In late May, a new family-owned neighborhood restaurant opened in Southern Highlands, the tony master-planned community known for its distant location and high growth in new homebuilding … and for not having enough neighborhood restaurants.
“It’s an amazing community, really interesting and different,” says Michael Morton, who opened Nudo Italiano with wife and partner Jenna Morton and their company’s longtime head chef, William DeMarco.
“It’s a real community. The people are so friendly and neighborly, and we feel so at home,” adds Jenna. “Even in just the first month, we felt like we had regulars and we were getting to know them. When you’re used to being in Strip properties with regulars who come twice a year, then here it’s multiple times per week, it’s so fun to greet people you’ve come to know in a short period of time.”
The Mortons also operate La Cave at Wynn, One Steakhouse at Virgin Hotels and Crush at MGM Grand. They originally planned to debut Nudo in an Arts District building they own, but the design and experience they had in mind didn’t feel like a perfect fit right now in Downtown Las Vegas.
“Here, we have floor-to-ceiling windows all around the dining room, and now that it’s October we can really open up the entire restaurant,” Michael explains. “It’s got such a great feeling. There’s an outdoor patio that seats 20 and feels really connected. And we just rolled out brunch every Saturday and Sunday.”
They’ve been wanting to open a new Italian concept for years, and once operated the great Nove at the Palms. But Nudo is different, a restaurant designed to be completely approachable, from the atmosphere to the food and drink prices. Jenna says the approach is inspired by the family’s travels and recognizing special moments that remind them “this is what a restaurant is supposed to be about. Let’s do this.”
The results include focaccia made in-house and baked fresh daily, handmade pasta dishes like veal ragu pappardelle ($22) and shrimp scampi bucatini ($24), and wood oven-roasted meatballs ($15) that somehow end up on everyone’s table.
There’s also authentic Neapolitan pizzas ($16-$18), yellowtail crudo with pistachio and mint ($21), and steak and seafood dishes that could easily be shared with a pasta or pizza. Dessert gets playful with cheesecake “spaghetti and meatballs” (actually, white and dark chocolate is involved) and a peach cobbler spin on a dessert pizza ($12). And the new brunch menu has some quick highlights in short rib hash ($24), a carbonara-style pizza ($18) and Pane Francese ($15), a French toast bread pudding topped with poached peaches and macadamia nuts.
“This is the food we love to eat, and we probably eat there three or four days a week, which is hard to do with most cuisines,” Michael says. “We’re just really happy with how it came out.”
NUDO ITALIANO 4390 W. Cactus Ave., 702-848-6836, nudolv.com. Sunday-Thursday, 4-9 p.m.; Friday & Saturday, 4-10 p.m.; brunch, Saturday & Sunday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
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Dining and Cooking