ONDA RISTORANTE – Stuzzichini + Free Wine!
Stuzzichini are small bites or morsels of food served in wine bars throughout Italy. In Venice, they’re called cicchetti (chee-KET-tee) and are there basically to compliment the wine and encourage your thirst for more. Stuzzichini is derived from the verb: stuzzicare, which can mean “to tantalize.”
The ones at Onda Ristorante do just that. So well conceived and executed are they, that it makes the trek to the far corner of the Mirage casino (to find Onda at the end of restaurant row) more than worth it.
If there’s a better Italian appetizer in town than its blistered grape tomatoes with half-melted burrata cheese, we’ve haven’t tried it, and the bone marrow with roasted garlic is a dish far more sophisticated than we thought this middle-brow casino capable of.
On Friday nights (from 5-8pm), there’s also a free wine tasting — featuring generous pours of a few good bottles centered around a varietal theme: syrah, zinfandel, sangiovese, etc., that provides the perfect backdrop for feather light gnocchi with Gorgonzola cream, lamb chops scottadita (“burned fingers”), or feather-light, fried calamari — all cooked so well you’ll say to yourself: “Self, we ricotta make toma for this and get here soon (to mingle with the stuzzichini cognescenti), or else we’ll romano provolone forever.”
In the Mirage Hotel and Casino
3400 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Las Vegas, NV 89109
866.339.4566
Restaurant reviews, quips, picks and pans-with some seriously salivating history-from the man who eats his way through Sin City every day.
March 24th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
Nice one. Onda is so under-the-radar and deserves the attention. My last visit was some time ago, but I recall they had a respectable cheese selection as well..?
March 25th, 2009 at 3:20 am
Indeed they do…..
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:24 am
Italy is almost every traveler’s ambition – it has been on everyone’s traveling itinerary for 100s of years, and with good reason.