| rev:text
| - Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich team together to provide a high end Italian restaurant on the Las Vegas strip that is surprisingly unremarkable and can be missed by all but the true devotees of the Batali empire.
I opted for the pre-theater prix fixe menu which includes an amuse bouche, choice of appetizer, entree, dessert, and cafe americano for a reasonable $49.
Amuse bouche: Bruschetta topped with herbed garbanzo beans. A little large for an amuse bouche requiring three bites and follow up by fork for beans that ran astray. It was functional but not particularly creative.
Appetizer: I opted for the plate of salumi which included mortadella, lonza (stagionata), salami, pickled ramps, and olives. The ramps were really delicious, and the olives were of great quality. I liked the salami and its inherent spiciness. The lonza could have been better. Why not use San Daniele prosciutto instead? The mortadella was surprisingly bland and nothing at all like what I had in Bologna. Overall this dish was good, but I certainly have had better.
Entree: I selected the brasato al barolo with horseradish gremolata. This was a very good dish, but it could have been great. While braised the brasato was actually a touch dry, and there was no hint of the underlying Barolo whatsoever. Perhaps more liberal use of the wine in the preparation and a longer cooking time could have made this divine. The bed of polenta, and the accompanying salad were especially good. I only wish their portion sizes were larger relative to the very large brasato. And while the horseradish was freshly shaved before me, I failed to really pick up the taste of it in the dish, strangely. My glass of Monica wine paired very well with this dish.
Dessert: I chose two gelati, the peppermint and the ricotta cheese. The infusion of peppermint worked very well, and I rather enjoyed this selection. The ricotta was decent too. This gelato falls considerably short of what can be found in Italy, but for the U.S., it is decent.
Mignardises: a tiny biscotti, and two slightly larger candies. A thrifty selection compared to other Batali establishments, but, again, functional.
Overall at this price point, I was expecting haute cuisine. Instead, I found good Italian food at inflated prices. The ambience was atypically boring as well. At Lupa, Babbo, and even Otto in NY there is a hip vibe, an animated scene, and the restaurants are interesting to be in. Not here. This was a cookie cutter formal dining room with no flare at all. Presentable, yet soulless like the food.
3 stars
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