D.O.C.G. comes from Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita, a label for the highest level of Italian wine origin and the name of Scott Conant's casual Las Vegas restaurant. The restaurant is casual yet modern with exposed brick walls and a long bar on one side of the room. The menu is classic trattoria fare with antipasti, salads, pizza, fresh pasta, share plates and mostly meat on the grill and an assortment of side dishes. We were four for dinner on a weeknight and arrived early before the place filled up.
For starters, we ordered two to share: grilled octopus with chickpeas, tomatoes and basil plus the pork croquette, pig's feet stuffed in mashed potatoes and deep-fried. The pork croquette was crispy and gooey but a bit bland and could have done with a spicy sauce but the octopus was delicious - grilled firm but not chewy octopus over warm seasoned chickpeas. Our next course was their signature D.O.C.G. pizza of Fonduta, egg and truffles which was a disappointment. What could have been a fantastic pizza with the classic combination of egg and truffle was a letdown because it was served lukewarm. so when they cracked the raw egg over the pizza, it didn't really cook and just made the pizza less warm.
Things got way better though with the fresh pastas. We had the maccheroni with polpettine and home-style sugo and the cavatelli with sausage and Porcini mushrooms. The maccheroni was al dente. The sugo, a fantastic simple tomato sauce with meaty meatballs. The cavatelli was also al dente and the rich and chunky sausage mushroom mix was rustic and delicious. We also shared a salad of arugula with thinly sliced pears, Gorgonzola and pine nuts in a classic Balsamic vinaigrette along with a grilled rib-eye which was also a hit - perfectly seared and seasoned, charred on the outside, yet rare in the center that came with a towering side dish of hot crispy Tuscan fries tossed in Parmigiano and garlic. Pastas and meat on the grill is what you should go for at D.O.C.G.
To end the meal, we shared one dessert - three scoops of gelato with four spoons so we could each have a bite. There was chocolate, hazelnut and pistachio and all three were a real letdown - creamy but with not enough flavor to differentiate one from the other. Good thing that the espresso was a perfect shot of bitter coffee to finish the dinner. All in all a good experience and I would definitely go back for a bowl of fresh pasta and a glass of wine any day.
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at the Cosmopolitan Resort
3078 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas, Nevada
Tel: +1 702 698 7920
*Open daily for dinner from 5:30 to 10:30p.m.
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