Consider cookbooks with Las Vegas ties for holiday gift lists

Gift-giving season is cookbook season and this year Las Vegas is well represented with three cookbooks with local ties.

Mario Batali’s Las Vegas chefs will prepare a dinner at 7 p.m. Nov. 18 to introduce his new book, “Big American Cookbook.” Although Batali is best known for his Italian and Spanish specialties, the focus of the new book is on regional American cuisines. He’s chosen 10 recipes from the book for the one-night-only event for 40 people at his B&B Ristorante at The Venetian. (It’s $135, which includes dinner, cocktails and an autographed book; go to www.eventbrite.com). Among the recipes in the book (and to be featured at the dinner): corn muffins from the South, pierogies from Cleveland and Pittsburgh, cioppino from San Francisco, Texas Caviar from Dallas and Grape Nuts Ice Cream from New England and parts of the Caribbean. From Hachette Book Group, it’s $40.

The fourth cookbook from the owners of the legendary, 10-table Rao’s Restaurant in New York and the much larger offshoot at Caesars Palace was released Tuesday. The book, “Rao’s Classics,” with more than 140 recipes and a narrative that begins with its founding in 1896, captures “the magic of Rao’s,” owner Frank Pellegrino Jr. said in a phone interview.

“It’s a gathering place of an eclectic mix of people,” Pellegrino said. “Whether they’re a titan of industry or a mailman or electrician, people are able to connect with each other and sort of hang their cloaks at the door.”

The notoriously difficult-to-book New York restaurant has been “fully committed for probably two decades,” Pellegrino said, so the worldwide attention that comes with a Las Vegas presence hasn’t affected it much. But he said that once in a while, he can get reservations in New York for regulars at the Caesars restaurant. Published by St. Martin’s Press, the book is $35.

And Guy Fieri, a UNLV graduate who has a restaurant at The Linq on the Strip, has released “Guy Fieri Family Food: Kitchen Tested, Home Approved.” This is a cookbook with lots of comfortable, familiar recipes, and instructional cooking information. “Cleaning Clams 101,” for example, accompanies a recipe for linguine with white wine and clams. With recipes for bacon-wrapped turkey, Sweet Italian Pepper Poppers and Fieri’s award-winning Bacon Mac ‘n’ Cheese Burger, the book would be particularly appropriate for a young, beginning cook. From William Morrow, it’s $29.99.

A previous version of this story said that Mario Batali would be at a dinner to introduce his new cookbook.

Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Find more of her stories at reviewjournal.com, and follow @HKRinella on Twitter.