s restaurant's strategy is a comfortable array of Southern Italian cuisine that comes across as "fine" without being intimidating or priced into the stratosphere.

The room is small by comparison to many Vegas restaurants but it isn't exactly intimate. If there is one complaint it is here since two sides of the room are open to the casino and a walkway from the parking garage respectively. Expect a lot of gawkers watching you eat.

But luckily you'll be so engrossed in your meal that you probably won't notice or care.

The warm ciabatta bread served as a starter is baked on the premises and the pesto you put on it is "homemade," subtle in texture and flavor that strikes the "just right" balance. I'm more of a butter man myself when it comes to bread toppings but the pesto made me want to reconsider my stance.

Appetizers seem to fall mostly to the Italian side of the spectrum with an assortment of bruschetta, fried calamari, beef carpaccio, assorted sausages and prosciutto, and more available to get you started.

I went for the potato gnocchi, soft dumplings in a creamy tomato sauce with melted mozzarella. It's important to note that this is not always on the menu because they are very concerned about potato quality, which speaks highly not only of the dish but of their standards.

It was delectable, with the dumplings almost literally melting in my mouth and the chunks of mozzarella providing a chewy counterpoint. I had to restrain myself from licking the plate clean and then asking for seconds.

I skipped the wood-fired pizza section but if you are so inclined you can get sausage, meatball, salami, prosciutto, and a simply mozzarella version among others.

Ditto the soups and salads but there are plenty to choose from here including a basic Caesar, a chilled seafood, and a steaming bowl of pasta fagioli soup.

The main course options are equally wide-ranging. A few simple pasta dishes such as rigatoni with meatballs and baked lasagna mix in with more extravagant fare like beef short ribs in a red wine sauce, seared sea scallops, traditional oso bucco, veal marsala, and linguini with clam sauce as just a few examples.

I was tempted to go with the baked lasagna but ultimately went with the roasted pork chop. Why? Because it was stuffed with fontina cheese and prosciutto. That would ultimately be pork stuffed with cheese and pork and I don't know how anyone could pass that up.

The chop itself was thick on the bone, roasted to a golden brown topped with chunks of garlic and onion. Inside the meat was tender and juicy but that filling of cheese and prosciutto was the real victory here. Even though I knew it was going to be there, it still came as a delightful surprise, like unwrapping a really cool toy for Christmas and finding another toy inside that one. Melted to a generously gooey level and slightly tangy, the filling turned an already good pork chop (which admittedly can be a bit boring) into a great one.

The only disappointment in my meal was the side I ordered of parmigiano and garlic potatoes. These roasted chunks tasted as though they had been roasting about three or four minutes longer than they should've been, so they were a bit dry and the much of the flavor had been leeched away.

For dessert I went with the chocolate toffee cake, which I think should've been called the chocolate coffee toffee cake since it had layers of cappuccino mousse between the fluffy cake layers and the whole thing was rolled in crunchy chocolate toffee pieces. A crunchy piece of cake is disconcerting at first but I got over it because it was just that good.

Prices are high but not for a Las Vegas casino restaurant. In comparison to most nice places, especially at Wynn, Stratta would be considered moderate. Appetizers, salads, and pizzas are in the $10-20 range and most entrees are in the $25-35 range although a few like the lobster and oso bucco break the $40 barrier. Desserts are all $10. So figure with a glass of wine, an appetizer or salad, a main course, dessert, tax, and tip around $75 per person. It's scary that $75 is considered moderate in Las Vegas but there it is.

Stratta had a lot to prove and it does so with style.