Column: On list of vintage Vegas restaurants, we offer another course

By Ric Anderson

Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015 | 2 a.m.

When it comes to vintage Las Vegas restaurants, passions run deep.

This I know. In a recent story at lasvegassun.com and the Sun print edition, I presented a list of restaurants that provided a taste of old Las Vegas.

The story generated a lot of nice feedback.

It also left some local diners feeling shocked and dismayed.

"Great story, Ric, but how could you leave out the Italian American (Social) Club?" wrote my Realtor in an email.

"Although you hit every one of the vintage dining places that made the town great, you missed the boat on one," wrote Ralph Siraco, a former racing columnist for the Sun. "And, I do know you must have trimmed down more than just one, but this one definitely belongs on the list."

The restaurant: The Tuscany Grill.

Then came a comment from Las Vegas Locally on Twitter: "No Bootlegger @ricander ??

So today, I offer a mea culpa to anyone who didn't see his or her favorite vintage restaurant on the list. I'll also do my best to make amends by giving the Italian American Club, Tuscany Grill and Bootlegger the same treatment I gave to the restaurants on my earlier list.

• Italian American Social Club, 2333 E. Sahara Ave.

How, indeed, could I have left this one out? The club, founded in 1961, is a living throwback to Las Vegas' Rat Pack past. Frank Sinatra, who was given a lifetime membership in 1963, held fundraisers here and performed on the club's stage with the likes of Dean Martin. Members of the New York, New Jersey, Buffalo and Chicago mobs hung out here, and federal agents showed up to keep an eye on them. The establishment got a makeover a few years back. The food is old-style Italian.

• Tuscany Grill, 11105 S. Eastern Ave., Henderson

The Tuscany is a modern restaurant with an old soul. The owners worked at the Phillips Supper Club, a vintage west-side Las Vegas establishment that was a hangout for politicians, civic leaders, mobsters and other movers and shakers. They brought some of that flavor to the new location. "The stories about the 'old days' are worth the admission alone," Siraco says.

• Bootlegger Bistro, 7700 Las Vegas Blvd. South.

The original Bootlegger opened in 1972 near Tropicana and Eastern. The restaurant moved in 2001, but its connections to old Las Vegas remain perfectly intact. Owner Lorraine Hunt-Bono is a second-generation Las Vegan whose best friend was Eydie Gorme and whose mother, Maria, wrote the Bootlegger's recipes herself. Hunt-Bono is a former Nevada lieutenant governor and the wife of Dennis Bono, the host of "The Dennis Bono Show" at the South Point Showroom. The food? It's fuhgeddaboudit good.

So what else did I miss? If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears. All stomach, too.

Ric Anderson is the managing editor of the Greenspun Media Group newsroom. He oversees the staffs of the Las Vegas Sun, The Sunday, Las Vegas Weekly and VEGAS INC.