From Italy, in Love
Dynamic husband-and-wife duo celebrate 20 years of Marcellino’s
These days, one needs to simply throw a rock to find a restaurant that has a farm-to-table mentality. “Rewind to the 1970s, long before the term existed, and I was living the definition of farm-to-table every day,” said chef Marcellino Verzino, who grew up on a family farm in the Campania region of Italy, surrounded by lush rolling hills, olive groves, and vineyards as far as the eye can see.
Tragedy struck Marcellino’s family when he was just 12 years old. “We lost my mother. To help the family, I started cooking the majority of our meals,” said Marcellino, who quickly found he had a natural talent in the kitchen, something he would hone for nearly a decade before moving to Rome at just 21 years old.
In Rome, Marcellino found success first as a personal chef and then at a luxury seaside resort, where he was soon made the executive chef. Acclaim followed Marcellino for many years after that, leading him to open his own restaurants in Rome as well as Calabria and Abruzzo. “Through my work, I’ve entertained and hosted some of the most interesting and captivating people in the world, but none who stopped me in my tracks like Sima,” said Marcellino. “She was a recording artist from Manhattan working in Rome after being signed to a European record label.”
Marcellino met Sima in person on New Year’s Eve in 1993. At the time, he was the chef at Erasmus of Rotterdam in Rome’s historic center, and Sima was invited to one of his iconic private dinners. “At the stroke of midnight, we kissed, and have been doing do so every day since,” said Sima, who in 1996 became Sima Verzino when the two married in New York City.
After getting married, the talented twosome took New York by storm, together opening a series of successful restaurants, earning the coveted Award of Excellence from the New York Times along the way. “I took a break from performing to run the front of the house at our eateries so Marcellino could focus on wowing the crowds, and we worked in perfect harmony on the East Coast until 2002, when we visited Arizona to see some friends,” said Sima. “We never expected to fall in love with the Valley like we did, but the combination of beauty and opportunity overtook us to such an extent that we up and moved here just months later.”
Shortly after making Arizona their home, the couple opened Marcellino Ristorante in Central Phoenix in 2003. “Everything I do is inspired by my home country, and everything I do is from scratch,” said Marcellino. “Back in 2003, this was an anomaly and welcome addition to the culinary landscape, so much so we earned a five-star rating from the top Arizona food critic at the time, the legendary Howard Seftel.”
Business was booming, even through the darkest days of the recession, leading Sima and Marcellino to expand to a larger space in Old Town Scottsdale in 2010. “The expansion gave me the chance to design the restaurant of my dreams, using Sima as my muse. As a result, Marcellino Ristorante’s current location is intimate, romantic, and has character, just like her,” said Marcellino, noting he also personally created the eatery’s Old World-forward wine menu, which this year garnered its first “Award of Excellence” winner by Wine Spectator.
The expanded space also lent itself to a performance area, giving Sima the opportunity to perform again, sharing her gift as well as curating an impressive list of local musicians to perform on select nights, including Dave Ihlenfeld Jazz Trio, We3, world renowned opera tenor Daniel Hendricks, and Tony Vacca’s Celebrated Jazz Trio, among others. Her jazzy, funky, R&B sound coupled with Marcellino’s handmade pastas, fresh seafood, and ultra-tender proteins make the eatery stand out, even today, as restaurants with celebrity chefs and nationally recognized culinary groups open across Arizona nearly daily.
This year, in fact, marks Marcellino Ristorante’s 20th anniversary in Arizona. They have been marking the occasion with a series of grand dinners, nightly specials, and even bottled take-home jars of some of Marcellino’s most coveted sauces. Still on the horizon, the anniversary festivities will conclude with a restaurant-wide celebration at the end of October and a VIP wine dinner in November.
For more information, visit www.marcellinoristorante.com
7114 E Stetson Dr, Scottsdale, AZ 85251
written by: alison bailin batz | photographed by: marci symington