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.