Photo by Chris Bassett

If you’re looking for a restaurant that serves delicious gourmet pizzas, then The Cove Trattoria at the Scottsdale Seville Mall is the place for you.  But this cozy little eatery is much more than just a place for a great pie. It has tasty salads, pastas and a wonderful wine list.

The Monica family, which includes Vinny (dad), Barbara (mom), Heather (daughter) and Daryl (son), opened The Cove Trattoria in 2002. They created a real niche for themselves in the pizza market with their homemade pizza dough and wood-fired pizzas that are baked in the restaurant’s on-site brick oven. “We are a family restaurant,” Vinny says. “We project that to our customers. And our staff is considered family, too. And that’s the atmosphere that we want to give off.”

The Monica family came up with the restaurant’s name because its location in the Scottsdale Seville Mall feels kind of like being in a little cove. The outdoor patio overlooks a small courtyard, and the indoor seating has a warm and casual yet elegant feel to it.

Although pizzas make up a good portion of the menu, The Cove serves up some pretty intriguing pastas such as grilled chicken and shrimp with pesto cream sauce on a bed of penne pasta or sautéed shrimp and calamari in a spicy fra diablo sauce over linguini. Pasta Rustica (recipe on page 184) was developed from one of their original pizzas, The Rustica, famous for its carmalized onions and goat cheese.

In the near future, the Monicas plan on expanding The Cove to include a bar area. With this expansion will come some new additions to the menu. And what could be better than more of a great thing?

Close-Up with Chef/Owner Vinny Monica

Vinny Monica, chef and owner of The Cove Trattoria at the Scottsdale Seville Mall, knows a thing or two about the restaurant business. After all, he’s been a part of it for a good portion of his life. “I enjoy the restaurant business,” he says. “It’s pretty much the only thing I know how to do.”

It may be the only thing Vinny knows how to do but does he ever do it well. The Cove is known for its wood-fired pizzas in the restaurant’s on-site brick oven. Vinny learned the art of Italian cooking at his father’s elbow in New Jersey, where Vinny grew up. His father owned restaurants in New Jersey, and Vinny was always a part of each restaurant’s operation.

When the winters in Jersey got too cold for Vinny and his family, they moved to Arizona. His first venture into the restaurant business in Arizona was a sandwich shop on Fifth Avenue in Downtown Scottsdale. He eventually closed the sandwich shop to open The Cove Trattoria in 2002, and it’s been a dream come true ever since. “My basic food philosophy is what my father always told me. Start out with great ingredients because that eliminates mistakes and give the customers a good price. That’s what I’ve always believed,” he says.

Q&A
Q: What made you decide to open The Cove Trattoria?
A: In Arizona, there are many different people from many different states, and I wanted to learn a little bit about what people liked to eat in Arizona. We wanted to open a restaurant that gives us the opportunity to expand our menu and reach a broader customer base so we could share our recipes and love for food in a casual family atmoshere. That's why my family and I opened up a sandwich shop on Fifth Avenue in Downtown Scottsdale. It was after the sandwich shop that we decided to open up The Cove Trattoria.

Q: Tell me a little bit about The Cove Trattoria’s menu and what drives it.
A: We have a variety of great gourmet salads – our favorite is the walnut and pear salad with homemade walnut salad dressing. We have a good selection of
pastas, which aren’t like any other rest-
aurants’. The chicken and shrimp pasta in the pesto cream sauce is one of my favorites. We also have a couple of nice fish dishes. And then, of course, the pizzas are done in a wood-fired brick oven, which makes for a great crust.

Q: What is The Cove Trattoria known for as far as the food goes?
A: Basically, we are known for our wood-
fired pizzas, but the dinners are begin-ning to catch on and become very popular.

Q: What kind of experience do you want your guests to have at The Cove Trattoria?
A: We want our guests to be relaxed – our restaurant is all about casual dining in a friendly atmosphere. We are a family restaurant, and that’s the atmosphere that we give off.

Click on the link for one of The Cove Trattoria's Recipes: Pasta Rustica

7001  N. Scottsdale Rd.  Scottsdale, 480-951-8273, thecovetrattoria.com