In a city full of fine dining options, competition among restaurants can be intense. You can eat at a different restaurant here every night. To keep an edge to the menu, McCarty creates three or four specials every day. Chef has been really creative with them. We have a lot of competition in this hotel, and it's tough.
Windows give a view of the Hard Rock pool area.
The restaurant, which seats 120, features Northern Italian cuisine including traditional dishes in a Venetian style, he says. I caught on from helping in the kitchen. He attended Western Culinary Institute in Portland, Ore., and came back to Las Vegas where he worked at Rosewood Grill from 1993 to 1996. That year, he moved over to Mortoni's at the Hard Rock Hotel for a job as sous chef. McCarty was named chef of the restaurant in 1998.