I’ve been in a satisfying relationship with Italian food most of my life, and for that very reason, it doesn’t exactly quicken my pulse. How surprising, then, to find myself a bit giddy about Sexy Roman, the vibe-y Modern Italian restaurant that opened in the W Hotel in Old Town Scottsdale this past June.
Created by California-based Alliance Hospitality Group (the same folks behind FLINT by Baltaire at the Esplanade), it takes over the former Sushi Roku space, which sat in hibernation for two full years while the owners and James Beard Award-nominated chef Jason Franey got the stunning décor and equally ravishing menu up to speed.
White tablecloths, table lamps, dark curtains and modern art lend a sultry supper club aura, while sharply dressed servers extend the kind of cordial but correct hospitality mostly lost to a bygone era. Martinis, which are ordered by pressing a button on the table lamp, are mixed at a tableside cart and, at the end of the meal, a cart is also used to prepare the restaurant’s tableside tiramisu. It’s all very ’60s.
Heavy, leatherbound menus feature modern takes on Italian and Italian-American classics as well as six different cuts of steak plus classic steakhouse sides – a hedge-betting ploy that presumably pays off nicely with this young, monied crowd.
Martini cart notwithstanding, the cocktail selection seems surprisingly staid for a place named Sexy Roman, so we head for the wine list, which specializes in Italian varietals (including cult classics like Marchesi Antinori’s Tinganello Super Tuscan), but also offers plenty of global wines and popular American producers. While we browse, we nibble complimentary seed-studded lavash and the long, skinny, cracker-like breadsticks called grissini, both accompanied by rich, Calabrian chile-sparked tomato jam. Even better for a bread-lover like me is airy, crisp-crusted focaccia, strewn with rosemary and oven-charred bits of tomato. Served with olive oil-drizzled stracciatella (think fresh, creamy mozzarella) and tomato jam, it’s wonderful and well worth the $14 price tag.
West Coast oysters on the half shell – served with tiny, adorable bottles of house-fermented hot sauce, fresh-tasting tomato mignonette and chipotle cocktail sauce – make for a bracing opener, while a second course of salmon tartare, dotted with Calabrian chiles and puffed rice, offers richness, heat and the crunchy counterpoint of the rice against silky salmon.
Dining and Cooking