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Meet Your Neighbor: Meet the Neighbor – Carla Pellegrino
By Callie Thomas
Resident foodies relish the thought that Las Vegas now rivals New York and Los Angeles for award winning dining. On any given day, you can experience what many travelers seek from around the globe: exceptionally satisfying dishes from superstar chefs. This includes the Northern Italian cuisine of Carla Pellegrino, one of the few female celebrity chefs in Las Vegas and a local 89052 resident. You may have seen her on Throwdown with Bobby Flay on Food Network (she won, by the way) and on many other shows including the Today Show, CBS Morning News and, most recently, as a participant on season ten of Bravo’s Top Chef, which began airing earlier last month. You may have also seen her in person at her restaurants Bacio in the new Tropicana and Bratalian Neopolitan Cantina in Henderson. Both are fairly new and have already won many awards. What you may not know is that she’s passionate about preparing dishes that are both delicious and healthy and that she utilizes her gifts in the kitchen to give back to the community.
Pellegrino has embraced the city she now calls home and supports organizations such as Three Square Food Bank through Restaurant Week, Boys and Girls Clubs of Henderson, F.E.A.T. (Families for Effective Autism Treatment), the prestigious James Beard Foundation and M.E.N.U.S for the Epicurean Charitable Foundation. She was also the chef chair for Flavors of the Heart in support of the American Heart Association this past September. The self proclaimed “workaholic” took a few minutes to speak with us between juggling multiple new restaurant projects (including her new restaurant Meatball Spot, located at Town Square) and putting the final touches on her first cookbook. We talked with her about being a chef in Las Vegas, how Italian cuisine isn’t always about pasta and her role as chef chair for Flavors of the Heart.
What was it like moving from New York to Las Vegas?
“From the minute I landed and saw the flashing neon lights, I fell in love with the city. Once I started work in the local culinary scene, I realized Las Vegas has the potential to become one of the biggest culinary centers in the world. It’s no wonder that so many well known chefs from all over the globe are moving here.”
Your restaurants feature healthy choices, something one might not always think of when it comes to Italian cuisine.
“As a chef, I am conscious of cooking healthy and making sure that I keep Italian cuisine authentic. Italian food is not only about pasta, cheese and heavy cream; authentic Italian cuisine is based upon fresh ingredients made from scratch, lots of seafood, grilled chops, oven roasted fishes and vegetables cooked in every flavorful way possible.”
You are also dedicated to giving back to the city.
“I try to do as much as I can to help all kinds of charities. It’s very important to give back, and all the experiences are positively wonderful! I opened my Bratalian restaurant here because I love everything about this part of the town. I used to live in Anthem Country Club and find it to be a very united community.”
Tell us about your role with the American Heart Association’s Flavors of the Heart event.
“Since I believe in healthy eating, I enthusiastically agreed to be the chef chair for Flavors of the Heart in support of the American Heart Association. It is a multicultural culinary event where I had the opportunity to create and serve heart healthy dishes. Las Vegas residents get to discover new restaurants, new recipes and new ways to live heart healthy. Proceeds benefitted the American Heart Association’s local community outreach programs.”
What’s the best dish you’ve ever eaten?
“Anything prepared by my dear friend Guy Savoir!”
If you weren’t a chef what other job would you like to do?
“It would have to be a clothing designer. I have a thing for good fashion.”
