A slice of the Big Apple found its way to the desert when New York transplants Brandon and Michele Gioffre couldn’t track down the East Coast Italian flavors they craved. Rather than lamenting what they missed, they rolled up their sleeves and got to work. By November 2021, the couple had staked their claim at Phoenix’s Uptown Farmers Market, where they began stuffing cannolis, frying zeppoles, and making mozzarella. “I don’t think many people had seen someone hand pulling mozzarella, so right off the bat we took off,” Brandon explains. “In New York, you would see it in Italian delis and markets, but out here, it was something different.”
As lines grew at their market stand, so did their menu. Soon, the Gioffres were introducing fans to golden-fried arancini, homemade pasta sauces, pillowy focaccia, and specialties like ‘bocconcini al forno’ featuring their homemade mozzarella wrapped in prosciutto di Parma and baked in bubbling marinara.
But these weekend market appearances only whetted their appetite for something bigger. “We started looking at the business,” Gioffre explains. “Michele and I had been eating at all the different Italian restaurants out here, but everything’s different once you get past Chicago, you know?” He pauses, being diplomatic. “Not that they weren’t good; it just wasn’t what we were used to in New York.”
The couple’s culinary homesickness turned opportunistic in 2022, when they purchased The Blind Pig in Scottsdale. They initially kept the name of the neighborhood cafe while transforming the breakfast menu into “our Italian play on brunch,” says Gioffre, with lemon ricotta pancakes, cannoli cream-stuffed donuts, and an Italian Benedict featuring pesto, pancetta, and polenta. They added dinner hours, featuring dishes they’d yearned for, like clams oreganata, Chicken Scarpariello, and linguine con vongole. As word spread and their following grew, the Gioffres dropped brunch service to focus exclusively on dinner—although their farmers market booth remains a Saturday morning ritual for loyal fans.
But fate had bigger plans, arriving one evening in the form of a dinner guest. “I got called out of the kitchen because a customer wanted to say hi,” Brandon recalls. That someone was Frank DiMaggio, founder of MDF Development, former professional baseball player, and—yes—a relative of the legendary Yankee Clipper Joe DiMaggio. “He told me he and his wife regularly travel to New York because they miss that style of Italian food,” Brandon explains. “On one trip, he saw an Instagram reel about us and said to his wife, ‘We’re flying to New York for Italian, but could it actually be in our backyard?'”
The DiMaggios’ gamble paid off, and they became regulars, even hosting several buyouts at the restaurant. “Frank would tell me, ‘This is the best Italian I’ve ever had here,'” Brandon recounts. “One night, he said, ‘Why don’t I come in with my wife’s design team and let’s make this place look the way you guys really want it to?’ So they came in and did exactly what we were dreaming of; capturing the feel of the restaurants on Mulberry or Mott Street in New York’s Little Italy.” The transformation included a revamped back bar, nostalgic café curtains, white tablecloths, and walls painted in a rich chianti hue, illuminated with sconces and decorated with framed vintage prints.
The renovation provided the perfect cue for a name change that the couple had long been planning. “It made so much sense,” says Gioffre. “It all just clicked. I said to Frank, ‘Why don’t we call it DiMaggio’s? It’s a great Italian name with a New York connection.’” That conversation sealed their partnership, and in September 2024, DiMaggio’s was born.
The renovation also ushered in an updated bar program led by Jamel Ortiz. “He’s from New York too, and designed the entire drink program around the menu,” Brandon says. “He’s phenomenal.” Ortiz’s approach mirrors the kitchen’s commitment to scratch-made quality, with organic syrups and fruit purées and housemade liqueurs that would be right at home in any Italian nonna’s pantry. Those include limoncello and the coffee and cream liqueurs that star in his espresso martini.
These days, reservations are recommended for the dining room, which fills nightly with devotees clamoring for those early specialties that put the Gioffres on the map, including the bocconcini al forno introduced at the farmers market. They join newer favorites like the fork-tender Barolo-braised short rib, a hand-pounded mozzarella-draped veal chop parmigiana, and a lemon-kissed branzino (Mediterranean sea bass) that started as a special. “This is such a small space,” Gioffre acknowledges, “but we’re pushing out some really incredible food.”
For Gioffre, DiMaggio’s is the place where he taps into a gift that came long before the restaurant—the inherited wisdom of Italian home cooks. “My family is from Calabria, and these are all dishes that my family has shared for generations,” he explains. “I just think New York Italian is so special. We try to greet everyone the minute they walk through the door and then introduce them to our old-school, Calabrese, New York-style Italian. I hope they all feel like they just walked into our home.”
written by: christina barrueta | photographed by: luke irvin