Former Rao’s chef to revamp restaurant at Tropicana

Chef Carla Pellegrino at the Vegas Uncork'd Grand Tasting at Caesars Palace on May 7, 2010.

Chef Carla Pellegrino has been awfully busy lately. She opened her new Henderson restaurant Bratalian last month, where guests are already waiting up to an hour for a weekday table.

And that’s not all the former chef of Rao’s at Caesars Palace has been working on. The Tropicana announced this week that chef Pellegrino will be revamping its Bacio Pasta & Vino Italian eatery, the latest phase in the resort's $180 million renovations

Born in Brazil to a second-generation Italian mother and Portuguese father, Pellegrino helped with her mother’s catering business before moving to Italy at age 16. After eventually moving to the U.S., she pursued a more formal culinary education at the French Culinary Institute and, together with her then-husband Frank Pellegrino Jr., she opened a second location of New York landmark Rao’s in Las Vegas in 2006.

Now, having left Rao’s last year, Pellegrino is striking out on her own with both Bratalian and her Tropicana trattoria. At Bacio, which means “kiss” in Italian, Pellegrino’s focus is squarely on authentic Italian cooking, with a menu full of familiar dishes like shrimp scampi, fried calamari, veal marsala and chicken picatta.

Pastas range from $17 for penne with vegetables to $26 for bucatini served with pan-seared lobster, shrimp, clams and calamari in a spicy tomato sauce. Mains top out at $42 and a selection of pizzas is available for $14.

And Bacio isn’t Pellegrino’s only Tropicana outpost. The chef is also at the helm of Pellegrino’s Pizza and Deli, a casual eatery housed in the resort’s South Beach Marketplace.

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