The Sparklings hard to define, but tasty

Our first impression of The Sparklings was that the place is more than a little incongruous.

It feels like a poker bar — a big barn of a place, tables widely spaced, located on a strip-center outparcel — but it’s not.

It feels a little like it’s a neighborhood restaurant, with homey (and attractive) touches like three breakfront cabinets tucked into nooks in the dining room and a wall of glass resembling residential windows separating the dining room from the bar. But it’s not.

Its sleek, stonelike tables, ample banquettes and several large communal areas give it the feel of a hipster gathering spot, but it’s not.

So I’ll treat it like a Cirque du Soleil performance, quit trying to figure it out and appreciate it for what it is: a restaurant serving a varied menu of well-prepared dishes in a pleasant environment.

I was tipped to The Sparklings by a former co-worker who seemed a little surprised by its existence, and after my initial visit I understand. Visually overwhelmed by the much more prominent The Lodge (which is a poker bar) at the opposite end of the center and with no apparent advertising, The Sparklings certainly flies under the radar.

And in many ways its menu is surprising as well. The list of starters has the requisite sliders and such, but this was a new one on us: bacon-and-date-wrapped meatballs with tomato sauce ($7), which we ordered just because it was so weird. Bacon-wrapped dates have reached cliche status, but bacon and dates wrapping meatballs? With tomato sauce?

But it worked. The meatballs themselves were tender, but what made them special were the bits of date — and just enough date — and generous amount of bacon wrapping them, the sweet and the salty/smoky nicely balanced and enhanced by the piquant sauce.

Brown butter gnocchi with butternut squash ($6) is much less unexpected, especially at this time of year since it’s a nice autumnal selection. This one was different, though, in that the squash had been diced quite small and both it and the gnocchi weren’t just napped in brown butter but sauteed in it until they were crisp around the edges for a lovely bit of textural contrast.

A turkey and cranberry sandwich ($8.50) would have been predictable had it not also contained a hefty slab of brie — sufficiently hefty for our waiter to sound a note of caution, just in case we weren’t enamored of the soft-ripened cheese. We are, though, Chablis jokes notwithstanding, and loved the earthiness it brought to the turkey, cranberry sauce and fresh spinach leaves.

The offbeat called us again with the spaghetti with mushroom and bacon cream sauce ($11), or maybe we were just in a bacon mood. At any rate, this one turned out to be not too far from a classic carbonara if you took away the eggs and added cream and mushrooms, again in a careful balance.

And finally, the flourless chocolate cake ($6, plus $3 with ice cream), which was just as fudgy as it should have been.

Service throughout was OK but could have been better. Our server seemed to have responsibility for most of the large room, and with a lot of tables filled, he did some running. The kitchen was working at a faster pace, and our appetizers arrived too long before our glasses of wine. He also attempted a fair amount of upselling, which may be management’s directive but can be irritating to the customer. At the same time, he was pleasant and reasonably well-informed.

Maybe somebody has refined incongruity to a mission statement.

Las Vegas Review-Journal restaurant reviews are done anonymously at Review-Journal expense. Email Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com, or call 702-383-0474. Follow @HKRinella on Twitter.