowd is familiar, she said — but she is excited to see what the convention will bring to Las Vegas, as she has not attended in the past.
“I’ve done other conventions before, at the World Market Center,” she said. “But this is something completely different. I think it’ll be fun.”
Another first-time vendor, Scott Hosey — a sports collectible dealer at Powerplay Sports Collectibles in the Boulevard Mall — will be selling sports memorabilia like jerseys at Unicon.
Though new to Unicon, his familiarity with conventions stretches back 15 years, when he helped promote an all-collectibles convention in Cleveland. This was before so-designated nerdy interests intersected with sports fans — for example, Dave Bautista, former professional wrestler, became Drax the Destroyer in the Guardians of the Galaxy series and other Marvel Cinematic Universe Movies.
With this emerging overlapping appeal, Unicon’s universal allure is even more pertinent, Hosey said. It will be an additional opportunity to celebrate together, he said, in light of the pandemic’s grueling 18 months since shutdowns began.
“Especially after what the country and world has been through over the past two years with COVID, getting them together, kind of forgetting the triumphs and tribulations that we’ve had in the past two years, and allowing people to have fun again and start enjoying life … that is wonderful,” he said. “It’s kind of a one stop shop for everything.”
