Author: John Curtas

RAKU Rocks!

Paul Bartolotta goes there. Rick Moonen goes there. Joe Isidori and David Varley just went, and uber-wine guys Jaime Smith and Ken Fredrickson can’t stay away. In fact every chef and foodie in town is making a pilgrimage these days to an obscure corner of a run-down strip mall that houses this tiny, 30-seat sanctuary of serious Japanese robatayaki cooking.

Raku has only been open two months, but it is probably the single most exciting off-Strip restaurant to open in the past two years. And in terms of finely-tuned food, nothing off the Strip can match it.

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Salmonella Surprise

Having come of age in the 60’s and 70’s, yours truly has a healthy distrust of anything the government tells him.* And when it comes to food and diet, the Feds get so many things wrong,** it’s best just to ignore them altogether.

Witness the recent mass hysteria brought on by the government warnings about salmonella in tomatoes. Turns out, blaming tomatoes was a bad idea. In fact, most of the stuff you heard a few weeks ago was not supported by any hard evidence – just conjecture and supposition – which didn’t stop the destruction of millions of dollars of tomatoes, because a few people (maybe/supposedly) ate some (actual/really) crappy food at some (possibly) bad restaurants (mostly in Texas.)

The point is, because 922 people got sick from something (nobody knows exactly what), that may or may not be related to salsa, tens of millions of people, thousands of businesses and hundreds of farmers have to suffer…..

Read the tale of government and journalistic panic-button-pushing here in the Wall Street Journal.

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* e.g. Watergate, Vietnam War, Cambodia, Richard Nixon, J. Edgar Hoover, The Chicago 7, Oliver North, CIA, Henry Kissinger, Three Mile Island, Weapons of Mass Destruction, et al…

** See: IN DEFENSE of FOOD, Michael Pollan, (Penguin Press 2008)

DAL TORO RISTORANTE & Lamborghini Store(?)

We know what you’re thinking: Nothing screams “economic downturn” like buying a Lamborghini with your linguine.* This may not be possible in whatever burg you hail from, but thankfully, Las Vegas is here to provide these essentials for the rest of us.

Dal Toro Ristorante, the newest offering in the Palazzo, sports “Sexy sports cars and traditional Italian food” and enough high-toned design on each of its three levels to keep Dolce and Gabbana happy. And if 245k (for the aforementioned Lamborghini Gallardo) just isn’t enough carbon footprint for you, there’s a $1,800,000 Bugatti on the premises – for Discover Card holders just itching to spend that government stimulus check.

A level above those sports cars is a mega-cool bar, and some comfortable outdoor seating, and some highly serviceable northern Italian food. The pizzas are reliably thin-crusted and made with good ingredients, and the scampi alla Paprika has some real kick to it. Best of all, the lasagna della Nonna is the real deal; al dente sheets of pasta covering a melange of sausage, ragu, hard boiled eggs, proscuitto cotto, mozzarella and pecorino cheese. The menu says the recipe comes from Chef Fiorenzo Trunzo’s grandmother (“nonna”) and we believe it.

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*The management doesn’t advertise these things (for fear of creating a panic), but if you pay cash for the car, the linguine’s free!

DAL TORO RISTORANTE and Lamborghini Store

In the Palazzo

3325 Las Vegas Blvd. South #200

Las Vegas, NV 89109

702.437.9800