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\n\t2333 E Sahara Ave., Las Vegas, NV 89104 -Reservations: 702-457-3866<\/p>\n
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\n\t2333 E Sahara Ave., Las Vegas, NV 89104 -Reservations: 702-457-3866<\/p>\n
\tBy NORM CLARKE
\n\tLAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
\n\tFrank Sinatra would be proud of what\u2019s happening at the Italian American Club, one of his few remaining haunts.<\/p>\n
\tSinatra, who was a member, \u201cwould be thrilled to death\u201d with one of the most impressive restaurant revivals in Las Vegas, said Angelo Casaro, president of the club.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cPart of his roots were laying the foundation of this club over 50 years ago,\u201d said Casaro, president from 1988 to 1994 and since 2010.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cHe would donate a new Cadillac to the club every couple years to raffle it off and help us out,\u201d said Casaro.<\/p>\n
\tFor seven years the club \u201cwas in a tailspin,\u201d said Casaro, after the sudden death of operator and chef Joey Tegano.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cHe could put together a dinner for 250 without breaking a sweat, and then he\u2019d walk around with his Bailey\u2019s Irish Cream and make sure everyone was OK,\u201d Casaro said.<\/p>\n
\tThe best efforts of club members failed to fill the void left by Tegano\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
\tFood quality dived and so did membership, bottoming out at 67 a few years ago, Cesaro said.<\/p>\n
\tOne of Casaro\u2019s first moves after returning as president was to seek advice from members Jim Girard, Bob Harry and Ben Spano, longtime restaurateurs.<\/p>\n
\tGirard and Harry formerly ran Fellini\u2019s, a westside neighborhood hotspot, where famous entertainers would drop in and perform.<\/p>\n
\tThe comeback began in March 2013, when club operations, including food and beverage, were turned over to Girard, Harry and Spano, with the latter serving as ma\u00eetre \u2019d.<\/p>\n
\tChef Guillermo \u201cMemmo\u201d Perez, who had worked with Harry and Girard for 18 years at Fellini\u2019s and Salvatore\u2019s at the Suncoast, brought much of the menu with him.<\/p>\n
\tSoon they had a hit that gave the east side restaurant scene a shot in the arm.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe\u2019re up to 440 members now,\u201d said Casaro. \u201cWe\u2019ve almost doubled the dues to $200 a year, honestly, to slow it down.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt\u2019s going really well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tIn its heyday, many of Las Vegas\u2019 biggest names dropped in as members or supporters. Casaro ticked off the names: \u201cSinatra, Tony Bennett, Dean Martin, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme (\u201cSteve still comes in once a month\u201d), Joe DiMaggio, Sonny King, Dick Contino, Don Dino and Sam Butera.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cKeely Smith was here. I can\u2019t say for sure if Louie Prima was here, but his daughter, Lena, is a member.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cOscar Goodman and Jerry Lewis,\u201d said Casaro.<\/p>\n
\tFew former Sinatra hangouts exist.<\/p>\n
\tTower Pizza, at the south end of the Strip, is long gone. The Sahara is being transformed into the upscale SLS Las Vegas. Former mob hangout Villa D\u2019 Este became Piero\u2019s Italian Cuisine.<\/p>\n
\tAccording to legend, Sinatra loved Villa D\u2019 Este\u2019s homemade sausage so much that he had owner\/chef Joe Pignatello ship it by plane to Palm Springs.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe difference between our place and most of the other Italian restaurants,\u201d said Casaro, \u201cis our wines go for around $30 and the others start at $80.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tI stopped in Saturday night to check out the scene and cuisine. Both lived up to the word of mouth.<\/p>\n
\tThe place was packed with a Sinatra-style crowd. Carmine Mandia was performing in the lounge, and a private birthday party was raging in the ballroom.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt\u2019s NSA, security people,\u201d someone whispered during our sneak peek.<\/p>\n
\tOh, would Ol\u2019 Blue Eyes have loved that.<\/p>\n
No replies were posted for this topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
2333 E Sahara Ave., Las Vegas, NV 89104 -Reservations: 702-457-3866 By NORM CLARKE LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL Frank Sinatra would be proud of what\u2019s happening at the Italian American Club, one of his few remaining haunts. Sinatra, who was a member,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7708\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}