When Sushi Roku at W Scottsdale closed in the summer of 2023, it was a blow, not only to sushi-philes but also to the pretty people who showed up to show off. Many of those same glamorous customers are likely to be back for Sexy Roman, a high-end Italian restaurant located in the former Sushi Roku space and slated to open in late spring. This will in no way be a casual red-sauce Italian restaurant dishing out the usual culinary cliches.
Inspired by Rome’s signature dishes as well as the quality and simplicity inherent in Italy’s many regional cooking styles, Sexy Roman is the handiwork of L.A.-based Alliance Hospitality Group, the company responsible for Flint by Baltaire in Phoenix and many restaurants in California, including Baltaire Steakhouse and a handful of diners and Third Wave coffee outlets around the Golden State.
Sexy Roman, however, is clearly an upgrade from Alliance’s many relaxed, come-as-you-are restaurants. There’s a glowing, black marble bar top, a soaring ceiling and herringbone patterned wood floor. You’ll want to dress better than the crisply decked out staff who attempt to accommodate your every whim. Press a button at your table and cocktails are prepared tableside from a nitro jet-chilled martini cart. For wine lovers, there’s an extensive wine list offering Italian cult wines, rare vintages and large format bottles.
Meanwhile, from the raw bar come dishes such as ahi tuna crudo served with eggplant caviar and harissa vinaigrette. COO Travis Strickland, whose many trips to Italy have served as inspiration for SR’s menu, says the don’t-miss dish is a playful riff on artichoke fritto misto, a classic Roman dish with origins in Rome’s Jewish Ghetto. Suppli, an antecedent to arancini, stuffed with taleggio cheese is, Strickland swears, like “eating history.”
Strickland brags unabashedly about the restaurant’s James Beard Award-nominated head chef Jason Franey, a guy he calls “a chef’s chef,” explaining he’s worked through a thousand iterations of pasta to arrive at lumache alla spicy vodka, family-style lasagna with short rib Bolognese and hand-stuffed tortellini lightly sauced with black truffle fonduta.
Dessert includes tiramisu, served in a copper dish and rolled out on a dessert cart, its espresso Anglaise spooned tableside. It all sounds impossibly lavish but very promising.
Sexy Roman will be open nightly at 7277 E. Camelback Road, and there’s valet parking for those who want to show off their cool ride.
