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| - This place is the Hope Diamond of hidden gems! I grew up in an Italian household, so Italian food is as personal as it gets for me. And this place does Italian well enough to please my grandmother. My husband and I went for a romantic dinner, and we were not disappointed at the amibance of the place. The owner himself was seating everyone and while it was an air of elegance, we also felt really welcomed. Our waiter Julio brought us our menus and ice water right away, which was great because it was super hot out, even for Arizona. We selected a Chardonnay from Fess Parker vineyards, and because we had a gift certificate from restaurants.com, we opted to split a bottle of it. It was the first of many great decisions. For our appetizer we split the antipasto for 2. Incredible. Fresh veggies that were perfectly roasted, cold, salty meats, sweet rich cheeses, awesome! Their fresh sourdough bread was a pleasure to eat, with that just right crispy crust and light, fluffy middle. We both had the ceasar salad, which really prepped us well for our meal, as it was well sized and not overly dressed. I ended up with the seafood risotto and my husband had the baked ziti with sausage. We were stunned. First of all, they came out HOT! Not the luke warm-ness that's becoming too common now, but truly hot! My husband loved his ziti. He went so far as to say it's better the first baked ziti he ever had, which was on New York's Mulberry Street with his parents when he was a teen. My risotto had so many layers of deep intense flavor I was beside myself. Not overly full of seafood, but enough to satisfy the craving, the clams, mussles, scallops and shrimp were to perfection. There was small peices of shredded lobster throughout. The peas, red peppers and asparagus were done well, but not mushy and the rice was just al dente. The saffron lobster bisque broth was intense in flavor but let each aspect of the dish shine through! As much as we were enjoying dinner, we decided to take half of each portion (very large portions, so bring friends or a large appetite or be prepared to take some home) home with us so we could have dessert. I'm so glad we did. We had the vanilla creme brulee. You could actually see the vanilla beans in the custard. And it wasn't overly sweet. Too many are cloyingly so, but not this one! And it had a rather thick ring of the burnt sugar, which I liked, cause to me that's the best thing about creme brulee. The owner, as mentioned by others, was all over the place, but always making time to sit and chat with his patrons to make sure they were happy. Julio was fabulously attentive, not being in our faces, but our glasses were never empty and the pace was perfect. We agreed this is a place we'll be going to at least once a month, if not more!
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