“The day you think you know everything is the day that you’ve defeated yourself.”
That’s not something that you would hear the stereotypically pompous chef say, but Chef Gio Osso of Virtù Honest Craft in Scottsdale is not the stereotypical chef.
He has racked up accolades, spanning from Esquire Magazine naming his joint one of the “20 Best New Restaurants in the Country,” to a James Beard Award nomination, to being named the 2015 Chef of the Year by the Arizona Culinary Hall of Fame. But Osso isn’t going to use these as an excuse to rest on his laurels.
“It’s all amazing. I’m blessed and honored by all of those things, but it doesn’t change anything,” Osso says. “I’m still just a cook. I still have a business to run with employees that depend on me. I still have responsibilities. I try to learn something new every day. You have to be willing to keep learning.”
He carries this humbleness through when discussing Virtù, which will celebrate its second anniversary in June.
“It’s great—the vision I’ve had actually happened. There is always room for improvement—it’s always in motion. But it feels great to know that we did it well.”
The vision Osso is talking about is his determination to bridge the gap between the two culinary cultures that he grew up between. Born in raised in northeastern New Jersey and spending his summers in the Italian region of Calabria, he experienced two very different cuisines: Manhattan’s fine dining and southern Italian peasant food. When opening Virtù, he sought to prove that he could change up the concept of “fine dining”—to serve the grounded, peasant food of his ancestors in an elegant, elevated way.
And he succeeded.
The aforementioned honors aside, Virtù was very quickly considered a “must” on the growing Scottsdale culinary map. Arizonans are quickly getting used to the plentiful fantastic dining spots, and the way Osso sees it, our Valley of the Sun’s culinary climate will continue to heat up.
“It’s booming,” he says. “The market and economy are coming back. There are a lot of great spaces available and the state is getting the attention, as a culinary powerhouse, that it deserves. Will it ever be San Francisco, Chicago or New York? Probably not. But it should be put up against some of the other, smaller culinary destinations.”
It isn’t just the number of restaurants that is growing, either. Osso points out locals’ growing hunger to try new and different things.
“The whole fear and playing it safe ideas are coming to an end. It’s something that I went out on a limb with, but the idea that chefs have to have a BLT or a burger on the menu instead of just trying different things is coming to an end.”
The menu at Virtù certainly is different. You can see a sample menu on their website, but for the most part, you won’t know what is the on the menu that evening until you get in.
“I’ve worked in restaurants where the menu wasn’t really up to me and it got boring and stale for the guests and the employees. Leaving the menu open to interpretation and seasonality keeps it exciting for us and the guests. It challenges the staff and me, but it allows us to try new things and to keep it fresh and exciting. I just don’t want it ever to be boring.”
Well, except for one item. You’ll almost certainly always find the charred octopus on the menu, and for good reason—it’s phenomenal. Almost immediately upon opening, the buzzword around Virtù was “octopus.” Guests, critics and reviewers couldn’t stop talking about how incredible the charred octopus at Virtù was and it quickly became the restaurant’s most popular dish.
When asked how he convinced so many local Arizonans, sometimes characterized by playing it safe, to try the tentacled seafood, Osso’s casual and approachable confidence shines perfectly.
“I didn’t,” he says with a smile. “People came, tried it and word spread.”
Virtù Honest Craft, 3701 N. Marshall Way, Scottsdale, 480.946.3477, virtuscottsdale.com
