Corso Italia Restaurant & Market — Restaurant in Scottsdale

Corso Italia: A Transcendent Italian Feast in the Valley of the Sun

There are meals you remember, and then there are meals that rewrite your very concept of culinary perfection. Corso Italia, a jewel-box of a restaurant tucked in an unassuming location in the Gainey Ranch area of Scottsdale, belongs, with absolute certainty, in the latter category.

Run by a Bari-born virtuoso Chef Corrado, whose name deserves to be spoken in reverent tones among the pantheon of culinary greats, Corso Italia offers not merely delicious meals, but a radiant symphony of taste and texture, a crescendo of elegance and gustatory ecstasy that left me breathless.

Let me begin where all great Italian meals do: the bread. Dio mio! It arrived warm and crusted to perfection, served with an emerald pool of Visconti olive oil that is so delicious, one could drink a shot-glass of the herbaceous nectar kissed by the songs the Italian sun sings. But this was merely the overture for mean where every single item is made from scratch under the careful supervision of Chef Corrado.

Five of us shared an order of the Spaghetti all'Assassina, a dish so audacious, so unapologetically Bari, that that it sizzled onto the table with a crackle that felt like a drumroll. Charred to perfection in its tomato-laced deathbed of chili and oil, each forkful delivered a smoky, spicy bite that danced between danger and divinity.

I then had the creamy and fresh bufala, which arrived like a benediction beside translucent folds of Prosciutto di Parma, each slice a whisper of salt and time. Paired with a delicate carpaccio of gemlike heirloom tomatoes, the appetize was a study in balance, restraint, and the quiet power of impeccable ingredients.

For me entrée, I had the Hipoglosso Genovese, a halibut served with tender artichokes in a delectable white wine and lemon sauce. My spouse had a filet of branzino, served with sautéed spinach and parmigiano potatoes. Both fish dishes flaked like silk under our forks, the subtle flesh infused with the very soul of the Mediterranean.

One of our friends had the cavatelli special. Light and delightfully toothsome, it came crowned with impossibly fresh mussels and cherry tomatoes in delicate sauce that could summon tears.

Another friend had the lasagna al forno, baked between diaphanously light pasta sheets, and served in a masterful combination of meat sauce and basciamella. Each bite was a revelation, as though we had stumbled upon a forgotten Adriatic trattoria that somehow followed us across the Atlantic and across the United States, landing in the Sonoran Desert.

And the wine, the wine! The wine list is a triumph: esoteric, poetic, and unashamedly Italian. I nearly stood to applaud.

The cocktails, too, deserve their aria, thanks to a heaven-sent bartender who should lead a masterclass to teach us mere mortals techniques that mix balance and panache.

We concluded our meal by sharing a few flavors of gelato. Silken, intensely flavored, and spun with such care that the pistachio tasted like a sonnet from Shakespeare. The cherry gelato was my personal favorite—yes, even more than the chocolate, because it was mildly sweet, but not cloying, allowing the subtle flavor of the fruit to shine through with elegant restraint. Truth be told, all of the flavors felt like tasting summer itself on a silver spoon.

Corso Italia is not merely an Italian restaurant. It is a gastric cathedral to the culinary soul of Italy. I did not leave simply satiated, I departed shaken, humbled, and euphoric. This was, without question, the finest Italian meal I have ever had outside of Italy. Bravissimo, Chef Corrado. You have made angels sing...

It was just after 10 AM this morning when I walked into Corso Italia. I read in the food and dining section that this market restaurant makes their own pasta that you can buy also bread. They were saying that one of the best items they had was kind of like a pizza with cheese and mushrooms. When I asked about the fresh pasta, I was told it wasn’t ready yet and sorry. Then I asked about how about the bread with bread can I get for today and I was told you have to call me a day in advance to get a loaf of bread. I don’t remember reading that in the article in food and dining of the Arizona Republic. OK I’m gonna try the pizza with the cheese and mushrooms. From the article, I thought they prepared the dough right there, but he pulled down a package where the dough was already prepared for him and he spread on some cheese And mushrooms. This was a takeout for me so when I got home and I opened the box, it was sliced into eight pieces if you got either, end, you only got the dough and no cheese and mushrooms. I would say they It looks like it’s just a Schemer of cheese and three thinly sliced mushrooms spread out on the top. Well, I’ll eat the slices in the middle since they have the cheese and mushrooms on it more so and that part was actually good however, I think for the $23 that I paid for this they could’ve spread the cheese out almost to the ends and put way more mushrooms on it. So unfortunately, I was not impressed with the...

I saw this restaurant on a morning news show so my husband and I decided to try it. We went at about 5:30-6:00, no one was waiting, we were greeted by a nice young lady who asked if we had a reservation we said no, she asked us to wait a minute. There was a couple of open seats at the bar, we mentioned we were fine with that. The Maitre d/Owner I'm not sure who he was but extremely RUDE, came out and asked if we had a reservation we said no, he rudely says "were not taking anyone" I said the young lady said we could sit at the bar, he repeats himself "we are not taking anyone" my husband and I looked at each other in shock and we walked out. There were so many ways that it could have been handled better....how about: "I'm sorry we have limited seating and tonight we are full" or "Thank you for coming in but we are full tonight would you like to come another night"... The food may be great I will never know but the "greeting" sucks to put it mildly.... make sure you have a reservation...