New Italian restaurant on deck to replace Sushi Roku in Scottsdale
If finding the next vibey night out is your Roman Empire, put the W Scottsdale Hotel back on your radar. The Old Town resort plans to debut Sexy Roman, a new Italian-inspired restaurant with a roving martini cart, this spring.The restaurant will replace the luxe, date-night-worthy Sushi Roku, which shuttered in July 2023 following a 15-year run. Se...
Montelupo’s New Sibling Restaurant Goes Old-School Red Sauce
As a young culinary student, Adam Berger traveled to Montelupo Albese, within the Piedmont region of Italy, to learn pasta-making from the experts. He brought that education back to Portland, rolling dough at the legendary Italian tasting menu spot, Genoa, and at his own restaurants: the beloved (and now closed) Tabla Pasta E Vino in Kerns, and Mon...
Allora Gelato brings a taste of Italy to Scottsdale, one scoop at a time
Scottsdale has a new gelateria, and it just might serve the most authentic scoop this side of the Atlantic. Allora Gelato, located off Scottsdale Road and Shea Boulevard, opened its doors two months ago, following a dream that owner Lalo Fuentes has had since trying gelato in Rome in 2005. “The main reason that we chose the name of Allora is becaus...
What Was In The Most Expensive Lasagna Ever Sold
Lasagna may strike you as a homey Italian comfort food, but there is no food so humble that the world of fine dining can't transform it into a bit of conspicuous consumption. That's why you can find chocolate pudding and beef tacos that somehow cost more than $25,000 a piece. You would hope all that money is all about making it taste better, but th...
Tao Group's new Caramella brings a groovy taste of Italy to Planet Hollywood
Tao Group Hospitality has left its luxurious stamp on too many concepts to count. The Tao touch is evident in all the little details: lush decor; intimate, if not outright sexy atmosphere; the unspoken expectation that you’re here to dine, but in a few hours you’ll be ready to dance. Beauty & Essex, Lavo, Stanton Social Prime—they all have those de...
Texas-Based il Bracco to Open First Arizona Location
Western Addition Restaurant Group recently broke ground for il Bracco, an upscale Italian restaurant in Scottsdale. The Italian hotspots will mark the group’s first out-of-state expansion and is poised to become a new neighborhood go-to. Slated to open in late 2025, il Bracco will be situated on the corner of Scottsdale Road and Rose Lane, within t...
Italy Shines at the Winter Fancy Food Show
The Las Vegas Convention Center once again played host to the Winter Fancy Food Show, serving as the stage for a grand showcase of Italian culinary excellence. At its heart was the Italian Pavilion, the largest international exhibit at the fair, spanning nearly 1,000 square meters. Featuring 101 stands, it highlighted the best of Italy’s agri-food...
La Stellina brings a taste of owners’ New York-Italian home to this resort town
When The St. Regis Deer Valley was completing their second phase of expansion in 2021, the owners also upped their culinary offerings by revamping RIME into a sit-down steakhouse. But they didn’t stop there: They also decided the hotel needed a more family-friendly option for guests and locals alike. That vision was the first idea for what became L...
LOMA Brings Modern Italian to Main Street
For those looking to explore a new culinary destination that honors tradition while celebrating innovation, LOMA, located on lower Main Street (hence the name), is not to be missed. LOMA is the newest eatery from Park City’s Adam and Meisha Ross of Twisted Fern fame. Opened in August, LOMA offers a fresh take on Italian cuisine, focusing on quality...
Seattle’s Best Italian Food
Seattle has an interesting relationship with Italian food. Other regions of the U.S. (especially the East Coast) have a long lineage of classic and homey Italian American restaurants founded by early 20th-century immigrants from Southern Italy, but the Italian restaurant heritage in the Puget Sound region is much more recent — as in, there are no r...
‘Top Chef’ contestant Gabriel Pascuzzi to open Italian steakhouse Bistecca
Gabriel Pascuzzi, the Portland-born chef and “Top Chef” season 18 contestant, plans to transform his 5-year-old Slabtown restaurant Mama Bird into Bistecca, a wood-fired steakhouse with Italian touches. Mama Bird’s last day will be January 26. After a brief remodel to add more booths and paint the walls dark green, Bistecca will open in the same No...
La Spiaggia Ristorante — an Italian restaurant gem in Ocean Shores
It sounds like La Spiaggia Ristorante has a fan for life in Cal O’Brien. With reviews like his, it’s clear the restaurant will add more loyal customers like him. “My wife and I agree this is the best Italian food we’ve had outside of Italy,” O’Brien said. “It’s on par with anything we ate in Venice.” O’Brien, a longtime Harborite, has been to La Sp...