| CHOW BELLA | t Café Family Matters A son reignited his father’s passion for cooking. Now they run a Phoenix restaurant. BY NIKKI MICHELLE CHARNSTROM I talian roots run deep but family ties run deeper for Chef Rocco Pezzano and his son Marco Pezzano. Bringing together childhood memories and traditional Italian flavors, the Pezzanos opened Sfizio “We had a lot of issues with help at the beginning. I was there pretty much seven days a week cooking. One week before I opened, I didn’t have any employees,” Rocco says. “I didn’t have anyone in the kitchen, so my plan B was to make two pizzas, two pastas, and two salads — I said that’s it, that’s all I’m going to do.” Since their humble start, the Pezzanos have experimented and expanded their menu to include a vast variety of appetizers, salads, pasta, pizzas, desserts, and most recently an original creation called Sfizini. “We’re proud particularly because it’s unique to us. It’s something that we came up with ourselves, and obviously named it after our own place,” Marco says. Sfizini is a vibrant and savory tribute to Rocco’s upbringing and his mother’s cooking. Always in the kitchen, she would craft a unique bite to eat for the family as a light snack before the main meal, he explained. She would often take a piece of bread, hollow out the center, and stuff the inside with classic Italian ingredients. Sfizini is Rocco’s version of it, combining freshly baked bread and Old World flavors Closed On Tuesdays 2003 BILLS OF $35 OR MORE Dine-In or Take Out $5 OFF Not Including Combinations Dinner Only Expires 6/30/21 2050 N. Alma School Rd., #36 • 480.857.4188 Nikki Michelle Charnstrom Modern Italian Kitchen, a from-scratch neighborhood restaurant in north Phoenix last summer. Holding true to the scratch kitchen motto, the Pezzanos pride themselves on Sfizio’s homemade sauces, pasta, and bread. “Italian cooking is not that complicated. It’s about the ingredients. That’s why we spend a little bit more time making our own pasta, making our own bread,” Rocco says, reiterating that a plate might look beautiful but its taste comes from the ingredients. However, the best dish takes more than the right ingredients and a chef with years of experience. It comes down to a chef’s love for their craft. For Rocco, the restau- rant business is the one thing he knows well and cooking is where his passion lies. “Pretty much everything I do, I put my heart into,” he says. After a long career as a chef and restau- rant owner, Rocco closed the door on that chapter of his life for nearly a decade. Then, years later, his son posed the idea of opening a restaurant together. In February 2021, they leased the space. In August, Sfizio welcomed its first customers. Chef Rocco Pezzano, right, and his son Marco opened Sfizio Modern Italian Kitchen in August 2021. to bring his childhood memories to life. Customers can choose between eight different flavors, such as meatball and mozzarella, Italian sausage, or sauteed eggplant, or pick a combination of three. Opening a restaurant has sparked a genuinely healthy and wonderful relation- ship with his father, Marco says. As busi- ness partners, they have found a new layer to their already close bond. “It’s an interesting dynamic going from being a kid who listens to their parents to now telling their parents what to do some- times,” Marco says. “I’ve seen a lot of maturity and growth in myself. I grew up from being, you know, a kid with little to no responsibilities to now being involved in this, and I really honestly look up to him.” Rocco and Marco recognize each other’s strengths and that has made all the difference in finding the balance they need to run the business together, the duo says. Marco, a current architecture student at >> p 30 Arizona State University, 29 phoenixnewtimes.com | CONTENTS | FEEDBACK | OPINION | NEWS | FEATURE | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | PHOENIX NEW TIMES JUNE 30TH–JULY 6TH, 2022 FULL BAR!
