Franco Fazzuoli moved to New York when he was 30 from Florence, Italy, where he worked in the restaurant business.
Today, his daughter, Leela Fazzouli, helps to continue the traditions he started at Franco’s Italian Caffe.
“He worked a ton of jobs as a new immigrant,” she recalled.
“He barely spoke English at the time. He saved up money and opened his first restaurant and became a U.S. citizen. He had four restaurants in New York and then moved to Arizona in 1987.”
Once he was in Arizona, he opened more restaurants.
Fazzuoli said her father opened the restaurants one at a time. The first two in Scottsdale were called Franco’s Trattoria. Then it changed to Franco’s Italian Caffe, where Franco partnered with Steve Martin, also a chef from New York, with locations in Phoenix and Scottsdale.
The current location at 4327 N. Scottsdale Road in Old Town has been open for 13 years.
The chefs incorporated Tuscan recipes from Franco’s mother.
“Franco learned how to cook in Italy from his mom and different places he worked,” said Fazzuoli. “He brought that with him.”
Martin visited Florence and stayed with Franco’s mother to learn her style of Tuscan cooking.
The popularity and longevity of the restaurant have to do with quality, according to Fazzuoli.
“That’s always been super-important to him,” she said. “You try to make money but that’s never been Franco’s first goal. It has always been what he’s giving to the people and their experience over making money for the sake of making money.”
The popular menu items include the Steak Fiorentina, the porterhouse and the Paste Erbe Aromatiche. “Everyone loves that one.”
The Merenghata with meringue and a whipped cream filling is a favorite dessert among customers. Other homemade desserts include tiramisu, chocolate cake and cheesecake.
Everything is made in-house or imported from Italy.
The restaurant is open only for dinner and reopens from a summer break on July 27. summer until July 27.
Information: francosscottsdale.com, 480-481-7614.