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More often than not, when Americans think of Italian food, their mind instantly goes to pizza and pasta. While that’s an understandable oversimplification, Mora Italian has made a concerted effort to change the way people think about Italian cuisine here in the Valley. Owned by celebrity chef Scott Conant, Mora specializes in finding unique and cre...

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A Valley WWII Army veteran celebrated her birthday in style this year. Friends and family held a birthday parade Wednesday to honor Stella Srgo who turned 100 years old. As if that isn't incredible enough, Stella served as a drill sergeant and air raid warden in the Army, and also worked as a civilian in a factory making parts for the military. Ste...

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Medford's Italian sister city helped raise money for a donation of nearly $5,000 to the Phoenix-Talent Schools Fire Relief Fund, the Medford-Alba Sister City Association announced on Monday. "Our friends in Alba were devastated to hear of the Southern Oregon fires that affected our community," the Association said in a statement. "They immediately...

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Arizona restaurant legend Tomaso Maggiore, a fixture on the Valley culinary scene for more than four decades, died after battling cancer, the family announced Saturday. He was 73. Maggiore, who was born and raised in the Sicily region of Italy, opened Tomaso’s Italian Restaurant on Camelback Road in 1977. He would go on to launch more than 50 resta...

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Italian-American food company Saint Pasta, started by Joe Cetrulo and Racan Alhoch, gained a cult-like following after opening in 2019. Now, vodka sauce fans will be able to find the pasta truck in downtown Phoenix. Saint Pasta is planting the company's food truck at The Pemberton House, a historic home owned by Jonathon Vento and his real estate d...

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A tiny hole-in-the-wall Scottsdale pizza joint is getting a second, and much bigger, home on Roosevelt Row in Phoenix. Opened by Bill Forrest in 2012, Il Bosco Pizza quickly became Scottsdale resident Jeff Carlberg's favorite restaurant. In February 2019, Carlberg and his business partner John Dorsey bought the restaurant with plans to expand and b...

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Arcosanti has been called an “experimental city,” “an “urban laboratory,” a “caravanserai.” Seventy miles north of Phoenix, the 25-acre compound, built on a 4,060-acre land preserve, rises from the desert like a mirage. The project was the brainchild of “visionary” Paolo Soleri (1919-2013). Arcology — a concept combining architecture and ecology —...

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Fans of Food Network star Scott Conant's modern osteria Mora Italian in Phoenix will soon have a second restaurant where they can enjoy the chef's signature brand of elevated Italian cuisine.  Conant and his SC Culinary Inc. team have partnered with Scottsdale-based Creation Hospitality to take over ownership and operation of The Americano, an Ital...

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Phoenix's most famous pizzaiolo Chris Bianco has never shied away from making changes within his restaurant group.  Last year the James Beard award-winning chef closed Roland’s Café Market Bar — the restaurant he opened with the owners of fast-growing taco shop Tacos Chiwas — after less than a year, opting instead to turn the historic building that...

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One of the open secrets about eating in Italy is this: The food in the touristed cities often isn’t great. If you’re walking Centro Storico in Rome and pick a dinner spot at random, chances are it’s going to be underwhelming, even if you have a hard time admitting it to yourself. Or underwhelming relative to the top-end places to eat in the city an...

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