Wynn Magazine - Las Vegas
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/760086
Costa di Mare's scampi Siciliani (Sicilian langoustines). "The whole concept of our menu is line- caught fish, no nets, and completely sustainable. Our meu has become more. well-rounded, more seasonal." — mark lorusso 89 sea urchin, as light and creamy as foam. Although sea scallops are available year-round, their season runs from October through March. LoRusso sautées them, plac- ing them on fennel puree, and scatters them with tangy blood orange supremes, pistachio, and fennel. "The whole concept of our menu is line-caught fish, no nets, and completely sustainable," he says. And if the kitchen runs out of something, that's a mark of success: "I think it's okay to run out sometimes. Our menu has become more well-rounded, more seasonal. If it were all the same, the menu wouldn't always be evolving as it is." Come spring and summer, you'll find mormora (striped sea bream), roasted whole with olive oil and white wine, and centrolofo (imperial blackfish) in frittu- ra di paranza Mediterranea—fried Mediterranean fish, crispy artichoke, and pickled lemon—which instantly transports guests to a seaside summer feast in Naples. Summer also delivers (with some luck) cicala di mare, a large, flat lobster whose flesh is even more clean-tasting and elegant than that of common lobster. Highly sensi- tive to pollution, these prehistoric-looking crustaceans live only in pristine waters and their harvest is tightly restricted by the Italian government to a two-and-a-half- month season that ends in July. For now, though, focus on the bounty of winter—that luxurious urchin, the calamaretti (tiny calamari), and Costa di Mare's legendary live langoustine, perfectly sweet and salty, its source so zealously guarded that its boxes are thrown away only after all identifying tags have been stripped and destroyed. The source delivers only to a dozen restaurants in the world, and the langoustines come in four sizes, from large to "extra jumbo." LoRusso fishes them out of the tank in the kitchen, and simply splits and grills them. "Our goal is to transport you to Italy," the chef says. So do as the Italians wish they could and savor the winter catch from the entire country. 'Tis the season!