Mora Italian

Mora Italian

5651 N. Seventh St.

Phoenix

This review reflects the soft opening before the formal opening. Soft openings give the staff a chance to work out any problems and the kitchen to perfect their skills. The restaurant is beautifully decorated mostly in black, red and white. The open kitchen is fun to watch and there's plenty of wait staff. Music plays in the background.

Companion and I started with the bread cart ($8/table). Some excellent artisan bread with 4 different toppings available. Artichoke Bomba, Marscapone Butter, Roasted Garlic Spread, and Eggplant Caponata. All of the spreads were beautifully made, with muted flavors and yet with distinction. The caponata was truly amazing, and the garlic, which I expected to be assertive was very mild and mixed with cheese.

Next was the grilled octopus with ceci beans, small potatoes and cured olives ($15.00). I’ve eaten octopus all over the world, and never have had one so tender that I did not need a knife to cut it. The octopus is slow poached in olive oil and has a wonderful flavor.

This was followed by pork and veal meatballs in a semolina pudding ($11.00). Included was broccoli rabe and pesto. The meatballs were tender and sauteed just until perfectly caramelized and brown. A real treat.

Frito Misto was next on our menu ($13.00). Beautifully tender morsels of calamari in a very light coating, fried to perfection along with rock shrimp and served with but a wedge of lemon. No heavy sauces here to disguise the perfectly seasoned calamari and tender shrimp.

Next, cavatelli with braised duck and black truffles ($21.00). Perfectly al dente homemade cavatelli swimming in a sauce of deep braised duck loaded with a black truffle flavor. How does one describe the melding of flavors that are in this dish. For a pasta lover, the cavatelli is wonderful, and for a duck lover the duck and truffles are amazing.

We took a break with spinach and ricotta gnudi ($15.00). Gnudi are essentially the filling of a ravioli minus the pasta wrapper. I’ve never eaten gnudi like these before. The word that comes to mind is ethereal. So light and smooth that you barely know you are eating them. This dish was perfection.

Also ordered was the seafood pizza napoletana ($17.00) A very thin crust pizza with clams, mussels, shrimp, and baby tomatoes in a lightly spicy tomato sauce. I thought it was terrific, and I can’t repeat the words that companion used to describe it in public!

Desserts: A cocoanut cake that is enormous, a salted caramel with whipped cream, and a sherbert/blackberry compote. All of which were too big to possibly finish.

The kitchen sent out a complimentary foccacia di recco. This was a gossamer thin pizza which is best described as the ultimate cheese crisp on crack. The filling is stracchino cheese and sea salt perhaps with a bit of ricotta?

The restaurant is immaculately clean, and the bathrooms have to be seen to be believed. Essentially, each person has their own private little bathroom!

Dings - only one - the music needs to be turned down. Companion and I both left with the beginnings of headaches from it and had difficulty conversing during the meal.

5 stars for outstanding food, cleanliness, and excellent service