TASTE: Veni, Vidi, Viale

All hail the new Italian restaurant at Caesars

Max Jacobson

Caesars' brass had so much confidence in Krista Kern, a young woman from Maine doing magnificent desserts at that hotel's terrific Italian restaurant, Terrazza, they decided to give her a restaurant of her own. It's called Viale, Italian for "avenue," and Kern's imprimatur is on almost everything served, especially the desserts.


The bad news is that Kern is no longer at the restaurant; family issues forced her to return to her home state. The good news is that Viale doesn't seem to have missed a beat since her departure, and has quickly taken its place as the best Italian-style sidewalk café on the Strip.


The restaurant is furnished with chrome-topped tables, an all-chrome open kitchen and a nifty bar area backlit in orange. The strange part is it's virtually empty. Now that the weather is so nice, no one wants to sit inside, opting instead for one of those cool patio tables.


Wherever you choose to sit, chances are you'll be pleased with what comes to the table. At lunch, my favorite time to eat here, the menu is simply put together, a few starters, entrée salads, pastas and panini—Italian sandwiches. Dinner is more sophisto, with interesting entrées replacing the salads and panini.


A new starter, grilled asparagus and artichoke salad, artfully demonstrates the Viale kitchen aesthetic. Grilled veggies are beautifully arranged around flat-leaf watercress, fresh figs and mushrooms, and dressed minimally in lemon juice and olive oil. Swordfish is smoked and piled onto avocado, arugula, tomato and pearl onion for a toothsome starter course. For the stalwart, there is also a traditional cold-cut and cheese antipasto, which hits all the right notes.


Lunch pastas are heartily authentic. My favorite here is bucatini all'amatriciana, a thick spaghetti doused with a tomato and onion sauce further enriched by pancetta—lardy Italian bacon. Penne carbonara is a nicely Roman version of the artery-clogging specialty, a sauce made from cream, eggs and bacon, with a side of grilled asparagus as a bonus.


Spaghetini, small spaghetti, gets a more humble treatment: smashed cherry tomatoes, olives and sweet basil.


And panini taste authentic. Try the ones with grilled summer vegetables or grilled chicken with salsa verde. If you must, there is a nice burger, too, served with tomato jam, basil fries and charred Walla Walla onions.


At night, the menu takes a more upscale turn, executed with panache. The additional pasta is a good one, tagliolini with seared scallops, white wine, parsley, pecorino cheese and fried artichokes. The added first course is grilled prawns with preserved lemon mayonnaise, another winner.


One of the best additional entrées is a yellow-fin tuna poached in olive oil, red chili flakes and fennel, such a harmonious dish, you'll wonder why it isn't a standard. For sheer luxury, try grilled quail with mascarpone stuffing, alongside a warm salad of fingerling potato, roasted figs, green olives and frisée.


The veal chop comes with crispy cured ham, sage and cherry tomato, drizzled with pan juices. Grilled lamb chops are a purely Mediterranean affair, thanks to the inclusion of the holy trinity of Provence on the plate: eggplant, tomatoes and garlic.


Viale is one of the few Italian restaurants I know of where desserts are not anticlimactic. I wrote about Kern's buttermilk panna cotta with fresh strawberries, poached rhubarb and verjus sorbet in a 10 Best Desserts of Las Vegas story in these pages last month, but there are two or three others from this dessert menu that could have made the list.


Tiramisu My Way is simply the best in town, a bittersweet-chocolate, brown-butter almond cake, a top layer of mascarpone cream, and a side order of Kahlua brittle and espresso coffee gelato. And finally there is almond fruit "toast," basically summer plums baked onto the top of a flaky, buttery brioche, with crème fraiche gelato next door.


We're already lucky to have Viale, but we'd be luckier still if Kern would return.

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