Small Plates: Take a moment to savor food, New York-style
DINING OUT
ROCCO’S NEW YORK PIZZERIA, 6870 S. RAINBOW BLVD.
Rocco’s, owned by Rocco Crea, opened on Rainbow Boulevard about a year ago; a location at 10860 W. Charleston Blvd. has been in business for 12 years. It was there before Red Rock Resort, Crea said. “I’m a neighborhood guy.” His specialty: “the best New York thin-crust pizza, right from the Bronx.” Decor is appropriately New York-centric, with old family pictures and New York Yankees memorabilia. Here’s a sample of the menu:
Starters: garlic knots, $3.95 for six or $6.95 for 12; fried ravioli, $6.99; sweet or hot mussels, $9.99; fried calamari, $9.99; 10 jumbo chicken wings, $6.99; garlic bread, $2.99, or $3.99 with cheese
Pizza: cheese, $9.99 for small or $12.99 for large; everything, $15.50 for small or $18 for large; white, $12.50 for small or $14.50 for large; Sicilian, $17
Sandwiches: pepper and egg, $5.99 for regular 6-inch or $10.99 for large 13-inch; meatball Parmigiana, $7.99 for regular or $14.59 for large; Philly cheese steak and onions, $7.59 for regular or $14.99 for large; Da Bronx (ham, salami, cappicola, provolone), $7.39 for regular or $14.59 for large
Entrees: eggplant rollatini, $14.99; veal Sorrentino, $15.99; veal saltimbocca, $15.99; chicken or veal Marsala, $13.99 or $15.99; shrimp, clams and mussels fra diavolo, $14.99; chicken and broccoli Alfredo, $13.99; rigatoni Anthony, $11.99; linguine with red or white clam sauce, $13.99
Hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Call 702-979-9000 (Rainbow) or 702-796-0111 (Charleston) or visit www.RoccosNYPizza.com.
NEW AND NOVEL
You didn’t think Las Vegas would lag far behind in the cronut race, did you? Nope, they’re available in at least three places locally.
At Pink Box Donuts, 7531 W. Lake Mead Blvd., manager Lance Graulich said the bakers make cronuts Tuesdays through Sundays; they’re ready by 8:30 or 9 a.m. One caveat, though: “We always prefer people pre-order them,” he said. They come in two styles — glazed or sprinkled with vanilla sugar, both without filling — and are $1.75 each.
At Bread and Butter, 10940 S. Eastern Ave. in Henderson, general manager Vinny Capone said the cronuts usually sell out by 11 a.m. “We’re not like in New York, where we set a limit,” Capone said. “People can get as many as they want. Quite often we’ll have somebody come in and buy out everything that’s on the shelf.” The cronuts are sliced into sections, multilayered with fillings and topped with glazes or powdered sugar and are $4 each. The most popular flavors, he said, have been chocolate, vanilla and cherry. Capone said they do a different flavor each week.
Wary of trademark issues, Lulu’s Bread and Breakfast, 6720 Sky Pointe Drive, calls their versions of the cronut One of Those and One of These. One of Those is rolled in raw sugar and filled with two layers of vanilla pastry cream; One of These is rolled in raw sugar mixed with coffee and filled with espresso pastry cream. They’re $4.50 each. While they’ve typically had them only on weekends — “We open at 7, and there are sometimes people here at 6:30 ready for them,” said partner Chris Decker — they’ve started making them on Thursdays, and this week they will have them Thursday through Sunday.
— Heidi Knapp Rinella
