Biltmore Fashion Park’s new Milanese import is too “mid” to make us swoon.
by Nikki Buchanan | Photography by Rob Ballard
Small restaurant groups from other states continue to open restaurants at a clip here in the land of sand and honey. One such import is Ambrogio15, a modern Italian restaurant in Biltmore Fashion Park owned by Milanese restaurateurs Giacomo Pizzigoni and Andrea Burrone. The pair own four Ambrogios in and around San Diego, including Michelin-starred Ambrogio by Acquerello, a collaboration with countryman chef Silvio Salmoiraghi. He and Pizzigoni are said to “lead” the Phoenix outpost – whatever that means.
Surely, they’re not in the kitchen the night my straightforward dinner order turns into a nearly three-hour odyssey of poky service and between-course downtime. I could live with the glacial pace if the food were amazing, but everything I’ve eaten here is a slight miss, beginning with hamachi crudo, each rosy slice topped with bitter grapefruit, basil-wasabi cream and pink peppercorns. It sounds great, but clocks in at merely “respectable.” Frankly, I’ve had far more vivid iterations at Virtù.
Creamy burrata Caprese, drizzled with basil oil and set alongside a mini tower of fried eggplant, tomato tartare, Dijon mustard and olive tapenade, garnished with a crisp-fried basil leaf, offers a light, textural riff on a classic Caprese. Not mind-blowing, but clever.
Ambrogio15’s famous Milan-style pizza, cooked in a rotating brick oven until the paper-thin crust is almost cracker-like, has an agreeably soupy topping of mild San Marzano tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, ground Italian sausage, porcini mushrooms and creamy Asiago cheese. It’s decent, if a little bland, and I’m reminded that Pizzeria Bianco is just down the street.
Oxtail ragù pappardelle is pleasant enough, but why is it barely lukewarm after we waited forever to get it? Meanwhile, the 48-hour braised oxtail itself is a practically nonexistent actor in the dish.
Crispy, panko-fried Italian tonkatsu, gushing with Asiago cheese fondue, is what might happen if vitello Valdostana (Italian veal cutlet with fontina and prosciutto) and tonkatsu (Japan’s pork cutlet) had a baby. It’s fun, but not exactly a legitimate entrée.
I want to love Meringue on Fire – a light, cool combo of raspberry sorbet, lemon jam, berry coulis and Italian meringue – but the rum that flames this dessert also overpowers it.
What a letdown after all the website hype about “Italian fine dining” and “pushing culinary boundaries.” Phoenix has plenty of great Italian without any help from San Diego or Milan.
Ambrogio15
Cuisine: Italian
Contact: 2502 E. Camelback Rd., Phoenix, 602-224-8001, ambrogio15az.com
Hours: Su-Th 11 a.m.-9 p.m., F-Sa 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Highlights: Hamachi crudo ($23); burrata Caprese ($22); sausage pizza ($23)
