In The Press
Jimmy Learns How to Make Rao's Famous Meatballs
March 26, 2019
Jimmy meets Rao's co-owner Frank Pellegrino Jr. at the exclusive New York City restaurant where they dish on its celebrity-filled history before heading to the kitchen to make Rao's famous meatballs.
LA Eater
January 31, 2019
The 16-ounce bone-in veal chop parmigiana at the LA outpost of New York City’s famous Rao’s (prounounced RAY-ohs) is big. Hang over the plate and $50 big.
Rao's: Frank Pellegrino's Harlem Hangout
September 2017
Rao's offers a glimpse of an earlier, somewhat grittier, cityscape in East Harlem, run by the late, great Frank Pellegrino.
No Place Like Rao's
November 2016
A legal tussle between co-owners (and cousins) Frank Pellegrino Sr. and Ron Straci has brought storm clouds to Rao's, the fabled Harlem family restaurant where many would love to eat and very few can get a table. But as the place turns 120, its patina--equal parts garlic and glamor--endures, while Pellegrino's son, Frank junior, has taken the Rao's experience to Las Vegas and L.A.
The Tonight Show
July 23, 2015
Jimmy Fallon gives actress Katie Holmes a Rao's care package.
LA Eater
October 27, 2014
Frank Pellegrino Jr. has a hard time getting into his own restaurant, the East Harlem Italian-American legend Rao's. The classic ten table red sauce joint is notoriously finicky about guests securing seats, but to hear Pellegrino tell it, that's due more to decades of loyalty than any sense of exclusivity.
Gayot
April 25, 2014
A coveted seat at one of the limited tables at the original Rao's in New York is only made available to VIPs and invited guests.
Sawasdee
February 2014
The hard-to-get-into NYC transplant Rao's, famous for its old-world elegance and uncomplicated cooking, is the new A-list haunt.
The New York Times
January 21, 2014
Seward Street runs through a patch of film production studios and empty lots in Hollywood.
LA Magazine
December 11, 2013
Whether it's pizza or Billy Crystal, Hollywood loves a good NYC transplant. The latest is Rao's, a West Coast outlet of East Harlem's 117-year-old Italian restaurant famous for impossible-to-book tables and celebrity regulars.
Vegas Seven
December 5, 2013
As a New Yorker I miss home; I only get back East once a year. Luckily, there's no shortage of New York flavor to be found in Las Vegas.
Vegas Rated
December 2013
It can't be easy taking over the reins of a restaurant that's been around more than 115 years.
Haute Living
November 25, 2013
The legendary Rao's, known for its award-winning Southern Neapolitan Italian cuisine, has finally arrived in Hollywood.
Forbes
November 19, 2013
A restaurant that is more than 100 years old is bound to have a few secrets. For Rao's famed East Harlem location that opened in 1896 in New York City, that might still be how to secure a spot at the impenetrable 10-table hangout.
Tasting Table
October 16, 2013
Walking into the new Rao's in Hollywood—the latest branch of Harlem's legendary old-school Italian haunt—feels like stumbling onto a movie set.
Inside Hook
October 11, 2013
Three scenes you'll see in every mafia flick:
The botched body disposal, the fatal betrayal and the one where the fellas take down a bounty of red sauce and stewed meat fit for a small army.
Only one of those scenes is worth recreating.
LA Confidential
October 2013
Taking over The Hollywood Canteen's former location, award-winning Southern Neapolitan Italian landmark Rao's brings its cuisine to town.
The Hollywood Reporter
September 18, 2013
Old-school Rao's – the notoriously tough-to-get-into dining spot in Manhattan – has compelled its devoted regulars, drawn from the city's intersecting spheres of politics, show business and the underworld, to head all the way up to East Harlem for 117 years.
The Atlantic Wire
September 17, 2013
The Italian-American red-sauce joint is making a comeback. And this time, the restaurants have a different clientele in mind, a group for which exclusiveness is key.
Zagat
September 17, 2013
Having grown up working in his family's restaurant, the storied Rao's in East Harlem, open since 1896, Frank Pellegrino Jr. (aka "Frankie") knows a thing or two about hospitality.
Urban Daddy
September 17, 2013
Mobsters. Cops. Meatballs.
Pitches concerning movies about mobsters, cops and meatballs.
Your week just got a lot more of... some of these things.
Forbes
September 16, 2013
If you are the Mayor of New York City, the Empire State's Governor, or a starter (benchwarmers take heed) for the Mets or Yankees, you have almost certainly dined at Rao's, and your photo may even be on the wall.
DuJour Magazine
September 2013
"It beckoned to us," explains restaurateur Frank Pellegrino Jr. of his decision to open an outpost of his exclusive New York City Italian restaurant, Rao's, on the West Coast.
The Morning Blend
August 26, 2013
TV clip from The Morning Blend in Las Vegas on Channel 13 which features Chef Fatimah cooking for Restaurant Week in "In the Kitchen."
Eater Vegas
July 25, 2013
Rao's co-owner Frank Pellegrino Jr. made steak pizzaiola with Jimmy Fallon last night on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
July 24, 2013
TV clip from Frank Pellegrino Jr.'s appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
Desert Companion
July 20, 2013
Meatballs
The secret: the perfect panade
Turn your home into a Rat Pack-approv ed red sauce restaurant with this classic recipe, courtesy of Rao's executive chef Dino Gatto.
