Meatballs: The Most Important Meal of the Day

Vegas takes its food seriously — and that includes meatballs. You can’t get away with slopping ground beef, salt, and breadcrumbs together anymore. So let’s take a look at who gets it right.

Brezza

Nicole Brisson took inspiration from working with Dario Cecchini (a famous Italian butcher) when putting together her meatballs for Brezza at Resorts World. The chef combines two parts veal, two parts house-ground beef, and one part Heritage Farms pork sausage, along with fresh herbs, garlic, shallots, and sheep’s milk ricotta. The key ingredient? Lemon zest to cut the richness of the meat. The tomato sauce includes house-pickled peppers and poached Fresno chili for a pop of heat. The meatballs are so good, they’re offered as an entree, but a smaller portion is available during happy hour.

Monzú

Giovanni Mauro had Sicily in mind when putting together two meatball recipes for Monzú. The chef adds currants, pine nuts, and mint to pork and beef Palermo meatballs for a bright pop of flavor, served with tomato sauce and pecorino. The Foglie di Limone Ripiene is more like sausage, made with pork, beef, and lamb — and wrapped in a lemon leaf.

Gaetano’s

Gaetano’s focuses on quality ingredients when baking meatballs, crafted with a robust combination of filet mignon, pork, and veal — all ground fresh in house — plus grana padano and pecorino cheeses, Italian parsley, and caramelized onions. The recipe uses just 4% breadcrumbs — a sharp contrast to other restaurants that often have up to 30% breadcrumbs to cut down on costs.

Piero’s

Regulars at Piero’s, a Vegas staple for more than 30 years, love Pat’s Meatballs, named after a longtime employee. The all-beef recipe is fried in equal parts olive oil and canola oil for a golden brown exterior and fluffy texture to handle the seasonings, breadcrumbs, and parmesan cheese.

China Mama

China Mama puts an Asian spin on the concept with Lion’s Head meatballs. No, the meat isn’t from a lion 🦁 (The name refers to the lopsided shape of the meatball.) The kitchen braises pork with soy sauce, served with vegetables to balance the richness of the fat in the meat.

We have one more to tell you about — the beef, veal, and Italian sausage meatball at Carbone inside the Aria. Here’s the catch: It’s a secret off-menu item 🤫 But why stop there? City Cast Las Vegas reveals our favorite off-menu food items — even as social media threatens to spoil the surprise. [City Cast Las Vegas 🎧]