LA FAMIGLIA - RENO, NEVADA BY VEGAS FOOD NERD Located in the heart of the biggest little city Reno, Nevada, is this long-standing modern Italian restaurant aptly named La Famiglia. I had the opportunity to visit this local favorite spot towards the end of the pandemic panic. They had just lifted the reservation requirement and allowed our party to walk in with precautionary temperature checks. Our party of four sat in the center of the warm, chic environment. We were immediately greeted by our two servers and received four-star service for the duration of our visit.
We started with a couple of appetizers, their crispy calamari, which was served with a lemon caper aioli, and their spicy marinara sauce. It was a crispy, rich, decadent start to our meal. We then noshed on their take on a Caesar salad with fresh hearts of romaine, parmesan crisps, unami rich anchovies, and house-made croutons the garlic was so pronounced our tongues stung a little, in a good way. Up next, we shared a couple of their house specialties. First up, we tried their cannelloni which you can opt to have served with their house marinara or alfredo, or both. We picked the best of both worlds and had both. The pasta rounds were stuffed with organic ground chicken, ricotta, and spinach filling. It was a thrill to our tastebuds. The second dish was their take on veal piccata. Meltingly tender veal in a lemon caper sauce served alongside crisp-tender green beans and pasta. It was a perfect meal. The desserts, while tempting, were not meant to be as we had stuffed ourselves. This will definitely warrant a repeat visit.
JICAMA WRAPS FROM TRADER JOE'S BY VEGAS FOOD NERD
Trader Joe’s is now the number one grocery store in the United States. That is due in part to their wildly tasty named brand offerings. The Trader Joe Joe’s, in my opinion, give the Oreo a complete anxiety attack. And now their latest taco type wrap made from jicama is becoming a trend unto itself. Jicama is a starchy root vegetable similar to radishes and turnips with a nice refreshing crunchy texture. Use them for wraps that would make tacos, quesadillas, and lettuce wraps. Each serving, which is two wraps, are just fifteen calories, three grams of carbs, two grams of fiber, and less than one gram of sugar. Then you won’t feel so guilty when you pop a few of their delectable frozen monkey bread into your cart at the same time, and or that frozen gorgonzola gnocchi.