A very Vetri start to the new year, at Osteria Fiorella
Welcome to 2021. And we're not off to a great start.
To much of Vegas remains hurting, if not closed. One of the latter places is the entire Palms resort, the one major hotel-casino yet to reopen. I've had some good times there -- meeting a few Playmates at a Playboy exhibit, a 6 a.m. screening of "Iron Man" at a discounted price, seeing Brian Wilson and Jeff Beck in concert on a double bill, comedian Rich Vos getting a wine glass tossed at him while working the crowd, the last NXT show to play in town before the shutdown, and most certainly Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert bringing their "Good vs. Evil" stage show.
And all those restaurants -- Gardena's, Little Buddha, Nove Italiano, N9NE/Scotch 80 Prime steakhouse, Mabel's BBQ, and Vetri. In fact, I was set to attend a special dinner at Vetri when I got the word that it was cancelled. They said they'd let me know when the dinner would be rescheduled; looks like that ain't happening.
Vetri is/was the namesake of Philadelphia chef Marc Vetri, an Italian specialist. And he had some great food. The good news is, he has another restaurant in town, Osteria Fiorella, at the Palms' sister, the Red Rock Resort. I went on this occasion with veal in mind -- expensive, but that was the theme ingredient in his "Iron Chef America" win over Michael Symon, Mabel's owner, so my first restaurant trip of 2021 was a salute to them both.
This space has been Italian since the Red Rock first opened, albeit under several different names, and having a "Hell's Kitchen" winner supposedly running things for a spell, but maybe Vetri will be the one that sticks. The food is classic Italian (or Italian-American) so I got quite a bit of red sauce. Very classic in its food, though the music was more unexpected -- no ballads in the native tongue, or Frank and Dino and their paisans, but classic rock. Lower-tier, like Rare Earth, with deeper cuts from the Who and the Stones, but the soundtrack belied Vetri's own fondness for the electric guitar, which I've seen him play.
Oh yeah, the food. I was getting a little worried about how much I could pack away this evening. I was already looking at some pretty heavy options, and something light like cacio e pepe would have to wait for another time. It didn't help that I devoured more bread than usual -- something in that balsamic vinegar used for dipping purposes had quite a zing. But put it away I did.
I'm not going to an Italian restaurant without getting pasta. Here's the lasagna alla Bolognese, the sauce of which uses ground veal, pork, and beef. And it's served straight ouf of a wood-fired oven, piping hot. You might want to give it a minute to cool down and gel, but you won't be disappointed.
And here's a typical dish, the veal chop Parm. You've had this, I'm sure, at least with chicken, and maybe as a frozen dinner, but this was a big boy. On the bone; dotted with buffalo mozzarella, instead of slathering the shredded stuff all over the breaded meet and tomato sauce, actually made the cheese stand out more, and the basil leaves gave a hint of refreshing contrast.
It actually is cool to have a celebrity chef spot out in the 'burbs. Hm, maybe a spot will open for Symon to move in.
To much of Vegas remains hurting, if not closed. One of the latter places is the entire Palms resort, the one major hotel-casino yet to reopen. I've had some good times there -- meeting a few Playmates at a Playboy exhibit, a 6 a.m. screening of "Iron Man" at a discounted price, seeing Brian Wilson and Jeff Beck in concert on a double bill, comedian Rich Vos getting a wine glass tossed at him while working the crowd, the last NXT show to play in town before the shutdown, and most certainly Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert bringing their "Good vs. Evil" stage show.
And all those restaurants -- Gardena's, Little Buddha, Nove Italiano, N9NE/Scotch 80 Prime steakhouse, Mabel's BBQ, and Vetri. In fact, I was set to attend a special dinner at Vetri when I got the word that it was cancelled. They said they'd let me know when the dinner would be rescheduled; looks like that ain't happening.
Vetri is/was the namesake of Philadelphia chef Marc Vetri, an Italian specialist. And he had some great food. The good news is, he has another restaurant in town, Osteria Fiorella, at the Palms' sister, the Red Rock Resort. I went on this occasion with veal in mind -- expensive, but that was the theme ingredient in his "Iron Chef America" win over Michael Symon, Mabel's owner, so my first restaurant trip of 2021 was a salute to them both.
This space has been Italian since the Red Rock first opened, albeit under several different names, and having a "Hell's Kitchen" winner supposedly running things for a spell, but maybe Vetri will be the one that sticks. The food is classic Italian (or Italian-American) so I got quite a bit of red sauce. Very classic in its food, though the music was more unexpected -- no ballads in the native tongue, or Frank and Dino and their paisans, but classic rock. Lower-tier, like Rare Earth, with deeper cuts from the Who and the Stones, but the soundtrack belied Vetri's own fondness for the electric guitar, which I've seen him play.
Oh yeah, the food. I was getting a little worried about how much I could pack away this evening. I was already looking at some pretty heavy options, and something light like cacio e pepe would have to wait for another time. It didn't help that I devoured more bread than usual -- something in that balsamic vinegar used for dipping purposes had quite a zing. But put it away I did.
I'm not going to an Italian restaurant without getting pasta. Here's the lasagna alla Bolognese, the sauce of which uses ground veal, pork, and beef. And it's served straight ouf of a wood-fired oven, piping hot. You might want to give it a minute to cool down and gel, but you won't be disappointed.
And here's a typical dish, the veal chop Parm. You've had this, I'm sure, at least with chicken, and maybe as a frozen dinner, but this was a big boy. On the bone; dotted with buffalo mozzarella, instead of slathering the shredded stuff all over the breaded meet and tomato sauce, actually made the cheese stand out more, and the basil leaves gave a hint of refreshing contrast.
It actually is cool to have a celebrity chef spot out in the 'burbs. Hm, maybe a spot will open for Symon to move in.