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Photos by Nicole roegner
Restaurant Salvadoreño |
It’s February, and love is in the air. This Valentine’s Day, make sure it’s in your belly, too.Restaurant Salvadoreño7333 W. Thomas Road, Phoenix
623-846-6100
Other locations in Mesa
(480-964-5577) and
Phoenix (602-870-2955)
salvadorenorestaurant.comEl Salvador’s native loroco flower is a favorite ingredient in many Central American recipes. Mild, slightly musty toned and a bit chewy, its flavor is a cross between seaweed and asparagus. Yet the delicate bud holds a secret that makes it the perfect partner to romance. It’s rich in a spasmodic fiber that acts as a relaxant. That loroco is a natural aphrodisiac is a claim backed by not just starry-eyed lore but by analytical reports from the Instituto de Nutrición de Centro América y Panamá (hard to argue with that).
At Restaurant Salvadoreño, the highly aromatic delicacy comes stuffed in pupusas – thick, hand-made corn masa tortillas griddled to a steaming golden brown and oozing with quesillo, a soft Salvadoran cheese. They’re topped with curtido (pickled cabbage, onions and carrots) and hot sauce. At $2.10 each, pupusas can’t be beat for a cheap date. For that special someone, splurge for the combo of two or three pupusas paired with black beans and rice – still a lovers’, er, lovely bargain at $6.95/$7.95.
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| A.B.C. Amy’s Bakery |
A.B.C. Amy’s Bakery7366 E. Shea Blvd., Scottsdale
480-607-0677
amysbakingco.comIt may be difficult to get past the dessert case in this French fairyland bistro, shimmering with cakes, tarts and truffles adorned with edible flowers, buttercream frosting and gusts of glitter. But what really rocks for romance are Amy’s homemade lobster pasta pillows. First, there’s the provocative “pillows” name, adding a seductive note to respectable ravioli. Then, there’s the lobster, which is cradled in an orgy of seafood-ricotta stuffing, ladles of bisque-like lobster sauce glistening with cream and truffle butter and crowned with a whole baby lobster tail.
Lobster is a renowned aphrodisiac, tracing back to the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, and celebrated by modern-day doctors for containing many of the nutrients necessary for peak sexual health. There’s low-fat protein to sustain those long nights of passion. There’s zinc and B-12, said to help stir sexual desire. Then – dare we be so naughty as to say it – there’s the very shape of the seafood, which is phallic in a funky kind of way. Chef/owner Amy Bouzaglo is a generous sort, too, so a single entrée is suitable for sharing, all the better for spooning with your sweetie.
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| Ib2 Chocolates |
Ib2 Chocolates525 S. Central Ave., Phoenix
602-326-9869
ib2chocolate.comImagine passion, and you may imagine chocolate. Think romance, and you may think red wine. But put the red wine into a lacy thin, edible chocolate cup, and you’ve got guaranteed erotica. The candies are the brainchild of Sam Filicetti, aka “Sam the Chocolate Guy.” Come spring, he’ll be handcrafting his confections live at The Duce, in Downtown’s Anchor Manufacturing Building. In the meantime, you can scoop up his wares at such hip spots as Vincent’s Camelback Market or Hillside Spot Café.
Filicetti makes his chocolates even more stimulating with his “metaphysical recipes.” That means “anti-depressant” nubbins shaped like smiley faces of 54 percent cocoa with cinnamon, red chile and “100 percent happy.” Or “tranquility” bites spiked with lavender and “peace of mind and body.” As a bonus, Filicetti uses soy lecithin instead of whey, so his candies are vegan, and the marshmallows in his S’mores are vegetarian, making that delicious toasted bite on a cinnamon graham cracker dunked in chocolate even more guilt-free. His Mayan chocolate (or as the Mayans say, xocoatl) is a best seller, celebrated in ancient religious rituals, including, of course, the sultry art of courtship.