Las Vegas Weekly

June 4, 2009 · 9:22 AM

Hot Off the Grill: Rao’s wine collection and George Clooney at Rare 120

By Robin Leach

Rao's.

Photo: Neil Leifer

When RCA Records President Bob Summer entertained his music stars, he always took them to the legendary 113-year-old Rao’s in Upper Manhattan. Bob ate and drank there for 35 years and became friends of the owners. When he retired, he didn’t want to idly waste away in Connecticut, so he decided to go into the wine business there.

It’s now expanded so much that his Napa Valley grapes that are matured in French oak barrels in Connecticut are being used for his new line of Rao wines here at Caesars Palace. At a tasting in the Las Vegas outpost, Bob told me the Rao’s wines have been served for 18 months and will make their retail debut here at Whole Foods as of June 19. The Pellegrino family will be on hand for the first sales, and executive chef Carla Pellegrino will reveal a few of her Italian family kitchen secrets.

For once, Las Vegas is nearly last to get the wines at retail, as Bob has them already on sale in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Arizona and California. I can vouch for the thoroughly enjoyable Rao’s Chardonnay, and my pal John Curtas, who writes the EatingLV.com blog, raved about the Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Party host George Clooney

George Clooney was the first A-lister to take over the newly opened Rare 120 at the Hard Rock Hotel for a party, and the new restaurant is winning fans every night. It’s a modern steakhouse complete with a DJ in the lounge for music while dining. In Hard Rock-style, the restaurant reeks of sensuality within its sleek atmosphere accented with graffiti chairs, Italian leather banquettes, rouge-lit chandeliers and “living wallpaper’ that provides an ever-changing screen of images and designs.

Chef Jon Snyder uses fresh seasonal ingredients to reinvent classic steakhouse dishes with modern twists such as Kobe meatball lollipops, barbecued beer-braised short ribs and a miniature mushroom pot pie as a side accompaniment! It’s the first foray into the Las Vegas dining scene by the Dolce Group of Los Angeles, although its nightlife division has been involved with Rehab, Body English and Wasted Space at the Hard Rock. Dolce operates a $ 40 million restaurant empire in Reno, Atlanta, Dallas and Santa Ana, Calif.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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