Rao's Hollywood Debuts This Summer

Rao's Vegas, just like Rao's NY

By Lesley Balla

Looks like Frank Pelligrinio Jr. and the whole Rao's clan will be moving into Hollywood sooner than we thought. News slipped out like a piece of spaghetti that the famed East Harlem restaurant - around for more than 100 years, only 10 tables in the joint, impossible to get into, "connected" - plans to open in the former Hollywood Canteen spot on Seward, and it will be here around late spring/early summer. “The people of Southern California represent a large portion of our guests in Las Vegas, and many have become good friends of ours. We can’t wait to have a Rao’s in their backyard to call home," Pelligrino says in a release.

This is the second Western expansion for the group: A double-sided outpost opened in Caesars Palace in Las Vegas several years ago, a great place to stop for a martini, a plate of meatballs and stories from the someone named Johnny the Vest. It's nowhere near as difficult to get a table there than at the original, mostly because there are two dining rooms (exact replicas of the original), with a huge bar and an outdoor patio next to a bocce court. The LA Rao's will be somewhere in between the two, with about 95 seats and indoor and outdoor seating.

The plan is to open six days a week for dinner, with the tradtional offerings like the legendary meatballs and lemon chicken, but also more "contemporary dishes created specifically for this location." Hope that doesn't mean low-carb pasta. We'll keep you posted.