The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days later you’re hungry again. – George Miller

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The above cliche is based upon the bad, cheap, fat-laden Italian food that continues to enthrall the American middle class (see Olive Garden, Maggiano’s, Macaroni Grill et al). It’s too bad though, because true Italian food, like Japanese, is about ingredients (or good groceries, as Alan Richman says) more than technique. For pirouettes on the plate, one usually looks to China or France, but for pristine ingredients that shine with only a minor flourish or two, you can’t beat a purist Italian meal prepared by a great chef.

Wolfgang Puck brought in Antonino Mellino last month for a week of cooking the food that made Mellino famous at his Ristorante Quattro Passi in Nerano on the Amalfi Coast. With stunning ingredients and purity of execution, he demonstrated the best of his country’s cooking, and left us more than a little melancholy for food so rarely found on this side of the pond.

Our meal began with giant grissini (breadsticks) that put to shame any we’ve had in this country. Then came a seppioline (cuttlefish) salad with fennel, walnuts and ‘citronella’ dressing — a combination that was striking both for the forward flavor of all the ingredients and the fact that you never see it on a regular menu in Las Vegas. Next, a cream of garbanzo bean soup with a langoustine “pearl” in the center — another playful surf and turf combining the prosaic chickpea with the ethereal Nehprops norvegicus.

Three pastas followed, each one a marvel of al dente texture and the proper saucing used to compliment, not overwhelm, the starch. Something seemingly as straightforward as penne with zucchini, zucchini blossoms, and cracked black pepper didn’t look like much, but had us shoveling it in like there was no tomorrow. Who knew cream of zucchini could be so toothsome? Certainly not ELV’s friends — many of whom equate zucchini with other veggies (like eggplant) with peasant ingredients chefs love to torture you with as they strive to cut costs.

Mellino’s hand cut linguine — with barely there tomato sauce and lots of seafood chunks — was yet another way of seducing us to his restaurant — as with every bite you could imagine yourself overlooking the Isle of Capri as a Mediterranean breeze seasons the experience. Finally, a saffron/shrimp risotto that (once again) tasted intensely of land and sea. If there’s one tasty snap in the picture spread above that conveys the deceptive simplicity (and mouthwatering deliciousness) of Mellino’s food — the risotto photo is it.

Three fishes: Branzino with carciofi and small broccolini, Salmon with salmon roe, and first rate, panko-crusted, seared tuna with nothing more than sea salt came next — each flawless and fresh. Again, Mellino seemed to be enticing customers with displaying the best of Mediterranean seafood — highlighted only by its intrinsic quality, perfect cooking and little else.

Not surprisingly, desserts took a back seat to the main courses. This is to be expected as Italians just don’t get sugar like the French do. Eating dessert after a great Italian meal is akin to smoking (or showering or singing) after sex* — it might make you feel good, but is hardly the point of the exercise.

So why is a meal cooked by a renowned chef who traveled 6,000 miles better than our usual fare around here? Well, it’s lighter, fresher, more intense and done with a lighter, more confident hand. The marriage of ingredients never feels forced, nor does any seasoning ever threaten to dominate a dish. In short, it is better because it’s simpler and more sophisticated, and more sophisticated because it’s simpler. The flavors of the primary ingredient always jump out at you….making a meal that’s tastier, less filling and tons more satisfying.

The lesson learned: A great Italian chef (like the peasant cooking that informs this cuisine) respects the bounty of his kitchen by showing off pristine products — not what he can do with them. We shall be returning soon to see if Lupo Executive Chef Eduardo Perez was taking notes.

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* ELV does none of these unless requested. When once asked if he ever smoked after sex, he replied: “I don’t know. I’ve never looked.”

TRATTORIA DEL LUPO

In the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino

3950 Las Vegas Blvd. South

Las Vegas, NV 89109

702.740.5522

http://www.wolfgangpuck.com/restaurants/finedining/lupo/lasvegas/