The epicurean life: Las Vegas restaurants team up to celebrate all things delicious

Epicurean, adj. - fond of or adapted to luxury or indulgence in sensual pleasures; having luxurious tastes or habits, esp. in eating and drinking.

If there was a time when luxurious tastes were reserved for the wealthy or well traveled, that day has passed. Today, truffled mashed potatoes are nearly as common as French fries on restaurant menus, and caviar isn’t just for those born with a silver (or mother of pearl) spoon.

Appreciation of well-crafted food and beverages is on the rise, part of a broader epicurean lifestyle evident in the bountiful food and wine magazines that populate grocery store checkout counters and the booming online communities on Web sites like Epicurious.com.

On Thursday, April 23, the 19th Annual Epicurean Affair tasting event at Flamingo Las Vegas will celebrate all things epicurean with over 100 Las Vegas bars and restaurants filling the 15-acre pool area to offer up decadent bites and sips to their guests. Dining destinations like Bradley Ogden, Hugo’s Cellar, Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House, Nora’s Wine Bar & Osteria and Rao’s will all be represented – a culinary one-stop dream come true.

For local restaurateurs and genetically pre-determined foodies like Rao’s Frankie Jr. and Carla Pellegrino, the word epicurean signifies not so much a once yearly culinary festival as a daily way of life.

Chef Carla Pellegrino of Rao's Las Vegas is an epicure who emphasizes the beauty of simplistic food built on stellar ingredients.

Food, and good food at that, has always been a way of life for Frankie Pellegrino Jr.

“It’s a lifestyle of food, family, fun. It’s a way of indulging,” says Frankie Jr. “It’s exactly what we do for a living, which is all about hospitality, great winemakers, vintners, great chefs … such as yourself,” he adds turning to look at his wife, Brazilian-born Rao’s Las Vegas chef Carla Pellegrino.

The Pellegrinos are born epicures, each the product of families that have lived their love of food both in their homes and businesses, for Carla as the daughter of a caterer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and for Frankie Jr. as an heir to the more than century-old New York institution Rao’s.

“Our lives together since we’ve met, we’ve done nothing but be in our own restaurants; we’ve done nothing but host people at our home,” Frankie Jr. continues. “[Carla] really celebrates her passion for her work and her restaurant – our restaurant – and it’s really lovely.”

“I’ve been cooking since I was 10 years old,” explains Carla, who left South America for Italy when she was 14 and proceeded to discover the wonders of the Italian cuisine she would later refine at Rao’s.

“The food [at Rao’s] is Neapolitan, and it’s very good and very rich. It’s all about great tomatoes – we have San Marzano tomatoes – we have lots of peppers; we have veal. That’s basically the roots of Italian food.”

While the flavors that leave her kitchen are truly a worthwhile indulgence, even for a pro like Carla, living an epicurean life isn’t just about sampling the highest quality cuts of meat and rich, imported cheeses.

“I always correlate the fact that when you cook it is because you care about somebody. So I did that to help my mother and I kept doing it for all my friends.”

At Epicurean Affair, Carla will cook for friends new and old who pass in front of her tasting station as they eat their way around the city and the globe. However, those sipping wine and strolling the Flamingo grounds may want to linger awhile in front of the Rao’s table. Pellegrino is serving a tasting course of miniature ricotta ravioli with prosciutto, shallots and radicchio in a cream sauce. Simple, rich and perfectly balanced – it is an epicurean affair in its own right.