Wynn Magazine - Las Vegas
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/81170
FOOD FOR THOUGHT Pan-seared Scottish salmon with an artichoke- stuffed raviolone and tarragon tomato sauce The cheese platter, featuring house- made burrata, smoked provola, and sheep's milk ricotta Things get off to a bang-up start with an inventive bread basket, stocked with twisty bread sticks, old-fashioned Italian country white, and a tomato-topped round focaccia that resembles a small muffin. On the side, there will be extra-virgin olive oil and the chef's unctuous pesto, the Ligurian sauce made with Parmesan cheese, basil, olive oil, and hand-pounded pine nuts. It's a challenge not to eat too much. Febbraro is from Naples, home to the best pizza in Italy. (And if you won't take my word for it, just ask any Neapolitan.) In Naples, the locals only eat two types of pizzas: margherita, with mozzarella, fresh tomato, and basil, or marinara, where the sauce is puréed tomato. Both are, naturally, on the menu here. The chef does these pizzas with expertise, serving them on cracker- thin crusts, but there are several others from which you can choose. His focaccia, baked with smoked salmon, chives, crème fraîche, and red onion, is perfection, but it's also hard to ignore the bianca, topped with prosciutto, shaved Parmesan cheese, and a flurry of fresh arugula. If your appetite can entertain it, don't skip the opportunity for an eye- opening cheese platter, which includes the house-made creamy burrata, made every day at 5 pm sharp. Smoked provola and a yielding sheep's milk ricotta also reside on this plate. Another irresistible trio is the pro- sciutto platter, laden with three varieties of ham. A wealth of pasta options includes carbonara, the rich sauce made sim- ply with egg, cheese, and pancetta, here given a new evening gown with the use of guanciale, or pork jowl, standing in for the pancetta, a touch that allows the jowl to literally melt into the sauce. 110 WYNN Service at Allegro is solicitous, efficient, and swift—as the name implies. Main courses aren't neglected here, but the trick is to leave room for one. Febbraro also makes the best lasagna in the Western world: a multi - layered affair using his Sunday meat sauce, tiny meatballs scattered in between the strips of pasta, and plenty of smoked mozzarella, for a deeper flavor. Purists can opt for a traditional linguine with clams, which is made with a pile of roasted Manila clams and a garlic white-wine sauce. Even cannelloni gets the royal treatment with a stuffing of veal, beef, and pork. Main courses aren't neglected here, but the trick is to leave room for one. One of the chef's signature dishes is osso buco d'agnello, a mammoth lamb shank served in a rich vegetable stew laced with pappardelle, wide fettuccine noodles. Did we mention that Allegro makes almost all of its pastas fresh? The classic veal Parmigiana moves upscale by doing it with a veal chop on the bone, so that the meat is more tender, thicker, and juicier. PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALEX KARVOUNIS (SIGN)