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Capazzoli’s Restaurant and Lounge

By: The Lady of The Night Out

Why should you eat at Capozzoli’s?

Living in LVNV means you don’t have to get on an airplane to savor the samplings of the Strip’s finest restaurants. But this town is also home to neighborhood haunts that serve four-star food in down home settings with not a tourist in sight (but maybe a big star in the next booth.) For the last 15 years, Capozzoli’s has been baking fresh bread and making some of the best seafood pasta this side of the Coliseum.

Who should eat at Capozzoli’s?

Bread winners. Owner Micky Capozzoli bakes individual Tuscan loaves for his diners. This bread is hard like a roll on the outside and yeasty, doughy, and delicious on the inside. The steaming white dough is pliable like putty and has enough density to stand up to its chewy crust. This individual loaf is swaddled like a newborn in a red napkin and arrives so hot you worry about singeing your fingers. Smatter it with butter: it’s a ticket to culinary nirvana.
Seafood and pasta lovers. There’s not a menu in town with as many seafood pasta permutations as Capozzoli’s. Select shrimp, calamari, mussels or clams to dress up some linguine or just order the seafood special to get them all.
Cannoli connoisseurs. Chef Micky makes his own. He doesn’t use ricotta cheese for the filling like most Italian-America bakers. He does it the way his grandmother did: he makes his own custard. This custard is as smooth as a calm sea with waves of vanilla and cinnamon. Taste one of these and you’ll never accept a ricotta cannoli again.
The doggy bag set. Portions are generous, so diners like me trying to protect their size 14 status usually take goodies home. The staff will shrink wrap your food containers so there’s no spillage en route. With the way locals drive on the 15, this should become a law in Clark County.
Music lovers. The restaurant has live jazz six nights a week. The music mixes nicely with the cuisine. There’s even a dance floor, morphing the place into a supper club.
Romantics. At night, the dark atmosphere is very romantic. Most of the diners are couples sitting close. The restaurant has a concert-grade stereo system that plays lots of Frank Sinatra.
Folks on a budget. The lunch specials are a real bargain. A loaf of that special bread, soup or salad, and homemade pasta, all for $7.99. You can beat that prize at Fazoli’s, but that gourmet fast food joint has a fast food atmosphere. Capozzoli’s feels like you’re eating in the Godfather’s home. There’s no lunch service on week-ends.
Diners longing for the “old” Las Vegas. The interior reminds me of the Venetian on Sahara; it has that Rat Pack look.
Nocturnal feeders. There’s a special menu after 11 p.m. The kitchen stays open until 2 a.m.

Who shouldn’t eat at Cappazzoli’s?

Snobs. This is definitely not the place to impress the in-laws, especially if they have to use the facilities. The restrooms look like they haven’t been touched since Ike was in office.
The fress-to-impress set. The food is down-home delicious. This kitchen doesn’t stock five kinds of exotic mushrooms. If you want state-of-the-art fancy, feast at Fiamma.
The Olive Garden crowd. Cappazoli’s features immigrant Italian cuisine. Chef Micky’s mother came from Sicily and his father from Naples. They cooked their Old World cuisine using ingredients they found in the new world. The Olive Garden, on the other hand, makes Italian dishes in a purely American style. If you like their pasta, this is not your place.
Folks on a budget. At night, the entrees get pricey.

Ok, so what’s the food like? My Big O Award goes to the seafood special pasta. I have never tasted a better seafood dish over linguine, even along the Amalfi coast in Italy. Capozzoli’s serves you a sea of seafood. Perfectly steamed clams and mussels on the half shell ring the huge bowl. These babies were just as juicy as the red sauce, which was speckled with dried red pepper to add some heat. The sauce was soup consistency and was equal parts tomato and clam juice, which give the whole affair a briny voice. A pile of toothsome linguine huddled at the bottom of the puddle.

The only thing wrong with the dish was the spelling of the word mussels. The mollusks have bivalves, not biceps. (This is your grouchy grammarian speaking.)

Don’t miss the mostaccioli. It’s penne pasta—the tube stuff – baked with meat sauce and mozzarella cheese. The meat sauce is meaty – not overwhelmed with tomato sauce, a common failing. The melted cheese serves as a flavorful grout to hold the whole thing together.

