When Chef Claudio Urciuoli posed for a photograph with Source’s baker Ryan and chef Trevor, he sported a smile. I joked with him about his stern countenance and he assured me that he really does have a sense of humor. Despite the dissolution of his partnership at Pa’La, the acclaimed chef has every reason to smile. He’s once again doing what he wants to do, operating a restaurant whose approach and raison d’etre are encapsulated in this statement from the restaurant’s website: We are an ingredient driven, community centered, counter service restaurant, wine bar, and retail shop.
Chef Urciuoli does indeed have a sense of humor and a personal warmth that really came across during our conversation. He shared his vision for a casual Mediterranean restaurant where it’s all about the quality of ingredients. He pointed out that Source is a counter-service affair with baked goods front and center at the counter and a menu suspended overhead. All tableware is compostable save for wine glasses. That speaks to his commitment to doing his part for the environment. It irks him how relatively little the water-starved Valley is doing to conserve water. He also believes much more could be done to recycle goods.
A community-centered, counter-service approach wouldn’t work nearly as well if Chef Urciuoli and his staff weren’t so approachable. Even before my Kim lavished praise on Source’s fare, chef Trevor and baker Ryan visited our table. Yeah, they wanted to ogle The Dude, our debonair dachshund, but spent time with us, too. Ryan, it turns out, was the baker who prepared the fabulous bread at Pa’La when we visited in 2022. He’s been with Chef Urciuoli for more than six years now and together with his mentor, scoured potential locations for a new restaurant before finding a home in Gilbert.
Source’s landing spot, the Epicenter at Agritopia, fits right in with what Chef Urciuoli wants to do, especially in terms of being a community center. Hand-curated restaurants and retailers occupy the bottom floor of the illimitable complex while elevated loft living occupies several floors. In the parlance of the young urbanite, it’s a walkable urban setting. They might also call it a mixed-use residential and retail center. Among the other restaurants on the complex, by the way, is Matt’s Big Breakfast, a legendary breakfast spot Phoenicians frequent in droves.
Chef Urciuoli’s story warrants retelling. In Italy he had the opportunity to apprentice with a master baker in a traditional but very rigid apprentice-to-master career path, but declined when the baker asked that he dedicate his life to his bakery. After enrolling in culinary school, he spent several years “staging” (unpaid internship when a cook or chef works briefly, for free, (or to gain a position) in another chef’s kitchen to learn and be exposed to new techniques and cuisines) in Michelin-starred resorts in France and Switzerland before he came to look for America.
A few years after making his way to California and establishing himself as a formidable chef, Urciuoli spent five years with legendary restaurateur Nancy Silverton, helping her grow La Brea Bakery from a small storefront to a nationally recognized brand. After relocating to Phoenix several years later, he spent a 16-month stint working with Chris Bianco, the country’s preeminent pizzaioli, to develop dinner operations at Pane Bianco and start up a new Italian restaurant. Working with such indefatigable personalities such as Silverton and Bianco could only help any prospective bread-baking brainiac, but Urciuoli isn’t solely a bread baker.
Just read more from the website to better understand his approach as a chef: “We have meticulously selected our food and drink to provide you with an enjoyable and comfortable dining experience. You will find ingredients produced with great care, in some cases continuously for generations. We support farmers and artisans who embody our ethos of integrity, quality, and reflection.” It’s apparent the type of dough Source is most committed to is the type used in baking breads with incomparable soul. Warm, fresh bread wafts toward you as you approach the restaurant. It’s a siren’s call for those of us who love the staff of life. Rustic breads are light and airy. The sourdough has a discernible tang.
The siren’s call–like a deafening whisper–beckons you forward to partake of that heavenly bread. Intoxicating aromas waft beyond the intimate restaurant when the retractable doors and windows are open and there’s just a slight breeze. With more seating on the patio than inside the restaurant, when the doors are open it’s one large space. It was “only” 60-degrees on the day of our visit. That’s parka weather for Phoenicians, but pleasant for us. We did wonder, however, what the patio would be like at high noon on a day when the south-facing restaurant and it’s 240 degrees (the average July temperature in the Valley).
