While on the Las Vegas trip mentioned below, we were 'hooked up' at The Palms Hotel in Las Vegas at the new restaurant, Nove Italiano where chef Geno Bernardo cooks up a storm.
I was first introduced to the Nove idea a while back while I was still working at Fra' Mani. Nove was dedicated to working with us and they even wanted to set up a large glass display case for the salami in their restaurant.
To top off the fact that I had the Fra' Mani thing, I also went to school with one of the managers on the floor and the two of us even spent some time in Italy together.
Now, given that it was a busy Friday night, I'm sure if it were a slow Tuesday night my experience would be different. That being said, don't get me wrong - we had a blast - but you can see from the photos below that there was more expected and less delivered.
The night started off with a really weak Amuse Bouche. Now, this amuse was so bad that I only ingested it because of the hunger which developed throughout the day. Toasted baguette with Olive Tapenade - they do this at Olive Garden these days... Just look at the way it was presented - it shows such poor taste and it almost instills a disdain for the person tasting this. Bad!
I remember being told that Nove Italiano at The Palms Hotel did 'crudo'. Oooooo...
So - being a HUGE fan of Moreno Cedroni, I opted for a taste of the crudo and I should have known better then to expect Cedroni in Las Vegas.
A slender plate appeared along side a nice bread basket. On the slender plate laid three small pieces of raw fish, all under seasoned and uninteresting. The fish was drowning in olive oil and lemon juice and really had no personality at all.
The next thing to arrive was the special pasta for the night. This night, it was linguine with fresh morel mushrooms and peas. This dish was tasty but still lacked the finesse that a dish like this should have. The whole bowl was under seasoned and the quantity of morels vs. the bowl was sad.
The main course was a Veal Scallopine with Prosciutto. It was good. The Veal was sauteed well and was accompanied by spinach and thinky sliced prosciutto - traditionally attached to the actual scallopine.
Overall, I expected more from the night. Settling with the bill and enjoying a comped dessert was nice, but I would try other restaurants in LV before coming back.
