Saturday, June 4, 7:00 pm
Members $90, guests $115

Scottsdale, Arizona. Home of sun, golf…and fine Italian cuisine? It is now, thanks to Wade Moises, executive chef of Sassi Ristorante. Before moving to Arizona, Moises was chef de cuisine at Mario Batali’s acclaimed Lupa Osteria Romana in Manhattan, where he also assisted in the restaurant’s menu development. Before that, Moises worked at Babbo, the jewel in the Batali-Bastianich crown. Just in case you need any further coaxing to go West, Moises also trained at the Culinary Institute of America, has traveled extensively throughout Italy during his 15-year culinary career, and has received rave reviews from the New York Times along the way.

Situated in the shadow of Scottsdale’s rocky Pinnacle Peak, Sassi—which means “stones” in Italian—is housed in a stunning Italian-style villa featuring five indoor dining areas and an outdoor space with breathtaking views of the Sonoran Desert. It should, therefore, come as no surprise that AZ Food & Lifestyles voted the eatery Most Romantic Restaurant and Best Restaurant to Eat Outdoors, ScottsdaleMagazine declared Sassi 2004’s Best New Restaurant, and Phoenix Magazine gave it their Best Restaurant Ambience award.

Obviously, Sassi’s arrival on the Scottsdale restaurant scene last year has hardly gone unnoticed. AZcentral.com’s Howard Seftel called it “one of the most ambitious restaurants in Valley history.” Moises—who, after all, trained with the best—experiments with new and seasonal elements to bring a modern touch to classic Italian dishes. Seftel, who was taken with Moises’s “joyful enthusiasm for the flavors of Italy,” went on to rave, “The antipasti are superb, so good that you may not want to move on to the other parts of the meal.” Gayot.com, however, recommends an entirely different approach to navigating Sassi’s large menu: “Just close your eyes and point. You can’t go wrong.”

So if you’re tired of waiting for a reservation at Babbo, follow Gayot.com’s other sound advice: “Don’t even bother spending a fortune on airline tickets to Italy. Just gas up the car and drive to Sassi.” Of course, if you're not in Arizona you’ll have to shell out for the flight—but from all accounts, it’ll be worth it.