ML - Vegas Magazine

2014 - Issue 1 - Winter

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.

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ON THE TOWN TOP: Nightly live music sets the mood. MIDDLE: Bartolotta gets animated discussing the importance of preserving authentic Italian-American flavors. BOTTOM LEFT: Gypsy pasta with a spicy marinara sauce and fried shrimp. BOTTOM RIGHT: A full bar offers an array of tempting cocktails. continued from page 64 How did your lifelong relationship with food start? I was born of a Sicilian father and an Austrian mom. The dominant gene in the household was definitely the Italian one. It was about family, respect, and food. It was about faith, religion. On Saturday mornings my dad would say, "Come on, son, let's go down to the East Side." Brady Street was our Little Italy area, with Glorioso's market and the Italian fish markets and Sciortino's bakery. Saturday afternoon I'd go play with my friends like a typical American kid—football, baseball, basketball. But by four o'clock, there was a big cowbell my mother would ring, and all the kids in the neighborhood would come. There would be a table covered with ham and Sciortino's rolls and salami and cheese, and things like periwinkle snails we would pick out with needles. Tony brings red wine and the main courses: veal francese and spicy gypsy pasta with shrimp. On Sunday morning, my dad would have this big kettle of sauce, and he would put the meatballs in and be like, "Okay, time to go to church." And we would all rush off to Mass. After Mass we would come home, and the whole game was who could finish the meal with a white shirt. Food is a vital part of the Italian-American experience. The Italians didn't come to America to become American. They left because there was extreme poverty. They had no interest in being American, hence they created their own little communities that even to this day are known as Little Italys. They got here, there were no fresh herbs, they didn't have any of their seafood, but they had flavors they were looking for, and they invented Italian-American food. Some Italian restaurants here don't use any Italian ingredients. If you make a mockery and a joke out of the Italian-American culture and evolution, I have a gigantic issue with that. If some non-Italian makes "goombah chicken" on his menu, that enrages me. However, those like Casa di Amore that make an honest effort to maintain or re-create the flavor of the Italian-American experience and how it evolved, I think that's great. The ingeniousness of the Italian-American is making Italian food with non-Italian ingredients. Food in Italy is a lot different. I ate meatballs once in eight years I lived in Italy, and they were little veal meatballs served with braised leeks, pecorino cheese, and a really spicy dollop of tomato paste. Bartolotta is impressed by the Monday night crowd. "Mondays can be busier than a Friday or Saturday here," Tony says, "because we have half price on wine." You and your family in Milwaukee recently had a meatball contest. We did a little bit of estate planning and big-picture thinking. To create some levity, I think my sister Maria came up with the idea to do a meatball competition. Teddy, my brother-in-law, is from Brooklyn and his mom's 66 "The ingeniousness is making Italian food with nonItalian ingredients." —PAUL BARTOLOTTA name is Rosalie, so he made Rosalie's meatballs. My sister Felicia made her recollection of meatballs. My brother Joe had his version, with sausage. I had this taste memory of my dad's. I was so happy with my meatballs. I came in second place. Teddy, by the way, burned my sauce and my meatballs. What was in your meatball? One-third pork, two-thirds beef, lots of Romano cheese, a small amount of Parmigiano, eggs, a boatload of garlic, parsley, salt, and black pepper. I sautéed them in olive oil like my dad. My sister froze some of them; she thawed them out a couple weeks ago and called me to say, "My God, they taste just like Dad's. I can't believe you didn't win." I said, "Yeah, because your f---ing husband scorched my sauce—he sabotaged me!" V VEGASMAGAZINE.COM 064-066_V_Taste_OnTheTown_Winter14.indd 66 1/10/14 10:44 AM

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