A great Italian restaurant in Las Vegas!
I have wanted to try Ferraro's Italian Restaurant for a long time. I have heard nothing but good things about this restaurant! While running errands on a day off, I became hungry in the late afternoon. I had a snack of vegetable samosas at the Origin India restaurant and I was still hungry. I thought about dining later in the day and having a full dinner, but an afternoon of appetizers and desserts seemed more appealing. Lighter food is better when the afternoon weather is hot. Appetizers are nice when the cocktail hours roll around and it was getting to be that time of day. Ferraro's Italian Restaurant is located at 4480 Paradise Road, at the intersection of Harmon. Ferraro's is directly across the street from the Hard Rock Casino and it is next door to the UNLV campus. It has been over twenty years since I have worked in a fine Italian restaurant that had a comparable atmosphere to Ferraro's Italian restaurant. I once worked at a Northern Italian restaurant that was managed by an Italian monk. To say the least, that old restaurant was very posh and it had the feel of a classic fine restaurant in Italy. The atmosphere at Ferraro's had that same kind of feel. It was the afternoon hours, so the pace and style of service was a little more casual. Still, the customers at Ferraro's were dressed in fine clothes for the cocktail hour and early dinner hours. You might say that I found a place in Las Vegas that has a respectable true business casual clientele in the afternoons. I really liked the respectable atmosphere, especially since I had become used to dining in a long string of very casual restaurants. It was nice to get back in touch with the meaning of the word "class"! I sat at a table in the cocktail lounge in Ferraro's. The afternoon cocktail crowd was having a good time watching a ball game. The cocktail lounge waitstaff were busy and fun. I mentioned that I really was craving a nice cold glass of Italian beer to the waitress when she asked if I wanted a drink. The waitress said "Moretti on draft!" I said yes, but the waitress had already was on her way to the bar to get my beer! This girl was fun and quick! I do like good Italian beer. It is refreshingly sharp and not too heavy. I was glancing at the menu and the waitress said "Calamari! Ours is the best in town!" I said yes! This waitress was not only a great waitress, but she was a mind reader too. How did she know that I loved crispy fried calamari with marinara, while sipping on a good Italian beer? Well, truth be told, I think everybody likes that combination in the afternoon! The calamari was excellent! Lightly seasoned and floured, crispy fried and the marinara sauce was perfect! As you can see in the photographs, the calamari had a light color, so the chef used fresh frying oil. The tomato sauce was top notch! Even the classic sprinkle of crushed red pepper was placed on top. That is a classic touch for serving tomato sauce with calamari. The waitress was absolutely correct when she said that Ferraro's calamari is the best in town! Dessert! I craved something sweet. The waitress suggested tiramisu, but I had plans to make a special tiramisu for this blog. An Italian friend from Philadelphia sent a few photographs of local Italian restaurant's cannoli from South Philly to my Facebook page earlier that day. When someone sends pictures of food to my page, I sometimes go into a gladiator state of mind. Were the cannoli photos a snobbish statement from Little Italy in Philly? Was this some kind of a cannoli challenge? Did my friend want to start a cannoli war? Well, the cannoli battle commenced! I figured that I would order cannoli at Ferraro's and send photographs of the cannoli back to my Italian friend in Philly. No holds barred, unlimited time limit, battle of the Italian cannoli photos! As I waited for my order of cannoli, I was hoping for the best. The best is what I got! The presentation of the cannoli was a work of modern art! The vertical presentation was how I was trained to present cannoli at the fine Northern Italian restaurant that I mentioned working in, earlier in this article. The difference was, Ferraro's chef painted the plate with chocolate and garnished the plate with suiting edible flowers. This was a nice looking plate of cannoli! The cannoli were simply flavored with cinnamon and a very nice delicato touch was used when adding the cinnamon to the cheese filling. The cheese filling was whisked to the perfect light texture that is necessary for piping. Just enough sugar was added to sweeten the cannoli filling. The sweetness level was perfect! The cannoli shells looked like they were also hand crafted and they had a very light crispy texture. Of course the photograph of Ferraro's cannoli easily won the cannoli battle between my South Philly Italian friend and I! The problem was, I hit the wall of eating too much and I had one cannoli leftover. I asked for the one piece of untouched surviving cannoli to be wrapped to-go and I later gave it to a New York Italian friend that lives here in Las Vegas. The guy went bananas! He had cannoli all over his lips and he was trying to talk with a mouthful of cannoli, like homesick New York Italians do. I just had to laugh! Yes, my New York Italian friend liked Ferraro's cannoli too! Ferraro's offers a full menu of great Italian food that is prepared to perfection. Osso bucco is one of the house specialties. The chef's quality standard is organic meats and vegetables as well as sustainable seafood. All breads, desserts and pastas are made fresh daily and there is even gluten free offerings. The chef at Ferraro's is not only quality oriented, he is aware of the modern trend of guilt free organic sustainable dining. That trend is a now a standard in Las Vegas fine dining. Ferraro's also has a state of the art decanter wine bar and they offer very fine Italian wines. There is live entertainment nightly and the piano is set on a stage that can be seen from the dining room. For the late night crowd, Ferraro's offers a reverse happy hour. That is nice for restaurant personnel who start their evening late. I highly recommend Ferraro's for visitors of Las Vegas and locals alike! Ferraro's is the place to go for great Italian food with a modern classy casual atmosphere. Ferraro's is simply doing everything the right way! Yum! ... Shawna
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