Welcome back, Claudio!

By Michele Laudig It's official: Chef Claudio Urciuoli is back in action, this time as the chef at the signature restaurant at InterContinental Montelucia Resort & Spa, the swanky new resort under construction in Paradise Valley. He starts on Monday, June 2, and his new menu -- along with the...

By Michele Laudig

May 27, 2008

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By Michele Laudig

It's official: Chef Claudio Urciuoli is back in action, this time as the chef at the signature restaurant at InterContinental Montelucia Resort & Spa, the swanky new resort under construction in Paradise Valley. He starts on Monday, June 2, and his new menu -- along with the moniker of the still-nameless eatery -- will be available within a few weeks.

Urciuoli started off at Taggia, the Italian restaurant at Scottsdale's Firesky Resort, when it first opened. (I'm pretty sure we can credit his burrata and heirloom tomato appetizer as the trend-setting dish that spawned a local frenzy for creamy burrata.) He left that gig in early December, then spent a few months at Different Pointe of View, at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs.

This new job sounds like it might be right up his alley. Like Urciuoli, InterContinental Montelucia's executive chef Francesco Roccato is an Italian native, and considers himself a Slow Foodie. And according to Kirsten Schaefer, director of PR for the resort, Urciuoli was chosen after tastings and interviews with "MANY chefs".

Stay tuned for more details as they become available.

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