Breakfast Beppo-ing at the Buca

With 92 restaurants (five in the United Kingdom), chances are there's a Buca dI Beppo Italian Ristorante somewhere you. Did you know that Buca, Inc., is owned by Planet Hollywood?

There are four Buca di Beppos in Las Vegas — one near the Atomic Testing Museum on Flamingo, one in Summerlin, and one at the Excalibur Hotel & Casino. Since summer 2014, there's also a hybrid Buca Cafè Italiano in the Bally's Hotel where I stayed recently.

(Stupid question here: If they're owned by Planet Hollywood, how come there isn't one at the Planet Hollywood Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip?)

Anyway ... The Bally's location has a simple all-day buffet, or one can order separate breakfast or lunch dishes for singles. The dinner entrees are sized to feed two. Since I was staying at Bally's, I went there for breakfast one day and discovered that they have a pretty basic breakfast menu, nothing very fancy or innovative.

I had New York steak and eggs. Unfortunately, although nicely medium rare, parts of the steak were a bit on the tough side. I should have ordered ham and eggs. It's too bad Buca Cafè Italiano is the only restaurant serving sit-down breakfasts at Bally's.

By the way, "Buca dI Beppo" loosely translates as "Joe's Basement" — "Buca" is a Tuscan slang word for "basement," and  "Beppo" is a nickname for "Giuseppe" ("Joseph" in Italian).