How Tomaso Maggiore's authentic Italian food lives on through his daughter

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - For decades, Tomaso Maggiore made authentic Italian food that people loved in the Valley.

He passed away in 2021.

Just a few months after his death, his daughter, Melissa Maggiore Meyer, opened a new restaurant in Scottsdale.

Now, she’s celebrating the restaurant's 3rd anniversary, and Tomaso Maggiore’s legacy lives on.

"When you enter the room, I want you to feel the passion, the love, and the legacy that I'm trying to continue in my father’s name," Melissa Maggiore Meyer said.

The Italian Daughter is the perfect name for the restaurant in North Scottsdale, and all around there are memories of Tomaso Maggiore.

"All the dishes on this table are things that I enjoyed growing up with my father or nana in Sicily," Melissa Maggiore Meyer said.

The daughter of the famous Valley chef absorbed everything her father taught her.

"What made my father special, and what I hope makes me special, is what I do to go above and beyond to extend that Italian hospitality," Maggiore Meyer said.

But opening in early 2021 was risky.

Tomaso, who battled cancer, had just died, restaurants were still navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, and finding employees was tough.

"I just remember opening, and it just felt like chaos," Maggiore Meyer said. "It wasn't the first restaurant I've ever opened, but it certainly was the most difficult."

Despite those challenges, the restaurant survived, and while Maggiore Meyer is continuing her father’s legacy in the Valley, she is also creating her own path.

"I'll feel forever grateful for the bond that we have built through COVID, through the loss of my father, and I look forward to seeing what’s to come," Maggiore Meyer said.

The Italian Daughter on North Scottsdale Road is open every night from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m.