PRICE:
Frommer's Very Highly Recommended

Long-time Food Network staple Mario Batalli has a couple of Vegas outposts, and this is perhaps the most notable. It looks like an uber-Italian trattoria, full of dark wood, quite inviting and unfortunately very loud. Naturally, the desirable room is in the wine cellar. The menu options are a little too casual for the price, and might be intimidating for those uninitiated in Batalli, but there's probably no one in Vegas doing such interesting Italian food. To that end, you might be best served sticking with the primi (pasta selections), which are cheaper and arguably more interesting than the secondi, though portions are not hearty. Don't miss the beef-cheek ravioli with duck liver, but other notables are the mint love letters with lamb sausage and the stinging nettle pappardelle with wild boar ragu. Or just do the rather reasonable $75 pasta tasting menu. Meanwhile, if you are lucky, Chef himself might be roaming the place in his famous clogs.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Las Vegas 2009, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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