Rigatonys

Information may not be reliable

RigaTony's first opened in Chandler in August of 1994. It was my second restaurant, the first being Chops which opened five years earlier. Chops was a very nice steakhouse and was extremely popular but in my heart, and my actual genes for that matter, I longed to open a neighborhood Italian restaurant, the kind I had grown up with in Syracuse or had been enamored with when I visited Little Italy in New York City. Mexican restaurants have always been the staple of the Phoenix area but whenever I went out to eat I was always looking for that great home cooked Italian meal and I was usually disappointed. It is in bad taste to make disparaging comments about competing restaurants, but at that time, the Olive Garden was the new craze to get your pasta fix. The situation reminded me of a certain situation in Las Vegas decades ago, if I can digress briefly. In the late 50's - early 60's my grandfather ended up living in Las Vegas (I'm tempted to digress even further here to discuss that circumstance but that's a much longer story so I'll resist) Every year or so he would make a pilgrimage back to our home in Syracuse New York because he missed his family. When he left he would have my mother pack up boxes full of Italian pasta, sauces and cheeses, all the foods that were almost unavailable in the wild west at that time. He would pack the enormous trunk of his Oldsmobile to the brim and motor on back to Las Vegas until he either missed his family again or ran out of pasta. The selection and quality of Italian food in Phoenix had improved dramatically since the 60's but as I mentioned the Olive Garden was the high point, so at some point in the early 90's I started making notes about what I would do if I could ever get the opportunity to create my own Italian restaurant from scratch.
I frequently get asked how I came up with the name or the elements of the RigaTony's concept. I tried early on to just visualize what my restaurant would be like. The inspiration for my visual was to imagine that I was constructing and developing my restaurant in New York's Little Italy district. I would distill, and unabashedly "borrow" the best elements of those vintage Italian-American restaurants; the aromas, the culture, the music, the mood and most important... the food. Then, when it was done I would somehow transport the entire building to Arizona and Voila! I filled a notebook full of notes and collected family recipes over the course of a couple of years, even before I found a location for my dream. The RigaTony's name and story is inspired by my father Tony and all four of my grandparents, (including Grandpa Tony in Las Vegas) all of who immigrated from Italy in the early 1900's. I get asked if the menu story that I drafted in 1994 is true and for the first time I'll admit that parts of the story are true, and parts are... uh... enhanced. Having said that, I will never reveal which parts are which.
Our restaurant moved from Chandler to Tempe on April 1st 2010. We have made literally thousands of friends in the last 16 years and it was a difficult decision to move even five miles down the road, but our lease had ended and it seemed like a perfect time to find a location that would make dining at RigaTony's easier and more enjoyable. We now have virtually unlimited parking (I hear a big hooray out there), patio dining, a separate take-out area, and a little more elbow room in our dining room.
In addition you'll see a new enhanced ... style.. flair.. boldness - I'm not sure exactly how to describe it but you'll know it when you see it and that's a credit to my wife Chrissy. She's added a colorful energy to the RigaTony's look that I never could have envisioned. RigaTony's is by definition stuck in the past, but a little bit of progress in this case worked out wonderfully.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it... for now. Thank you for your interest and we look forward to seeing you enjoying the product of our labors; delicious home-cooked Italian food.