Urciuoli leaving Noble Bread to open new restaurant later this year

AZ Central reports chef Claudio Urciuoli (pictured) is leaving Noble Bread and will partner with Omar Alvarez of Tortas Paquime on a new restaurant opening later this year.

The vagabond chef headed several prestigious Valley kitchens – Taggia, Prado, Chris Bianco’s Italian Restaurant, and Noca – in recent years before joining Jason Raducha’s year-old Phoenix bakery in 2013.

Under Urciuoli, Noble began offering a simple lunch menu, something that will continue under the chef’s longtime assistant Zach Flynn.

Urciuoli and Alvarez don’t have a name or location for their new venture yet, but Urciuoli says it likely will have Mediterranean and South American influences.