Restaurateur Valli dies

Jim Valli, one of the Valley’s pioneering restaurateurs, died last Sunday, Nov. 30, at age 56. The cause was liver cancer.

Along with wife Irma, he opened quirky, charming Marco Polo in 1989, in a small Scottsdale retail strip across from Scottsdale Fashion Square. (The spot is now occupied by Nordstrom.) There, Valli was one of the first chefs to give locals a taste of cutting-edge fusion cuisine, fancifully mixing and matching Italian and Asian ingredients.

In 1995, the Vallis teamed up with the Mastro Group (who soon took over ownership) and moved Marco Polo to swankier quarters on Shea Boulevard.

They got back in the business in 2000 with Café Blue, a seafood restaurant on Goldwater Boulevard. It’s where I took my family to celebrate after my daughter graduated from college.

Café Blue shut down in 2006. In January 2008, Valli told me he was getting back in the restaurant business, heading the kitchen at new Cezar’s. But that deal was derailed after friction with the owner.

Cafe Blue chef Jim Valli sits for a portrait and a laugh at the resturant's bar.