Downtown 3rd's Pizza Rock is an unquestionable success, so it makes sense that northern California restaurateur and world champion pizza maker Tony Gemignani would expand his Las Vegas business. He's going big, opening a second Pizza Rock at Green Valley Ranch Resort in Henderson and an all-new Italian trattoria concept, Little Tony's, at Palace Station—both coming soon this spring.

In the meantime, Gemignani just perked up the sleepy food court at Green Valley Ranch with Slice House, offering New York, Sicilian and California-style pizzas by the slice, plus calzones, strombolis, paninis, baked pastas, subs and salads. (The first Slice House also opened at a Station Casinos-managed property, Graton Resort in Sonoma County, California. The second serves at AT&T Park in San Francisco.)

Munching on an oversized, cheesy slice of pizza at a casino food court is every local's God-given right, but Slice House—just like the stuff at Pizza Rock—is just better. The simple New York cheese slice ($4.25) is pure pizza pleasure and should have East Coast transplants longing for home. The all-veggie California slice I devoured ($5.50) dwarfed its paper plate, miraculously and meatlessly satisfying the most serious hunger. The thicker-crust, square Sicilian slices ($5.25) are topped with a rich tomato sauce, garlic, oregano, and mozzarella and pecorino romano cheese, and you can add pepperoni for a quarter. The rotating slice of the day ($6) was a meatball masterpiece on my visit.

Those of us who spend our days in Green Valley are officially spoiled. Until the full-service Pizza Rock opens at this neighborhood casino, Slice House will keep us happy and full.

Slice House by Tony Gemignani Green Valley Ranch Resort, 702-260-7133. Daily, 11 a.m.-11 p.m.