Dal Toro Ristorante, Las Vegas

Pasta and horsepower. Though it may not be a run-of-the-mill pairing, at Dal Toro Ristorante the two are not incongruous. After all, if anything can get the blood pumping like the timeless rides of Dal Toro Exotic Cars, with which the traditional Italian restaurant shares an address (the two are adjacent to each other in the Palazzo Hotel and Casino), it's chef Fiorenzo Trunzo's Spaghetti fra Diavola. Sautéed whole Maine lobster and baby shrimp bathed in a brandy tomato sauce, sumptuous as a Rolls-Royce. Or perhaps it's the filletto roquefort, another star of the dinner menu, which pairs a prime filet mignon with a rich roquefort cheese sauce. Or the sautéed Mediterranean sea bass, oven-finished and drizzled with white wine-lemon sauce.

At lunchtime the menu takes a lighter turn, but day or night the setting for chef Trunzo's culinary creations remains the same. Marbled entrances and mosaic fountains lead the way to a dining room of cherry-red chandeliers and plush, red-and-gold-striped booths. Outside, wicker chairs line a patio located a mere meatball's-throw away from buzzing Las Vegas Boulevard. Once diners have twirled their last forkful, they enjoy complimentary admission to the car showroom, where they can ask the custom 1939 Studebaker about life before Interstates.