‘Top Chef’ Star Serves Wagyu Meatballs at His New Las Vegas Restaurant | Eater Vegas

"Chef Fabio Viviani — the season-five Top Chef “Fan Favorite” and breakout television figure since 2009 — is making his Las Vegas debut at JW Marriott Las Vegas in Summerlin, opening Thursday, July 3. Viviani, who has opened, co-owned, or lent his name to nearly 40 restaurants, says, “I love to work with resorts,” and that “this is about the food and building something in the community to feed the Las Vegas clientele.” The menu is traditional Italian with touches of Vegas glitz: dimpled, homemade orecchiette tossed with spiced duck sausage, charred fennel, white wine, and a hint of chile; a frutti di mare featuring squid ink pasta in a briny mix of clams, mussels, and shrimp in lobster broth; mozzarella hand-pulled tableside and draped over heirloom tomatoes while soft and warm; and the chef’s signature meatball, now upgraded with wagyu, ricotta, and rich tomato sugo, arriving “juicy and fragrant with basil.” Desserts include layered jars of espresso-soaked tiramisu and sticky lemon ricotta cake with strawberries. Cocktails feature the Montenegro Nights — bourbon with vanilla and caramel syrups, bitters, and a toasted marshmallow — and the beverage list is rounded out by Viviani’s own Fabrizio di Rienzo wines, exclusive to his hospitality group. The restaurant is part of JW Marriott and Rampart Casino’s $75 million renovation, which also adds a Neapolitan pizza counter adjacent to the restaurant and an Oyster Bar slated to open later this summer; Viviani describes the planned counter as “an oyster bar on the Amalfi Coast,” serving seafood pots, terrines of steamed clams, shellfish-laden seafood towers, and Champagne. Since his Top Chef appearance he’s also published cookbooks, returned for Top Chef: All Stars, fronted San Pellegrino and Dr. Oetker frozen pizzas, and launched Jars, a dessert-in-a-jar chain now in seven states. He intends the restaurant’s name to mean “to the crazy ones” — and says he means “crazy as in obsessed” — because, as he puts it, “I want it to be the best Italian food not in Italy.” Open hours are Sunday–Thursday 5 p.m.–9 p.m. and Friday–Saturday 5 p.m.–10 p.m." - Janna Karel