Eater Vegas
July 8, 2013
Rao's released its latest YouTube video, this one showcasing bocce ball. Frank Pellegrino Sr. talks about why bocce ball is so important to the Rao's tradition; the original location in New York is located across the street from a neighborhood bocce park.
Las Vegas
May 3, 2013
"We wait every year for this," says Nicole Grimes, the chef de cuisine at Rao's. "This is our time. We can be playful. Everybody in the room is somebody, and we wait all year to do this menu."
Zagat
February 21, 2013
Looks like Frank Pelligrinio Jr. and the whole Rao's clan will be moving into Hollywood sooner than we thought. News slipped out like a piece of spaghetti that the famed...
The Daily Meal
February 21, 2013
New York staple Rao's, also known as that one place in that Jay-Z music video, or the restaurant that inspired Goodfellas, is finally heading to Hollywood.
Grub Street
February 21, 2013
Spanish Harlem institution Rao's is indeed opening at 1006 Seward Street in the Hollywood Canteen space, according to co-owner and managing partner Frank Pellegrino Jr., who says in a press release that the restaurant is targeting a late spring or early summer opening.
Las Vegas
December 23, 2012
When Nicole Grimes was a kid in Pittsburgh, her grandmother used to make baccalà in a Crock-Pot that sat on top of the washing machine, so the kids wouldn't trip on the cord.
Vegas Seven
December 6, 2012
holiday food traditions don't discriminate. They criss-cross the globe and resonate with anyone who has ever looked forward to a once-a-year dish. So when Nicole Grimes became chef de cuisine at Rao's, memories of her Hungarian and Polish grandmother's Christmas...
Las Vegas
November 4, 2012
It's been a New York landmark for more than a century, but Rao's didn't expand beyond its 10 coveted tables until 2006, when they opened a larger, more reservation-friendly restaurant in Las Vegas.
Las Vegas
September 30, 2012
If you can't score a table... Rao's consumer goods are the next best thing to dining there. An East Harlem institution since 1896, Rao's was the definition of exclusivity, the pinnacle of "it" dining.
What's On
June 26, 2012
A member of New York restaurant family—Charles Rao opened the first Rao's in New York in 1896 and the restaurant's Las Vegas location opened at Caesar's Palace in 2006—Frank Pellegrino Jr. brings his foodie family's summer grilling favorites to print in his new cookbook Rao's on the Grill ($35, St. Martin's Press).
Luxury Las Vegas
June 6, 2012
When asked about his title, Frank Pellegrino, Jr., among the fourth generation of the legendary New York restaurant family, founders of Rao's, jokes that he is "the head busboy because my work hasn't really changed that much in 30 years."
Vegas Seven
May 10, 2012
Go ahead, says Frank Pellegrino Jr., cut those corners. Bottled lemon juice? Yeah, it's in the fridge.
Vegas Rated
May 1, 2012
Just in case you can't get a table… It's only in the past decade that people without a hard-to-get reservation at Rao's New York have been able to experience the soulful, southern Italian cuisine that has been coming out of that East Coast kitchen for more than 115 years.
Las Vegas Weekly
December 29, 2011
Chicken Scarpariello
Perfect poultry and spicy-sweet Italian sausage swim in a sea of vinegary peppers and garlicky butter sauce.
FOX News
December 13, 2011
Inarguably, one of the most treasured facets of Christmas that celebrators relish this jingle-jingle, pine-scented, bow-topped holiday is all the great tradition that comes along with it.
Las Vegas
December 1, 2011
It's been a New York landmark for more than a century, but Rao's didn't expand beyond its 10 coveted tables until 2006, when they opened a larger, more reservation-friendly restaurant in Las Vegas.
Las Vegas Weekly
November 10, 2011
Nicole Grimes
Chef de Cuisine, Rao's (Caesars Palace)
Beyond Nicole Grimes' cherubic grin lies an East Coast toughness—a significant asset in managing employees who are, in some cases, more than twice her age.
Forbes
September 28, 2011
Trendy restaurants come and go, generating lots of media buzz and remaining impossibly crowded and difficult to get into immediately after opening.
Vegas Rated
September 6, 2011
Diners who want to give the pizza at Rao's a try will have to plan ahead. That's because Rao's only serves pizza during lunch - and they're only open for lunch Wednesday through Sunday.
Las Vegas
September 4, 2011
Bon Appetit recently released its list of the 11 toughest restaurant reservations in the country. To absolutely no one's surprise, the most impossible reservations remains at Rao's, the East Harlem legend where yearlong waits are not uncommon and Madonna was once denied entry.
Vegas Seven
September 1, 2011
Uncle Vincent's Lemon Chicken at Raos
As a mainstay of the menu at the original location in Harlem, this dish has some legacy.
What's On
July 12, 2011
Rao's opened in 1896 in East Harlem in New York City, with 10 tables and the heart and soul of Neapolitan cuisine, satisfying the appetites of Big Apple residents for more than 100 years before setting up a second location inside Caesars Palace in 2006.
Travel and Leisure
February 2011
The last meal is upon you. There's an 11:30 red-eye to catch. You and Jack are at Caesars, wrestling with a dilemma.