There’s surprisingly little lore connected with the restaurant, although its founder, Battista Locatelli, personified the American Dream. He came with his family to the U.S. in 1949, working his passage as a waiter in the ship’s dining room. The Italian immigrant and his family made a beeline for Southern California, where Locatelli continued his career as a waiter and also worked as a truck driver to support his family (a sister, brother, and two cousins had accompanied him on the voyage to America). Locatelli almost became a Vegas performer when his singing abilities caught the attention of a local producer, but the show closed during rehearsals.
So it was back to waiting tables and bartending for Battista, who also got the occasional chance to warble some tunes at his places of employment – the Bel Air Hotel and La Scala, an Italian restaurant popular with Hollywood’s upper crust. (For a rousing account of our intrepid restaurateur's career, which reads something like the voiceover from a '40s 'B' movie, check out this post titled "Battista Locatelli - Twilight Zone to Groucho to Vegas", which we stumbled upon in an eccentric blog called "Ill Folks" that celebrates obscure musicians and their music and which featured our beloved local living institution in January of this year, but we digress.)
It was during this period that Locatelli began making connections with the rich and famous. By the late 1960s, he decided to give Vegas another try and invested in a small bar a block off the Strip called The Dive, which he remade into Battista’s Hole in the Wall, opening in 1970.
Locatelli’s show-business friends soon beat a path to his door. Their visits are attested to by the restaurant’s informal wall of fame, which is plastered with countless framed, autographed glossies of everyone from Frank Sinatra and Tom Cruise to 1992 Playmate of the Year and Las Vegan Corinna Harney (whose signed Playboy cover has enjoyed a prominent position in the lobby). So heavily decorated is the restaurant in tchotchkes – including "the largest collection of miniature liquor bottles in the world" -- and dangling Chianti bottles that a looming moose head ("Moosolini") almost passes unnoticed.
Locatelli, incidentally, is no longer involved with Battista’s, having sold the restaurant to then-Harrah’s Entertainment in 2005 and retired. It was feared that Harrah’s would bulldoze the property to help make room for a Gary Loveman-planned metaresort called "Epicentre." However, the economy turned and the company was too deeply in debt to carry out the grand scheme, so Battista’s happily goes about its business to this day. (The strip mall in which Battista’s is nestled is nominally the Flamingo Estates Shopping Center. It was built in 1962 by radio station owner Joseph Julian and formerly hosted the Guys ‘n’ Dolls nightclub.)
Battista’s most famous fixture is elfin accordion player Gordon "Gordy" Jaffe, just shy of five feet tall. The restaurant hired him in 1981 and the rest is history. "He's been here so long, he's like one of the fish I hung on the walls," Locatelli told the Las Vegas Sun. If you want "Tico Tico," "Chicago" or the University of Michigan fight song. Jaffe’s your man. He took up the accordion as a child because the music store was out of xylophones (just imagine a strolling xylophone player!) and cut his teeth at the Town Casino in his native Buffalo, New York, playing in the backup band.
After too many cruel Buffalo winters, he moved his family to Vegas, playing various restaurant gigs until Battista’s signed him for what bids fair to be a lifetime gig. (There’s even a Facebook page devoted to Jaffe, but it hasn’t been updated in four years.) "The first night was like a movie script. The whole place was singing along and having a great time," he told the Sun. Since then, Jaffe has played his accordion for countless folks, both great and small, including Clint Eastwood and Liza Minelli. It’s a distinct letdown if Gordy doesn’t stop by your booth during dinner at Battista’s.
The paradox of Battista’s success is that it has been accomplished with (or despite) food that is generally considered mediocre at best. The prix-fixe menu (prominently displayed on restaurant walls) consists of a few Italian staples, a choice of salad or minestrone – the latter ladled at your table from a big tureen – bottomless amounts of house wine, endless garlic bread, and a very sweet cappuccino to send you on your way.
However, fans include celebrity chef Rick Moonen. In a Las Vegas Weekly essay entitled "Extra Cheese, Please," Moonen said Battista’s "reminded me of my dad taking the seven Moonen kids to the Italian restaurant in our New York neighborhood, which didn’t happen often. That’s what made it so special … comfort food at its best." Moonen described his salad as "impeccably dressed" and said the plates "were hot when the food arrived, a little detail that says We Care, and that’s the bottom line for any dining experience." He concluded by observing that "I realized I was well cared for here, without ever feeling rushed or like a tourist in my own town."
With fans like that, Battista’s should be around for a long time to come.
