Sad to hear Lisa Giungo, known to many simply as Lisa G., passed away this morning after a short battle with lung cancer.
Giungo was best known for Lisa G.’s Wine Bar & Cafe, which she opened in 2006 in a central Phoenix bungalow.
(I found this old video about Lisa G.’s on YouTube. Giungo is the woman in the black dress.)
The restaurant’s signature dish – family-recipe meatballs made of beef, pork and veal – won numerous awards.
Giungo sold the restaurant in 2009 (it became The Main Ingredient) to spend more time with her ailing father in Philadelphia.
When she returned to the Valley, she worked or consulted for a number of notable restaurants, including Arcadia Farms, Crudo, and Queen Creek Olive Mill.
It was just this August the Valley food community learned Giungo, who reportedly had given up smoking decades ago, had been diagnosed with lung cancer.
Her friends and colleagues held several fundraisers for her in September and October.
