To Live and Dine in L.A.

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I’m still in a bit of shock from my long weekend in Los Angeles last month. Shock from the mediocre meals I had. Shock from spending hours navigating the filth and rubble of downtown L.A., and shock from how I was sold a bill of goods describing how a “downtown Renaissance” was going on there. Something is going on all right — every block seems beset by either new construction or a condo conversion — but the progress has been glacial since last we visited a few years ago, and don’t hold your breath if you expect it to look like mid-town Manhattan (or even downtown Seattle) anytime soon.

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Last Call at VALENTINO

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On July 14th, one of Las Vegas’s best restaurants will close, and slowly fade into another  footnoted memory of gastronomic wonders gone by. Piero Selvaggio’s Valentino is not only one of our best, but it has also been one of our most influential eateries over the past thirteen years —  a top shelf operation helmed by a passionate chef who considered it his duty to be at the stoves, not in front of the cameras.

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Downtown Las Vegas Needs a Good Restaurant

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If ELV could wave a magic wand over the proceedings, he would use his powers to inspire the three gentlemen above (Piero Selvaggio, Sonny Ahuja and Luciano Pellegrini) to make a deal to bring a small, stylish, casual Italian trattoria to downtown Las Vegas, serving real Italian food and good wines to people who don’t think cheeseburgers, pizzas and tacos are the only sustenance on earth.

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