Italian Restaurant on the Strip Changes Its Name in October

The Factory Kitchen, the Italian restaurant from restaurateur Matteo Ferdinandi, who formerly worked at Spago, and chef Angelo Auriana, who spent 18 years as the chef at LA’s Valentino, goes through a bit of a change in October to give it a bit more of a Las Vegas feel. Ferdinandi says the name will change to Matteo’s Ristorante Italiano on Oct. 4.

“Our mission is to take guests through a culinary journey through the Italian villages,” Ferdinandi says. “I recognized that the Las Vegas traveler wanted a name to reflect that.”

The restaurant with Los Angeles roots arrived in Las Vegas at the beginning of the year, taking over the former B&B Ristorante space on restaurant row at the Venetian serving traditional Italian dishes in a trattoria-style restaurant.

Ferdinandi relates a story about this family’s bakery south of Venice that’s been in service for four generations. “The name told the whole story. Along with the name came great quality. People would be waiting for bread to come out of the oven any time of the day,” he says. He’s applying that same feeling in Las Vegas. “Most locals know me by name.”

Inside, nothing will change with the menu or decor. Architect Thomas Schlesser of Design Bureaux created the look of the 152-seat restaurant the features a palette of orange and forest green with reclaimed wood tables. Art Deco-style light fixtures, concrete walls, and gray banquettes are found throughout the space.

The menu features focaccina calda al formaggio, a pizza-like dish, in three variations, as well as dishes such as mandilli di seta, a handkerchief egg~pasta with Ligurian almond basil pesto; casonzei, a pork sausage and veal ravioli with sage brown butter; modenesi, a prosciutto tortellini with mortadella, pistachio, and house made truffle butter; and agnolotti with braised veal.

Pan-roasted sea scallops, sautéed imported pink snapper, Mediterranean turbot, a slow-roasted pork belly, ossobuco di vitello, and bone in prime rib~eye steak round out the entrees.

The Factory Kitchen takes its name from the street it’s on in LA’s Arts District and the building where it sits.

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