Columnist Muriel Stevens: Gaetano's unique among LV's neighborhood Italian restaurants

Muriel Stevens' dining column appears Fridays. Her shopping and travel columns appear Wednesday. Reach her at (702) 259-4080 or [email protected].

There is something about Gaetano's at 10271 S. Eastern Ave., Suite 111, in Henderson that sets it apart from other neighborhood Italian restaurants, yet good Italian food is common in Las Vegas. But at what other Italian restaurant can you dine on sand dabs -- those delicious, small sole-like fish -- at lunch or dinner?

It's just one of the reasons I enjoy dining there.

There's more. The combination smoked-fish appetizer, combinazione di pesce affumicato, house-smoked ahi tuna, salmon and swordfish with celery, apples and orange-infused olive oil is a savory melange of tastes and textures. All of Gaetano's smoked fish and meats are done in-house.

Grilled eggplant stuffed with angel-hair pasta in fresh tomato sauce, rollatine di melanzane alla Sicialiana, is another personal favorite. Of course, all of the expected Italian favorites are offered.

The lunch menu includes appetizers ($7.40 to $9.95); salads ($6.50 to $10.95), including a Caesar salad with a choice of grilled chicken or fried calamari and a chopped salad -- a few of the salads are available in half portions; sandwiches (panini); pizzas, a selection of pasta and four main courses, including the sand dabs.

The larger dinner menu features a variety of appetizers ($5.95 to $11.95). I'm always tempted to have two as a meal, but I can never decide how to limit my choices to just two, so I opt to share and order more. Among the salads ($5.95 to $8.95) is a tasty, warm Napa cabbage salad with sauteed mushrooms, pancetta (Italian bacon), and Gorgonzola cheese with a warm balsamic vinaigrette comforts as it pleases.

Soups ($5.50 to $8.95) are generously portioned (almost a meal); the pasta e fagioli, Tuscan-style bean soup with pasta, is a savory delight.

Gaetano's offers a variety of shaped pastas and sauces, a daily risotto and gnocchi ($8.95 to market price). Osso buco alla Milanese, roasted New Zealand baby lamb chops, veal, chicken filet mignon and a fish of the day are among the main courses ($15.95 to market price).

Among the specials offered daily are fresh soups, pastas and specialty meats, such as venison.

About 200 wines from around the world are offered at fair prices. Have one of Gaetano's special cappuccinos. This secret recipe was conceived by Gaetano, so don't ask for the recipe -- no coffee, just a heady brew of liquor and chocolate finished with a dollop of whipped cream. Have one instead of dessert.

Resist the temptation to have more -- I've never tested the limits.

Starting tonight Gaetano's will feature live musical entertainment -- Italian, of course -- from 8:30 to 11 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.

Owners Gaetano and Rory Palmeri formerly owned Gaetano's in Calabasas, Calif. They moved to Las Vegas with their three sons, Michael, Daniel and Nicholas, all of whom work at the restaurant. They're a warm, friendly family with a good sense of humor.

Lunch is served Monday through Friday 11:30 a.m to 2:30 p.m. Dinner is served nightly: Monday through Thursday, 4:30 to 10:30 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays 4:30 to 11 p.m. Reservation number: 361-1661.

Gourmet-To-Go seafood meals: Seafood for Less recently expanded its frozen seafood selection by offering a fresh seafood counter with selections flown in from Maryland, California, New York and Seattle. Now it has joined The Lighthouse restaurant and is offering cooked seafood dishes to go.

The Gourmet-To-Go menu includes poached salmon, stuffed shrimp and a mussel soup. A variety of other offerings will be available weekly. The to-go dishes are popped in the oven and are ready in 20-minutes, but I'll bet they'd do just as well in the microwave using slightly lower than full power.

As soon as I test a to-go meal I'll share the results.

The fish counter is open Thursday through Friday. Different varieties are offered each week, including jumbo lump crab meat, salmon fillets and sides, halibut, mahi mahi, tuna loin, clams, oysters, mussels, live hard shell crab, flounder and much more.

The frozen fresh selection, which includes more than 100 frozen fish and shellfish products, is offered at wholesale prices to the consumer. Among the vast selection are peeled black tiger shrimp, lobster, mussels, tuna steaks, Tilapia, orange roughy, sea bass and other varieties.

Owner Terri Lezcano Davis is usually at the store and can answer any questions. Seafood For Less is at 5900 W. Charleston Blvd. Hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, special orders or large catering orders call 258-5800.

Cowboy Christmas show includes Perini: Cowboy cook Tom Perini, the author of "Texas Cowboy Cooking" (Comanche Moon Publishing, $25), has dedicated himself to preserving the traditions of Old West cooking.

He's teamed with Pace Foods to preserve the heritage of chuckwagon cooking. Using an authentic 1850s chuckwagon, he's led demonstrations showing thousands of students, fair-goers and curious city folk, how cowboys were fed on the cattle trails more than 100 years ago.

Perini has cooked at the James Beard house and at the Presidential Ranch in Crawford, Texas, for President Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

Perini was in Las Vegas a few days ago to prepare his chuckwagon for Cowboy Christmas, a gift show at the Las Vegas Convention Center with more than 300 venders.

The show is open to the public and "Texas Cowboy Cooking" be on sale until the show ends.

Perini will return to Las Vegas Dec. 13 (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) and Dec. 14 (2 p.m. to 5 p.m.), the final weekend of National Finals Rodeo, and will sign copies of his book at the Pace Salsa booth.

Perini's recipes are terrific, and so are the full-color photos. Actor Robert Duvall, who wrote the book's preface, was on location in Buffalo Gap, Texas, when he first ate Perini's food. Duvall liked it so much he sometimes coaxes the cook to come East to cook for him in his own back yard. Now that he has a copy of the cookbook he can do his own cowboy cooking.

Short orders

Keller signs on with Venetian: Uber Chef Thomas Keller, who owns the highly acclaimed French Laundry restaurant and the bistro Bouchon in Yountville (Napa Valley), will open Bouchon at The Venetian. Bouchon and The Venetian's luxurious new tower will open next spring.

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