Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/242563
THIS ISSUE: RED SAUCE JOINTS All in the Family TRADITION MEETS UP-TOTHE-MINUTE DETAIL AT LAS VEGAS'S LONGEST-RUNNING (29 YEARS) FAMILY-OWNED AND -OPERATED ITALIAN RESTAURANT, FERRARO'S. BY BROCK RADKE 54 They're all smiles now, but it wasn't always so. Today Mimmo (LEFT) heads the kitchen, while Gino curates the acclaimed wine list. PHOTOGRAPHY BY BEVERLY POPPE T hink about all the things you want from a classic Italian restaurant. Maybe there are red and white tablecloths with a bottle of Chianti on each table, or maybe it's a little more modern—sleek and sophisticated but with a welcoming warmth. Perhaps you dream of rich red sauce drenching pasta or veal parmigiana, or maybe you crave dishes with lighter, more contemporary notes. It must be tricky for restaurants to balance old expectations with new, tradition with creativity. At Ferraro's, it comes naturally. Hospitality and deeply satisfying cooking are simply in the family blood. Gino Ferraro, a native of Calabria, in southern Italy, opened the restaurant in 1985, but two years prior he was operating a wholesale Italian food company, which he spun into a small deli and pizza shop with just four tables. "We had products from all over the world," he says. "But it was a little ahead of its time. The idea was always to do a restaurant and make it successful with the help of the family." Gino's son Mimmo was just 7 years old when Ferraro's opened on Las Vegas's West Side, and although Mimmo wouldn't choose to make the kitchen his career until attending culinary school in San Francisco 13 years later, he was already building a foundation. "I started very young in all aspects, from the front door to busing tables to running food to working the hot continued on page 56 VEGASMAGAZINE.COM 054-056_V_Taste_Opener_Winter14.indd 54 1/10/14 4:25 PM