Artisanal Foods specialty market open for business

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story said Artisanal Foods, at 4860 S. Eastern Ave., had permanently closed. The store is open for business.

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Zeppola Cafe at Grand Canal Shoppes inside The Venetian is now serving breakfast, lunch and dinner using treasured family recipes.

The breakfast menu features ricotta pancakes served with berries and syrup; a cremini mushroom omelet made with cremini mushroom and fontina cheese; and smoked salmon eggs Benedict made with two poached eggs, an English muffin, smoked salmon, capers and red onion.

The lunch menu includes Sicilian rice balls served with San Marzano tomato sauce and bruschetta made with crunchy flatbread and cherry tomatoes.

Dinner includes homemade gnocchi with Grandma Eugenia’s secret sauce; prime skirt steak with pesto chimichurri sauce and roasted tomatoes; hand-crafted lasagna made with salmon, mornay sauce, garlic and herbs.

In the bakery, diners can pick up decadent pastries, including bomboloni, a specialty Italian doughnut filled with cream and available in over 10 different flavors.

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Food and drink spots are assembling a significant presence at the $400 million UnCommons development in southwest Las Vegas. Last week, we reported on chef Nicole Brisson’s new Amari and several other planned spots.

Some other food places set to open in the development are an unnamed concept from Michael Mina, the James Beard Award-winning chef; a tiki tequileria (ooh, that sounds lethal) called Todo Bien; and Urth Caffé, a craft coffee pioneer with a location in Wynn Las Vegas and six in Southern California.

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The Watermark project in Henderson, whose planned restaurants we’ve also been reporting on, has another one in the works. It’s called The Big Sipper (which could be anything from coffee to fancy milkshakes to giant balloons of pinot). We’ll know more when we sit down with the developers in a few weeks.

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On Saturday, Tetsuya Wakuda, one of the world’s finest chefs (he’s got two Michelin stars), debuted Wakuda in The Venetian. It’s the chef’s first restaurant in the U.S. A signature offering: omakase meals ($500) in which diners place themselves in the chef’s hands to prepare dishes of his choosing.

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Looking into July, Waterfall Coffee & Cocktails will serve coffee, tea, pastries and snacks in the morning and Ketel One Botanical spritz cocktails in the afternoon and evening. The lush spot will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at The Venetian’s Waterfall Atrium.

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Emerald Island Grille has expanded. The 24/7 restaurant inside Henderson’s Emerald Island Casino has added breakfast specials, Sunday brunch, Steak House Saturdays, Slow Smoked BBQ Wednesday Nights as well as late-night and early morning specials.

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Jessie Rae’s BBQ is coming to Henderson at Boulder Highway and East Lake Mead Parkway. Management says it hopes to open by September.

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