Italian invasion: Chef Carla Pellegrino expands her empire

By Sarah Feldberg

Friday, April 15, 2011 | 5:05 p.m.

Carla Pellegrino has been awfully busy lately. How do I know? I tried to have dinner at her new Henderson restaurant Bratalian on Wednesday. I was told the wait would be at least an hour.

And that’s not all the former chef of Rao’s at Caesars Palace has been working on. The Tropicana announced this week that the latest phase in its $180-million renovations is a new Italian eatery by chef Pellegrino called Bacio Pasta & Vino.

Born in Brazil to a second-generation Italian mother and Portuguese father, Pellegrino helped with her mother’s catering business before moving to Italy at age 16. After eventually moving to the U.S., she pursued a more formal culinary education at the French Culinary Institute and, together with her then-husband Frank Pellegrino Jr., she opened a second location of New York landmark Rao’s in Las Vegas in 2006.

Now, having left Rao’s last year, Pellegrino is striking out on her own with both Bratalian and her Tropicana trattoria. At Bacio, which means “kiss” in Italian, Pellegrino’s focus is squarely on authentic Italian cooking, with a menu full of familiar dishes like shrimp scampi, fried calamari, veal marsala and chicken picatta. Pastas range from $17 for penne with vegetables to $26 for bucatini served with pan-seared lobster, shrimp, clams and calamari in a spicy tomato sauce. Mains top out at $42 and a selection of pizzas is available for $14.

And Bacio isn’t Pellegrino’s only Tropicana outpost. The chef is also at the helm of Pellegrino’s Pizza and Deli, a casual eatery housed in the resort’s South Beach Marketplace. Having three new venues open in such quick succession could be viewed as spreading oneself too thin, but I see a silver lining in the rapid expansion. With Pellegrino popping up at all these new places around town, perhaps next time I stop by Bratalian, I’ll actually be able to get something to eat.