Blais is a restaurateur, James Beard award-nominated cookbook author, “Top Chef All-Stars” winner and “Next Level Chef” co-host. His fans can now try an “Italian-inspired restaurant through my lens” at the Grand Hyatt Scottsdale Resort.
La Zozzona, Blais’ signature restaurant on the property, opens on Wednesday. It’s among six restaurants and bars he’s conceived as part of the resort’s $115 million renovation, and the fifth to open so far.
The restaurant takes inspiration from its namesake Pasta alla Zozzona.
“I love that the definition of it is loosely translated as messy delicious or dirty pasta,” Blais says. “It’s one of my favorite dishes.”
But, he cautions that diners won’t find a traditional Italian restaurant. He hopes to root the new eatery to its home in Scottsdale, describing it as “Itali-zona” – riffing off “Cal-Italian” cuisine.
“It’s an Italian-American-Southwestern restaurant – dare I say spaghetti western,” he says, leaning into the pun before returning to a more serious tone. “We have to, as chefs, always respect the ingredients and the location of where the restaurant exists.”
Diners can expect to see ingredients such as mesquite flour used in housemade pasta or desserts, along with local dates and nopales to drive the “Itali-zona” cuisine home.
La Zozzona takes its name and inspiration from a dish that loosely translates to "dirty pasta" or "messy delicious," says restaurateur and chef Richard Blais.
Grand Hyatt Scottsdale Resort
La Zozzona menu is a pasta-steakhouse ‘mashup’
La Zozzona is “one part pasta restaurant and one part steakhouse,” Blais says. “I’m really excited for that mashup.”A roving cicchetti cart will offer an array of Venetian-inspired tapas, such as stuffed clams with pancetta and artichokes, or more familiar offerings, like crispy mozzarella, which Blais calls “a giant mozzarella stick.” The Italian-American starter gets cheffed up, courtesy of cheese made in-house and luxe toppings.
“We’re shaving truffles on it and (drizzling) chile honey on it. It has a really amazing, epic cheese pull,” Blais says.
Cheese lovers will also find a section of the menu dedicated to burrata, topped simply with pesto or more lavishly with lobster and caviar.
La Zozzona’s signature pasta is a rigatoni dish with guanciale, sausage, tomato, chili and pecorino romano. Other pastas include a stuffed lobster raviolo and cavatelli with black kale, chestnut cream and black truffle.
Rounding out the menu are wood-fired meats and seafood selections. Among the steaks is a porterhouse for two that arrives on an “altar” to be carved tableside, adorned with burning sage and rosemary. Catches include a swordfish “chop” rubbed with black garlic and lime, served with olives, cherry tomatoes and capers.
Chef Richard Blais calls La Zozzona "one part past restaurant and one part steakhouse."
Grand Hyatt Scottsdale Resort
La Zozzona’s dessert menu includes a tiramisu that comes out of the kitchen in a “grandma-style casserole,” Blais says, and is dolloped onto diners’ plates. There’s a good amount of pageantry in delivering and serving dishes.
“There’s a lot of these action moments that I like as a diner and as a chef to get my team in front of the guests,” Blais says.
The chef, who is known for pushing creative and cutting-edge techniques, says part of his inspiration is from the past. But, it’s also about finding new ways to get customers’ attention.
“We’re all locked in on our phones,” Blais says. “We need to create those moments in the dining room that are exciting.”
Guests will also see chefs at work via an open kitchen and a 10-seat chef’s table.
On the drinks side, wines are a focus. La Zozzona features a room of its selections, which are Italian-leaning, for guests to browse and taste recommendations from the sommelier.
The cocktail menu includes “messy martinis” that include mozzarella-washed vodka or goat cheese-washed gin. The restaurant also has a speakeasy-style bar tucked inside, a mellower counterpoint to the energetic lobby bar concept by Blais, Grand Vista Lounge.
The dining room at La Zozzona. Restaurateur Richard Blais says it's "probably the most gorgeous restaurant that I’ve built."
Grand Hyatt Scottsdale Resort
Tiki Taka, Blais’ final restaurant, coming soon
With the opening of La Zozzona, five of the resort’s six restaurants and bars developed by Blais are now welcoming diners. Those include the poolside escapes H2Oasis and Sandbar, Grand Vista Lounge and Mesa Centrale, an all-day Southwestern grill that offers breakfast, lunch and dinner.The final spot in the works is Tiki Taka, a restaurant that fuses Japanese plates and Spanish tapas. Tiki Taka doesn't have a set opening date yet, but it is anticipated to make its debut in the coming weeks.
“If La Zozzona is your uptown sort of area, then Tiki Taka is going to be your downtown, fun sort of place,” the chef explains, describing the forthcoming spot as more dimly lit and cocktail-driven than La Zozzona.
The menu will include sushi rolls, skewers of grilled meat, fish and vegetables and inventive tipples such as a frozen sangria that is made with Spanish wine and sake, and chilled with liquid nitrogen.
”I do think that there is some clause in all of my contracts that a Richard Blais restaurant has to feature ‘x amount of liquid nitrogen,’” Blais jokes.
As the chef nears completion of this bloc of restaurants at the Grand Hyatt in Scottsdale, he calls it a “pinch-me moment.”
“There’s already so much great food here and so many great chefs,” he says of the Grand Canyon State. "I've always loved Arizona."
