Pips - Italian food with side effects

A free babysitter came into our home the other day, and so, Amy and I had an evening to do whatever we wanted. Unfortunately, there is little we wanted to do - insert old married person joke here. We did decide to eat and after only about one hour of "discussion" throughout the day, we decided to go to Aliante Station to eat there. Once there, it took only another 15 minutes to pick a restaurant. Pathetic, I know. However, we both love food, and hate to waste an evening on bad food. Fortunately, we picked Pips.

It would appear that when the Alliante Station was designed, they had in mind an upper crust type feel, a smaller version of the Red Rock Casino, if you will. Pips, is the fine italian restaurant that brings the comforting wine snob vibe to any fine gambleterium. We arrived a little after 6:00 pm on a Friday night. The place was NOT busy. I was slightly concerned, but also had heard some rumors about a faltering economy that could contribute to light attendance at what appeared to be an expensive italian eatery.

We were seated promptly in a very deep booth. It was so deep and wide, that your options on a date (i.e. two people), are to sit right next to each other and turn your head for the entirety of your dinner, or sit opposite each other and have to yell at each other all evening. Nonetheless, it was a decent looking place, if you like blackish purple. I assume it was suppposed to remind me of the millions of grapes that were heartlessly crushed to make their adult beverages.

Our waiter sounded like he was from eastern europe. Very friendly AND knowledgeable. Let me say this, waiters that have opinions are the best waiters. Our waiter told us unapologetically what the best dishes were. We ordered them and (spoiler alert!) really liked them.

Appetizer: We ordered Arancia. A ball of risotto, meat and cheese, fried and served with a

creamy tomato sauce. It was delicious. I forgot to take a picture, but it was as pretty as a fried ball can be.

Entrees:

Amy got the ravioli. It doesn't look spectacular (no sauce?), but tasted delicious. The ravioli were filled with braised short ribs and mascarpone cheese. It was delightful because it was not what you expect, nor was it what you get at Olive Garden.

I got the Half and Half. This was pasta dough divided into two portions. Half was cooked in water, half was fried. All of it was served with a fresh tasting tomato sauce with a bit of basil as a garnish. It was great. It had a simple but rich flavor with a surprising amount of texture.

Dessert:

We got the dessert menu and decided we should each get one. They were both delicious. First, the Limone. It was a dense lemon cheesecake-type dish garnished with mint. It was very nice. Lemony, cakey, fresh tasting. A good pick. (note: that is 18 karat gold leaf. I tried to peel it off to give myself a gold tooth, a grill if you will, but it was too thin)

Chocolate thing:

I don't remember what this was called, but it kicked ass. A rich chocolate cake, sitting in fudgy/chocolate and sprinkled with powdered sugar. It also came with a bit of hazelnut ice cream sitting in a pile of hazelnuts. It was delicious, rich and very enjoyable.

Pricing: Not bad. For an upscale place, we were pleasantly surprised. It was a bit more than your standard eatery, but not bad (otherwise we wouldn't have ordered two desserts). You can check out the menu here.

Overall, nice place. Friendly service, good food, reasonable prices (for the type of food you get). The place was empty until 7:00 pm, when it was suddenly full. I guess the early bird gets the worm at Pips.

Aftermath: Because the prices weren't out of control, we each got our own entree and dessert. That was a mistake. We both ended up overeating and, apparently, the food at Pips is designed to punish overindulgence. Amy still had a food hangover the next day. Next time we are sharing.