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| - In the chaos that was downtown Tempe on St. Patrick's Day, we stumbled upon this recently opened pizza and wine bar. A few parties were scattered across the restaurant around 6:30pm, but filled in quite nicely as we finished our meal. The interior is upscale without being stuffy. Floor to ceiling curtains hide the kitchen, exposed brick walls and mirrored dividers contribute to the intimate setting. The bar has a large mural of a 16th century woman which somehow remains the focal point of the restaurant without being creepy.
Our server was friendly and gave us plenty of time to be indecisive. We finally ordered the bruschetta starter ($12) which allows you to pick four out of eight different offerings. My group settled on prosciutto, goat cheese and spinach, kalamata olive with basil ricotta, caprese, and sausage with eggplant babaganoush. It's served on a wood cutting board with pitted olives. This is one of the best starters I've had in a while. Big thick pieces of toasted bread, cut in two, perfect for sharing over a glass of wine. The prosciutto and caprese were my personal favorites but all were a definite hit!
We also ordered a couple of Caesar salads ($7 each), which were decent but nothing extraordinary and a little over dressed, and three pizzas ($12-13 each): Prosciutto, fungi and sausage. The pizzas were good, each combination carefully selected with complimenting flavors. My favorite was the sausage, served with roasted fennel. The prosciutto had the right balance of crisp prosciutto, artichokes and capers. These two were a little heavy on sauce for my taste, but it didn't overwhelm the toppings. The mushroom pizza, a white pizza, could have been better by less white mushrooms and more crimini and maybe some chantrels.
The wine list is not extensive but carefully chosen and our Paso Robles Cab went well with all our selections. They were out of the Argentinian Malbec, sigh, it's my favorite.
La Bocca was a delightful change from the rowdy college scene of Mill Avenue, but at a price point comfortable enough for anyone to enjoy. We'll definitely make a point of stopping in next time we're in Arizona.
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