PARMA – Imperfect Pasta
We love Chef Marc. We love his energy, his passion, his veal Milanese, his steak a la Chico and his sausage and peppers. We just wish we loved his pasta more.
That’s not to say you won’t love it. Amurican taste buds being what they are (and aren’t), you might go crazy for his cream and cheese heavy concoctions. And if thick noodles are your thing, you’ll think you’ve died and gone to heaven.
It certainly seems as if half of Summerlin is on board for such a journey. Most nights, Parma draws a good crowd to a bad location (near the I-95 and Buffalo interchange). Once inside the cozy interior, they feel comfortable and cosseted, and are more than happy about the reasonable prices, and the personal attention Marc and his staff gives to each of them.
We just wish he gave more attention (and a few more rolls of the pasta machine) to his ravioli, orriechetti, and manicotti…and sauced them with a tad more delicacy.
Other than that, there’s a lot to love about this place. Everything but the bread (Bon Breads, of course) is made from scratch, a decent antipasto platter is only $14, all entrees are well under $20, and the wine list is short and reasonable.
For our dinero, the one rib-sticking pasta to get is Marc’s spaghetti carbonara — a classic preparation using only eggs yolks, Parm, pancetta and a few green peas thrown in for color. It is elemental pasta done right…our only complaint being they give you way too much of it. Carbonara is at its best when consumed mere minutes (seconds) after being tossed, and this portion is so huge, it will start cooling off (and getting gummy and sticky) before you’ve gotten through even a third of it.
But don’t despair, lovers of sticky, rib-sticking pastas — there will be plenty to take home and hold you through at least two more meals.
Which is, wethinks, exactly the way Marc and his customers want it.
PARMA PASTAVINO & DELI
7591 West Washington Ave. #110
Las Vegas, NV 89128
702.233.6272
Restaurant reviews, quips, picks and pans-with some seriously salivating history-from the man who eats his way through Sin City every day.
July 22nd, 2010 at 5:42 pm
I have been following Chef Marc around town for the last 6 years. I have always loved the food and his schtick. But when I visited Parma two weeks ago I was disappointed. I had the Pasta and Spicy Sausage. As usual the homemade sausage was excellent but the spaghetti was terrible. It was overcooked and wound up being a solid mass of pasta in the bottom of the bowl. I couldn’t bring myself to eat it. Seems like the standards have slipped since Mezzo and the old location at Lake Mead and Tenaya.