Portofino by Chef Michael LaPlaca
Iced Tea
Warm Focaccia
Caprese Salad – Heirloom Tomatoes, Bufala Mozzarella, Basil
Beet Salad – Goat Cheese Panna Cotta, Candied Pistachios, Orchard Apples
Grilled Octopus – Calabrian Peperonata, Fingerling Crisps, Salsa Verde
Crab Cake Arancini – Lemon Saffron Risotto, Pesto Aioli, Fresno Pickles
Meatballs – Fried Squash Blossoms, Goat Cheese, San Marzano Tomatoes
Pasta & Fagioli Soup – Market Vegetables, Housemade Sausage, Cannellini Beans, Grilled Crostini
Veal Canneloni – Grilled Asparagus, Porcini Mushrooms, Marsala Sauce
Burrata Agnolotti – Lobster, Chanterelle Mushrooms, Roasted Corn Butter
Butternut Squash Gnocchi – Turkey Confit, Pickled Cranberries, Thanksgiving Crumble
Ripatelli – Wild Boar Bolognese, Roasted Tomato Sauce, Goat Cheese Pesto
Pappardella Alla Vodka – Butter Poached Langoustines, Wild Market Spinach, Absolut Elyx Vodka Sauce
Day Boat Scallops – Roasted Cauliflower, Mascarpone Polenta, Pancetta
Chicken Rollatini Parmesan – Chicken Ripieno, Housemade Marinara, Melted Mozzarella
Veal Osso Buco – Saffron Risotto, Bone Marrow, Gremolata
Braised Pork Shank – Bacon & Bean Ragu, Brussels Sprouts, Pearl Onions
Aragosta Milanese – Breaded Lobster Tail, Rapini, Lemon Sauce
Nutella Crème Brulee – twisted disaronna whipped cream, fudge, crystallized almonds
Cannoli Napoleon – Chocolate Chunk Ricotta Filling, Citrus-Olive Oil Sorbet
Cassata Cheesecake – Harry’s berries, Italian wedding cake croutons
Traditional Tiramisu – Cognac Crème, Lady Fingers
Happy to support any restaurant that continues to evolve, tweak, and reinvent even when it is already outperforming anything similar in the market, it took little more than seasonal menu updates to bring myself and six friends back to The Mirage’s Portofino and with Chef Michael LaPlaca continuing to amuse palates with a total of twenty plates, including four new pastas, no real descriptor can encompass just how great the evening was, the service better than ever even as Chris Zadie and team saw over 180 walk-ins without missing a step.
Again sat at a table overlooking the dining room floor, music and scenery unchanged from the past while a buzz hung in the air from a mostly-full house, it was to a family-style carte blanche experience that our meal was entrusted and passing on wine in favor of Iced Tea it was not more than fifteen minutes before the fun got started, a seasonal beet salad with beautiful candied pistachios juxtaposing creamy goat cheese joining several old-favorites, the meatballs deemed better than ever by some at the table while the soup managed the rare feat of beans being perfectly cooked while pasta was still springy yet tender.
Unabashedly promoting LaPlaca as the most innovative pasta maker in Las Vegas, a title earned across three prior meals where not one noodle or sauce failed to impress, November’s new menu saw some similarities but mostly different offerings and although the Agnolotti remains the sort of signature MGM should be touting on billboards it was once again the Gnocchi that stole away the spotlight, the Thanksgiving Feast on a plate every bit as ‘fun’ as it was delicious beneath dehydrated stuffing crumbles while “Pappardella alla Vodka” required no tableside show to induce a smile, just great sauce and huge langoustines with butter and booze kept grounded by sauteed spinach greens.
Already seeing some at the table scaling back on portions in order to enjoy more of that to come, secondi featured three classics joined by two more recent innovations and although the Osso Bucco remains the best in the city while the fried lobster tail is a luxury that anyone with the means should go out of their way for it would be equally difficult to pass up buttery scallops atop cauliflower puree with cubes of fried polenta, let alone the flash fried pork shank that is not exactly “Italian” but no less likely to wow atop a sweet and smoky bean ragu.
Currently in flux as relates to the pastry department, options unchanged from the past yet still just as good, it was perhaps good fortune that saw only a small smattering of sweets served after such an epic meal and with the Cassata Cheesecake as well as the Crème Brulee drawing oohs-and-ahhs from the uninitiated it seems to me that even the deconstructed cannoli tasted better this time around, the filling more creamy than memory serves and the citrus notes turned down.
FIVE STARS: Continuing to challenge themselves while still impressing tourists and locals alike the simple volume of glowing praise for Portofino should be proof enough of a restaurant worth a visit, each and every menu change likely to prompt my next.
RECOMMENDED: Meatballs, Crabcake Arancini, Butternut Squash Gnocchi, Burrata Agnolotti, Osso Bucco, Crispy Pork Shank, Cassata Cheesecake.
AVOID: Filling up on all that delicious bread.
TIP: Family Style Tastings can be arranged by contacting the restaurant in advance.
WHAT THE STARS MEAN: 5 World Class, 4 Excellent, 3 Good, 2 Fair, 1 Poor.
http://www.mirage.com/restaurants/portofino-by-chef-michael-laplaca.aspx
