New Jersey couple adds Italian flavor

Lone Mountain now home to La Montagna

New Jersey natives Gina and Giovanni Sedita and James and Cheryl Muscaglione are bringing a little piece of their home to Las Vegas at La Montagna Italian Bistro, 4864 W. Lone Mountain Road.

Those who live near the area can sample a new, "definitely authentic" Italian meal close to their neighborhood, Gina Sedita said. She planned La Montagna to be reminiscent of her family's handful of restaurants, which have won awards in New Jersey. Sedita and her husband, both former restaurant owners, moved to Las Vegas a year ago. Gina's brother James and his wife, Cheryl, moved here six months later because James wanted to ensure his sister got the best authentic Italian meals possible to eat on a regular basis.

"We were restaurant babies," Gina said. "I had two places back east, and Jimmy worked in New York. I came out here for the weather. I was sick of shoveling snow."

All four family members had always been involved in some aspect of the restaurant business and found their particular niche could be very beneficial to people in the northwest area of Las Vegas, where there are few restaurants of its kind.

Business has been picking up as residents of Los Prados, an older-than-50 golf community that is literally right behind the center, are learning about the reasonably priced menu, which includes different kinds of pasta, stuffed artichokes -- a favorite in New Jersey -- and pizza with crust made from semolina flour.

"Semolina is yellow flour which most places don't use," Giovanni Sedita said.

Because the restaurant is located in the corner of the shopping center, formerly the home of Cafe Mama, the owners have seen some increased foot traffic. Nearly all of the people who have come in since La Montagna opened April 7 not only have raved about the food, but returned three and four times since, Gina Sedita said.

"It's definitely authentic," she said. "We make everything from scratch. It's family recipes with a twist."

In order to introduce people to the restaurant, particularly those who reside in Los Prados, the owners are offering a 20 percent discount to them starting in May.

James Muscaglione said his restaurants in New Jersey used to have crowds waiting in the parking lot for him to open, and he received numerous awards from readers polls taken by New Jersey Monthly magazine. He hopes to see the food as well-received here.

"We were open from 6 to 10 p.m. and we would serve 150-160 dinners in four hours," he said.

La Montagna can be reached at 645-9495.


<<--[back]