Parma
Warm Garlic Bread
Escargot – Butter, Garlic, Wine
Gnocchi Speck – Speck Cream Sauce and Sweet Peas
Portobello Mushroom baked in cheese sauce over spinach
Baba Au Rhum and Cannoli
Described as a traditional Italian Trattoria reflecting the culinary vision of New York born Chef Marc, Parma is one of those places that nearly every Las Vegas local sites as a reason for tourists to venture off strip – a simple, fun, relaxed place with remarkable food and equally impressive service but without the high prices intrinsic to the celebrity chefs on Las Vegas Blvd; it was a place I’d always wanted to visit but one not exactly easy to get to until this visit when I possessed a car and ample time to explore. Large in size primarily due to the presence of the retail store and deli but with ample seating for guests in both the dining room and small lounge I was greeted first by the man who would serve as my waiter and then by a manager who seemed to know every other patron in the restaurant, both inquiring as to whether it was my first visit and offering suggestions regarding the menu – some accepted and some discarded in order to focus on items I knew to suit my fancy, each and every one a lesson in rustic Italian cooking with top quality ingredients, great depth of flavor, and ample portion. Beginning first with hot garlic bread paired with olive oil and balsamic before progressing to an even more garlicky plate featuring eight tender snails on crusty bread with rich sauce I was shocked when the next two plates proved to be even better, one a ‘salad’ of crisp spinach topped with tender portabellas baked in parmesan cheese sauce and the other a pile of dainty potato gnocchi resting in smoky pork cream brightened up by fresh double shucked peas. With each plate undoubtedly heavy yet finely balanced with no ingredient unnecessary or overwhelming the others it was with a touch of sadness that I realized I only had room for one dessert but deferring the tiramisu and strawberry cake for a later date I do not regret my decision to order the baba one bit, two slices of boozy rum cake lightly sweetened with confectioners’ sugar and a ripe strawberry the only garnish necessary…plus a cannoli filled a la minute on the house, as though I needed further food or reason to return in the near future.
