Category: Food

RAO’S Meatballs

We’re not normally a recipe and cooking Web site — preferring to leave the minutiae of cooking and food obsessions to those cooking and food obsessives who love to debate the finer points of King Arthur v. Gold Medal Flour, or burning questions like: Genovese Sweet Basil: Overrated or Essential?

But if you’ve ever bitten into a Rao’s meatball and fallen in love at first bite, and let’s face it who hasn’t? — then you should take a gander at this recipe for them brought to you by the James Beard Foundation.

And if you’re looking for something to do in The Big Apple on March 21st, you could do a lot worse than headin’ down to 167 West 12th St. in Greenwich Village, and tasting an array of the Southern Italian-American classics that made Rao’s-New York the toughest table in town. Click here for the JBF Event page highlighting this dinner, and if you go, be sure to get a cocktail from Rao’s world-famous bartender Nick The Vest.*

RAO’S NEW YORK

455 E. 114th St.

New York, NY 10029

212.722.6709

RAO’S LAS VEGAS

In Caesars Palace Hotel and Casino

3570 Las Vegas Blvd. South

Las Vegas, NV 89109

702.731.RAOS (Call after 4 PM and ask for “Bubbles” — we kid you not — he’s straight from Central Casting)

www.raos.com

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* When ELV was a bartender, his nickname was: John The Slightly Ill-Fitting Cardigan.

WTF?

Would someone please explain to us what this wacky billboard means?

For those with sketchy eyesight, the giant board on Paradise Road reads: “HATE THE SIN. LOVE THE SINNER.” Gandhi Indian Bistro Unveiling 2009.

And if you think that’s weird, try this on for size: http://www.gandhilv.com/

And after viewing them both, please tell ELV:

What does any of this have to do with Indian food?

Or Gandhi?

Or Gandhi the Indian restaurant on Flamingo Road?

Or is it some oddball, Hindu thing?

And what the heck is an Indian “bistro” anyway?

Inquiring minds want to know.

All we can think of when we look at these is: how bizarre, how bizarre, and if we don’t get an answer soon, ELV has half a mind to go chow down on one of these.

Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s….ELV!

Yes, ELV. Strange visitor from another (gastronomic) planet who came to Earth with (tasting) powers and (eating) abilities far beyond those of mortal men. ELV — who can change the course of mighty rivers (of good wine by drinking them dry), bend steel (head salmon) in his bare hands, and who, disguised as John A. Curtas, a (not so) mild-mannered attorney for a great metropolitan law firm (Armstrong Teasdale), fights a never ending battle for Truth (in restaurant advertising), Justice (to all bad burgers) , and the American Way!

Those cruising down Las Vegas Boulevard South these days might be surprised to find the well-fed visage and stentorian chords of ELV accosting them from a Caesars Palace JumboTron. So jarring is it to some, that we thought an explanation was in order. So here is our first (and perhaps last) FAQ sheet for ELV:

> The commercial was filmed last summer at Bradley Ogden in Caesars Palace.

> It features the boffo bar burger at Ogden’s — an ethereal piece of ground beef that ELV introduced Alan Richman to last May.

> No money changed hands.

> ELV did get a free burger from the deal (actually, a couple, due to retakes).

> The opinions expressed therein were publicized long before anyone approached me or A. R. about using our devastatingly handsome faces as pitchmen for their product.

> Richman featured this burger in January’s GQ magazine as “The Best Burger I’ve Had All Year.”

> Despite how he may look in a couple of the snaps above, ELV didn’t and doesn’t feel like punching anyone when he describes how tasty the B.O. Bar Burger is.

> Marcella Ruth Schroader Curtas of Athens, Georgia (The Official Mother Of ELV), is bursting with pride now that her baby boy has shared a marquee with Cher, Bette Midler, and Elton John.

> The white suit was tailor-made for us in Hong Kong. Our waistline was custom-made by the chefs of Las Vegas.