It’s always been one of our practices not to have bread-based appetizers if our entree is also going to be bread-based. Not only is that a redundant practice, bread as a starter can fill you up before you gnosh on a bread-based entree (such as pizza). We violated our very own dictum at Source the second we saw the rustic breads on the counter. Who can resist? Our first starter was house bread with Pablo Voitzuk olive oil. Pablo Voitzuk is a renowned producer of world-class, award-winning extra virgin olive oils. Voitzuk olive oils have much more depth of flavor than conventional olive oils, most of which just seem to sit there with no personality. Those flavors pair with the delightfully chewy, airy and absolutely delicious house bread. We tried in vain to discipline ourselves and not wipe our our entire bounty.
Our second bread-centric starter included grilled dates, Parmigiano and house bread with a Cabernet agradolce. A counterbalance of flavors was most noteable between the sweet dates and the strong umami notes of the Parmigiano. It’s tempting to top the cheese with a date, but flavor discernment and appreciation is best when each is enjoyed separately. The Cabernet agradolce a sticky, tart-sweet condiment is all about tangy contrast, much moreso than Chinese sweet and sour sauces which emphasize sweet. The agradolce paired wonderfully with the bread.
For many people, anchovies are something to be avoided– like the Cabin virus. If seen on a pizza, they’ll either stop eating it altogether or pick it off and dispose of it. Frankly, that was my experience with the fishy-salty little fish. I didn’t learn to love anchovies until finding out just how magical Spanish anchovies can be. Spanish anchovies are far superior to any. One of the many delights on Source’s counter are tinned fish. Yes, fish (and spicy mussels) in tin cans. Hear me out! Anna Hezel wrote an entire cookbook about, well, pre-cooked fish, called “Tin to Table.“ “It’s a little more delicate, a little more special, and a little more premium,” she declared. Euromonitor International, a market research company reported that in 2022, tinned fish sales rose to $2.7 billion, fueled largely by younger consumers.
Past experience at Pa’La taught me that the restaurants bowls would be greatly enhanced by the presence of tinned spicy anchovies. Source’s Farro Bowl (chilled farro, sweet potato, broccoli, carrots, roasted red pepper, white beans, pickled red onions, pumpkin seeds, Cabernet vinegar, soy sauce, Japanese spices, extra virgin olive oil) needs absolutely no amelioration. It’s deliciously magnificent on its own. Add the spicy anchovies and the flavor profile sings, metaphorically leaping and bounding with joy. Every ingredient on the bowl works in harmony to dance on your taste buds. The spicy anchovies are a genius additive.
Having consumed an entire bakery’s output of bread, my Kim nonetheless ordered a mushroom and ham pizza. With bread as sublime as Source’s, we were tempted to eat from the outside in. Unencumbered by ingredients, the cornicione (an Italian term for the “lip” or puffy outer edge of the pizza) was akin to eating fresh bread right out of the oven. Much as we might delight in pizzas piled on with sundry stuff, this is a pizza we would have enjoyed thoroughly sans stuff–like a big, circular bread.
Locals can avail themselves of a market with shelves displaying high quality olive oils, vinegars, pasta and other pantry items, a small bar and an ordering counter. A rack holds displays bread: demi baguette, sourdough, ciabatta and focaccia. There’s no place better to find the staff of life.
Source
3150 East Ray Road, Suite 104
Gilbert, Arizona
(480) 687-7732
Website |
LATEST VISIT: 21 December 2023
# OF VISITS: 1
RATING: N/R
COST: $$
BEST BET: Pablo Voitzuk Olive Oil and Sourdough Bread; Grilled Dates, Parmigiano, Cabarnet Agradolce, House Bread; Mushroom and Ham Pizza, Farro Bowl with Spicy Anchiovies
REVIEW #1365