Rao's marinara and meatballs

You probably didn't get unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks with it. Olive Garden is the real Italian food.

...and all the chefs are trained in Tuscany. You can't get more Italian than that.

Interesting, this recipe uses a 1-1-1 meat ratio. The cooking method is a little different than I've ever read but I guess it's not much different than my cooking the meatballs in the sauce stovetop. Also interesting it called for cheeses and no Parmesan. However I've never made a 1lb. meatball but I've had them close to that big.
A friend of mine (100% EYE-TALIAN) made excellent meatballs that were bigger than a baseball but not quite softball size,almost but not quite. One with a little pasta was a full meal. He also made some of the best chicken fried steak I've ever had.

We had a private chef's dinner in Tuscany a couple months ago. The chef was from Seattle.

Batali!

When in New England, I found a small eatery that made handmade house pasta and had lunch specials for 7.99 w salad and bread. Beyond great deal and was a small boutique style in a pricey cottage town. To say this was a great find is an understatement. I keep looking for a small eatery like this in Vegas. Any suggests. It seems all house made pasta places are high end dinner places. With family from Sicily, I am also very picky about my Italian so tend to not go to Italian restaurants because...Olive Garden. Lol.

Also in New York was a new concept place called eatology. It was heaven on earth. I googled that Chicago and la now have them, but would love to find something similar in Vegas. It is part food counters, part bistros, part coffee shop, part market. Very high end. It had cases w cheese in one, Bakery in another, meats, handmade pasta, soups etc. each in its own station. Does anyone know about this place and know of Vegas has one similar.

it is called Eataly. We went to the one in Chicago on a weekend trip and ended up going back two more times for gelato, groceries to bring home and another meal. We loved it. There isn't one in Vegas but there is one scheduled to open in LA. There are two in NYC, one in Chicago and Boston is also opening soon.

Yes. Eataly. I have renamed it in my mind and always forget the real name. Thank you. I know there aren't any Vegas. Was wondering if another similar concept was available since we sooner or later get most everything. I love that place.

We did a walking restaurant tour in in Baltimore a couple years ago and loved it. Balt. has more than crabcakes, there's actually a bit of a Jewish population but an even larger Italian population and the food was great especially the Italian. Several of the Italian places where we ate were mostly little deli type places, there were cold cases for the meats and cheeses, a small grocery type area and some tables where the patrons could sit down and eat. There were only one or two actual sit down restaurants where we ate.

Kinda got a little pissed on our last day. We had planned on going back to a couple of the delis and stocking up on munchies to take home. Our last day was Sunday (which I hadn't thought about) and the entire Italian neighborhoods were rolled up and put away, they're all Catholic and not a soul in sight, everyone's in church!