Way, way out in the far northeastern part of Scottsdale is a grand Italian villa nestled in the shadow of Pinnacle Peak which houses a Southern Italian restaurant recommended by the America West (soon to be U.S. Airways, they announced on the news this evening) in-flight magazine called Sassi. "Sassi" is an Italian word for rocks or stones. The building is fairly new, but it has a definite grandeur and molto lussuoso design. Three of us—a solicitor, a judge, e io—made the lengthy trek tonight for our last dinner in Phoenix, and what an experience it was!
We were seated at a large, round table in the corner of the west side veranda for our al fresco dining experience, with a glorious view of the Arizona sunset awaiting us. With the sun going down behind Pinnacle Peak, the dusk was prolonged, and gave us nice silhouettes of the numerous saguaro cacti in the landscape. Our waiter, who is actually Italian, was very professional and helpful.
As we started with various aperitifs, I chose the DeFaveri Prosecco, an Italian sparkling wine. For antipasti, we nibbled on fiori di zucca, fresh squash blossoms which had been stuffed with a goat cheese and herb mixture, battered in a tempura-like coating, then deep fried to delicate crispness.
My first course (remembering that Italians don't count any of the appetizers, soups, salads, or what have you served before this as "courses") was a very tasty bowl of gnocchi al funghi. They found some very exotic mushrooms for the "funghi" that went with the semolina and ricotta gnocchi dumplings, bathing them in a rich mushroom cream sauce, and garnishing the plate with large shavings of pecorino romano cheese.
Scottaditi di agnello made a wonderful second course, with three good-sized grilled lamb chops from the local Niman Ranch perched on a plateful of saffron artichoke hearts and green Italian olive ragu. The chops were perfectly cooked and had such a fine woodsy taste to them I was strongly tempted to gnaw the bones! One of the other guys also got the lamb chops, and the other the pesce al cartoccio, a halibut steamed in a paper bag with diced vegetables and white wine that looked and smelled absolutely divine. I also got a chance to sample some of the zucca con noci, or slices of butternut squash baked in a wood oven with walnuts and honey, plus some other taste in the dish I couldn't quite place.
In lieu of dessert, I opted for i formaggi. The waiter didn't say what the cheeses were, so I'll have to guess that I had a fresh ricotta, pecorino, and a taleggio (though I'm a bit uncertain about the taleggio). The cheese came with a sliced green apple and another basket of the restaurant's very good assortment of Italian breads, including my favorite, pane pianto, some very thin, crispy, flatbread wafers. Other desserts at the table included a chocolate gelato topped with a layer of toasted hazelnuts and a tartufo, which I can probably best describe as a chocolate ice cream snowball.
I really liked Sassi. The environment was calm and luxurious (I've seen restaurant bathrooms smaller than the toilet stalls in this place!), the staff was attentive without hovering, and there was no pressure at all for us to vacate our prime table once we had finished eating. If one asked for directions to the facilities, a staff member actually escorted one to the room, instead of giving oral directions. (I suppose this also helped keep diners from getting lost in the large villa!) Prices were typical of a restaurant of this high caliber, so they weren't really out of line at all, though a diner should factor in the Italian tradition of what amounts to two "main courses." There is also an extensive, reasonably priced (reasonable is a relative term....) wine list which is heavy on the Italian reds, all categorized by Italian wine region. I give Sassi four and a half stars.
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