LA’s Factory Kitchen Takes Over a Prime Slot on the Las Vegas Strip

The Factory Kitchen, a pasta temple and solid Italian restaurant located in Downtown LA’s Arts District, will take over B&B Ristorante inside The Venetian resort in Las Vegas, Eater Vegas reports. The resort ousted Mario Batali’s former pasta restaurant after the celebrity chef was accused of sexual misconduct. B&B Ristorante is set to close on July 27, paving the way for one of LA’s mostly well-regarded, but perhaps slightly underrated, Italian restaurants.

Restaurateur Matteo Ferdinandi, formerly of Spago, and Angelo Auriana, who worked at Valentino, first opened The Factory Kitchen in 2013, riding the wave of Arts District’s first big restaurants. They later opened Officine Brera a few blocks away. They hope to open inside The Venetian by the end of 2018, with Thomas Schlesser designing the 152 seat space. Notable dishes on The Factory Kitchen’s menu include mandrilli, or hankerchief pasta, though Auriana says they plan to add risotto to the menu in Vegas.

The Factory Kitchen’s Vegas expansion signals a greater move from LA-based restaurants over to Sin City. Roy Choi announced a project inside the newly established Park MGM while Ricardo Zarate took his former pop-up Once to the old Table 10 space inside the Grand Canal Shoppes. Meanwhile, The Houston Brothers will debut a nightclub inside Park MGM while Urth Caffe will take up a slot inside the Wynn. Even Water Grill, with locations in Downtown and Santa Monica, will open in 2019 inside the former Spago space at the Forum Shops. Finally, Wolfgang Puck reimagined and reopened Spago inside the tony Bellagio.

• The Factory Kitchen Brings Northern Italian Fare to the Strip [ELA]
• Essential Pasta Restaurants in Los Angeles [ELA]