GIORGIO RISTORANTE…and Piero Selvaggio

When Piero Selvaggio first opened Valentino in Santa Monica in 1972, he will tell you he knew very little about Italian food and absolutely nothing about Italian wine. By the time he and Chef Luciano Pellegrini opened Valentino in The Venetian nine years ago, ELV (and many others) will tell you he was widely considered the best Italian restaurateur in America, and that probably no one, outside of Italy, knows more about Italian wine.

Selvaggio’s personal and professional pilgrimage began on the southeastern coast of Sicily. He and his family moved to Brooklyn in 1963, and six years later, he was a very young man with a lot of ambition and no prospects. So where did he head? Well, to Las Vegas of course! Yes, even in 1969 it seems Vegas was the land of plenty for expatriates and nomads looking to make their mark on the world. As the French would say: plus la change, plus la meme chose (the more things change, the more they stay the same).

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Clark County Corkage Crackdown?

It was reported to ELV yesterday that the ban on bringing your own wine into restaurants (in exchange for the payment of a corkage fee), has now spread into Clark County, i.e. every restaurant south of Sahara Avenue. Meaning: the Strip and all points south.

According to our source, the management of The Tillerman on East Flamingo informed diners that Clark County considers it illegal to allow patrons to bring their own bottles of wine into county restaurants. ELV has not confirmed this with Clark County enforcement officers (as we did with the City of Las Vegas officials months ago), but if the County is enforcing this ban, it means that a lot of prominent oenophiles are going to be most unhappy when they seek to open that long-held bottle of ’59 La Tache at Delmonico to celebrate their latest stock split….or more accurately these days — to drown their sorrows.

ELV will be checking with Clark County in the coming week to determine its official position on this critical issue to the health and welfare of our general, classified-growth-swilling populace.

What the f…k?

Rumor has it that Switch, the Mark Poidevin-helmed restaurant slated to open soon at Encore at Wynn….or Encore at THE Wynn or THE Encore at THE Wynn, will have a design and decor that switches mid-way through every evening. Get it? This change-o-rama will include: a ceiling that turns over, window and wall coverings that transform themselves….and costume conversions for the entire staff….once a night every night.

Just what these apparel mutations might be is anyone’s guess: Trousers to mini-skirts? Blazers to wife-beaters? Or perhaps from this to this?

And what the f…k does any of this have to do with food? The mind reels.

Steverino’s favorite in-house decor-guy Roger Thomas is the mind behind this design, to which ELV can only say: Go get ’em Rog! But watch out for all them moving parts!