Every entrée at both lunch and dinner comes with either soup or salad. Capozzoli’s only serves one soup: its signature chicken pastini soup. Pastini are marble-size pasta balls that look like cous cous. Capozzoli’s makes its own chicken stock – it has just enough fat to give it flavor and gravitas. The chef squeezes a drop of fresh lemon juice to add a balancing tartness. Coins of fresh carrots and chips of celery gave the soup some crunch and texture.

The house salad demonstrates Chef Micky’s attention to detail. Every piece of the Romaine lettuce is torn by hand – not one brown edge on the plate. Chilled garbanzo beans and a pepperoncini provided interest. The house dressing uses olive oil and vinegar – no frou frou balsamic here. It comes in its own mixing urn on the side, putting you in the driver’s seat.

One of the most popular entrees is chicken Angelo. It’s a sizable chicken breast coated in a tempura-like batter and then deep fried. The lacy overcoat has a hint of sweetness. Artichokes and mushrooms give the dish a grassy, earthy feel. Whole black olives wake up your taste buds with their sass. The sauce is held together by rivers of garlic.

Dessert in the Desert: If there are no cannoli left, try the tiramisu. Capozzoli’s gets theirs from a bakery in New York. The mascarpone filling in this version is as fluffy as a cream puff. And there’s plenty of chocolate and rum – a winning combination.

Favorite waiter: Robert

History: Micky’s parents grew up in Detroit, where they owned Italian eateries. The family moved to California in 1959 and became restaurateurs there as well. When his parents divorced, Micky moved to LVNV where he became a craps dealer. After 20 years in gaming at the Stardust and the old Aladdin, he joined his two brothers to open Capozzoli’s, with investment capital from his mother. That was 1988. He has since bought out his brothers. All the recipes come from his parents.

Summing Up: If you’re looking for great Italian food without any fancy fanfare, Capozzoli’s is the place. The décor is old Las Vegas, including lots of Frank Sinatra on the stereo. If you long for bread like grandma used to make, you’ll find it here. Plus there’s classic live jazz to serenade you.

Where is it? On Maryland Parkway just south of DI. The street address is 3333 Maryland Parkway. The phone is 702.731.5311.

By: The Culinary Curmudgeon Lady of the Night Out

I love attending the symphony. But I always arrive late because I hate the cacophony created by the various instruments tuning up. The noise hurts my ears. Why can’t they do that before the audience arrives?

I have the same question for the musicians at Capazzoli’s. I’m trying to have a romantic repast with the Hausfrau and we’re subjected to those harsh, discordant tones as the band warms up. I have to shout at her to be heard over the microphone testing drill. (She really hates that!) Can’t these guys come in early to make sure the mikes work?

I ate calamari but I want to carp about one more thing: the band warms up while Francis Albert croons over the PA. It would be OK if they all used the same key; but that’s too much to ask. The resulting sounds are more grating than rap music. When I fork over big bucks for a meal, I expect to escape the clash of TVs and stereos that ruins meals at home.

The seafood pastas at Capazzoli’s are spectacular. But they have too much of one seasoning: cigarette smoke. Even though there are non-smoking sections, it’s difficult to escape the haze. Please separate us food fanatics from the heathens so we can savor the subtle flavors.

Capazzoli’s has the best bread in town. I now bring a pair of oven mitts to the restaurant so I can handle the steaming bread as soon as it arrives in its swaddling cloth. I love watching the butter melt into rich rivulets upon contact. For a restaurant that pays attention to culinary details – the butter comes from Wisconsin -- why are the butter pats encased in institutionalized waxed paper? I suspect that’s how butter is served behind bars. Capazzoli’s bread deserves better. Trick it out! The golden goo from Wisconsin should make a grand appearance in a crock inscribed with the letter C.

I’m all for immigrant Italian cuisine. Taking the best of America and mating it with century-old traditions is a recipe for divine dining. But the trick is to know what to mix and match. Chocolate sauce is generally not one of the main contributors. You ruined a wonderful tiramisu by drowning it in a Hershey hurricane. Like arches and aqueducts, there are some things the ancient Romans got right the first time.

Aired 19 September 2003

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