Be at peace, club kids. That 3 a.m. slice isn’t going anywhere.
Mulberry Street Pizzeria in Resorts World on the Las Vegas Strip shuttered Monday after five years, following social media wailing in early September when news of the closing emerged. The lamentation included folks who said they would miss hitting Mulberry Street for a booze-soak (aka, pizza) after stumbling out of Zouk Nightclub next door.
But where booze-soaks once flourished, they will flourish again, as Amici New York Pizzeria replaces Mulberry Street with its Friday debut (and weekend hours until 4 a.m.). Mulberry Street was an outpost of the longtime Los Angeles pizzeria. Amici, by contrast, is a spot created and operated by Resorts World, reflecting a shift in approach at the property.
“We are definitely focused on pulling more concepts in-house,” said Josef Wagner, senior vice president of operations at Resorts World.
“Having a pizzeria in a hotel is like having ice cream,” added David Werly, property executive chef, on the decision to continue with a pizzeria in the space. “It’s not a question of if but where.”
Dough matters
Werly and Ricky McCormick, executive chef of Amici (“friends” in Italian), developed the menu, one anchored by a new dough recipe that incorporates 48-hour fermentation after 24-hour and 72-hour ferments were also tested.
“One day was not enough to develop crispness and flavor,” Werly said. “Three days was too much on the edge — it just might overproof. We found out two days was best to create a nice, beautiful lift to crisp it up enough.”
The pizzaioli fashion the dough into New York-inspired pies that are bit sturdier, with a more substantial cornice, than classic New York versions. The 22-inch pies, sold whole or by the slice, are heavy, as a cup-and-char pepperoni pizza with Pecorino-Romano amply demonstrates.
Six other New-York style pizzas offer a host of toppings: vegetarian, four-cheese, burrata and prosciutto di Parma, Italian sausage and beef meatball with hot honey, beef meatball with ricotta, and a supreme edition calling on mozzarella, pepperoni, Italian sausage, mushrooms, onions, green peppers and Parmesan.
The final New York option, dubbed The Sampler, combines any of the other pizza flavors in one pie, with the toppings arranged by slice “so everybody can have a slice they have chosen for themselves,” Wagner said.
New York to Detroit
A pair of Detroit-style pies, an item not offered at Mulberry Street, also make the menu at Amici, in configurations — buffalo chicken, bacon cheeseburger — that are not traditional. “We wanted to have a little more fun,” Werly said.
What is traditional are the rectangular metal pans the pizzas are baked in and the concern for proper deployment of cheese so that it bakes against the sides of the pan, creating essential crisp edges without burning.
Like its New York-style sibling, a bacon cheeseburger slice carries some heft, its weight and thickness tempting some to the uncool use of knife and fork. The slice tastes like its namesake.
Garlic knots, a Caesar salad, and cannoli stuffed with ricotta and chocolate shavings and crowned by a maraschino cherry round out the food menu. On the beverage side of the ledger, there is beer, house red and white Italian wine, and an Amalfi lemon sgroppino, a lively slush of lemon sorbet, vodka and prosecco.
Collabs ahead
The Amici menu will also be served at RedTail sports bar, across the way from the pizzeria, and through the resort’s mobile-pay in-room dining. “This opens up the pizza internally and creates new customers,” Wagner said.
Amici would also play a part, Wagner and Werly said, in Savor Society, the Resorts World program that variously features visits by celebrated chefs and beverage professionals, pop-ups and residencies, and ongoing pairings, tastings and culinary instruction.
For Amici, that might mean collaborations with some of the country’s leading pizzaioli and pizzerias to showcase their knowledge, techniques and flavors.
Amici will be open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursdays, 11 to 4 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays and Mondays. The pizzeria launches at 11 a.m. Friday. Visit rwlasvegas.com.
Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram.
Dining and Cooking