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The Arcadia News features restaurant reviews each month.
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Franco's Italian Café
2501 E. Camelback Road, 602-381-1155

The summer is hard on restaurants, especially if you serve Italian food. I don’t know about most of you, but once I am safely tucked away inside my 60 degree home, it’s hard for me to get excited about going back out into the traumatic heat to go and eat garlic bread.

Thankfully there is so much more at Franco’s Italian Café. The term “Café” has taken on some latitude over the years. I always thought it was a term for a small restaurant which served coffee and a few limited items. Franco’s has redefined the term with a much larger selection and seating to accommodate every mortgage broker in the greater valley, should the need arise.

First of all, Franco’s should be honored for its Blue Seas Salad of Shrimp, Albacore, and Mussels with Mixed Greens and Lemon Vinaigrette ($9.50). This is a meal in itself; it is cool and fresh and goes great with a cold glass of wine but I like it with a tall glass of tomato juice on ice; to each their own. The Veal Piccata ($16.50) is another good choice. It’s light and citric with lemon butter, wine and capers. You can accompany it with several sides which are available to the entire entrée menu. My choice was the Tomato Basil Pasta which added a sweet background to the plate.

But maybe the heat doesn’t bother you. Maybe comfort food works for you in August. Ok Honcho, you asked for it: try the Italian Sausage and Beans. This is a Tuscan favorite and done very well with a mixture of white beans, tomato and garlic ($9.75). I would not call this a signature dish for Franco’s, but it’s hard to find this kind of rustic country style Italian dish in Phoenix. I enjoyed it so much I tried to reverse engineer it in my kitchen but failed when I could not find dry Cannellini beans and resorted to canned navy beans. Next time I’m going to Franco’s.

Former Arizona governor Fife Symington is producing the desserts at Franco’s and the chocolate cake (his signature dish), with its chocolate ganache icing is outstanding with an ice cold cappuccino.

Franco’s is open for lunch Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. Dinner is served Monday through Saturday from 5:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.