Photos by Richard Maack Crispy rock shrimp and jalapeño tartar, with a cranberry Presbyterian cocktail

With a star-studded team of players and a solid menu, FnB is just a few ingredients away from ‘destination’ status.

My friend and I were running about 15 minutes late for our dinner reservation at FnB in Old Town Scottsdale. Yet she was amused when I called the restaurant to report our tardiness.

“Awfully polite,” she kidded, reminding me that, thanks to a tough market for Valley restaurants this past year, she couldn’t remember having to wait for a table nearly anywhere, even walk-ins.

Except the crowds are converging on this tiny, Cal-American comfort food spot, and it’s little surprise to me. Based on the pedigree of its partners and its rock-solid theme, how could FnB – named for the industry term “food and beverage” – be anything but a hit?

First, there’s the owner-general manager, Pavle Milic, who’s worked at many of the Valley’s best restaurants, including Rancho Pinot, T. Cook’s, Cowboy Ciao, Digestif and, most recently, Prado.

Then there’s the chef. Charleen Badman cooked in Italy and at Berkeley’s Slow Food paradise Chez Panisse before running her own critically acclaimed Inside restaurant in New York’s Greenwich Village. She helped open Rancho Pinot 16 years ago and returned to their kitchen in 2008.

Next, there’s one of the project’s backers – Peter Kasperski, who is legendary for launching an arsenal of top Scottsdale restaurants such as Cowboy Ciao.

There’s even the space itself, which formerly housed the award-winning Sea Saw, then Digestif. Surely those eateries left some good mojo lingering around.

The concept, finally, couldn’t be more perfect for these frugal times, when customers demand reasonable prices and even our best chefs offer homier, value-oriented cooking. For his team’s fine dining background, Milic now promotes the unpretentious mood of his rustic-American menu, where entrée prices hover around $20.

“Humble” he called it, as he handed me the paper menu one evening.

trout with sunchokes, onions and dill sauce

Indeed, it’s clear that rather than focusing on flash, FnB is working hard to be a neighborhood favorite. And at this, it succeeds. Still, I can’t help wishing for a little more flair, because with just a few more intriguing ingredients and a few more innovative dishes, FnB could go from community charmer to a Valley destination.

FnB vibrates with a warm vibe, from Milic’s trademark greeting of “Hello, my dear lady/sir” to the heart-felt service, frequently from Milic himself, who pulls multiple duties as maitre d’, server and busboy.

But in the food department, humble can sometimes hint at a lack of ambition. There’s little that’s cutting edge on the seasonally changing menu, and I’m not the only one among my many dining companions to muse that FnB seems to be doing a stripped-down channeling of Rancho Pinot down the street, or St. Francis in Phoenix. The riskiest trick here is offering an all-Arizona wine list.

Because Badman’s cooking is superb, it would be easy to say, “Who cares when it tastes this terrific?” Except that it’s hard to shake the feeling that she’s holding back.

As soon as the first forkful of Badman’s mozzarella casserole ($13) reaches my lips, all I can do is purr, “Oh, yeah.” It’s not often that such basic ingredients are elevated to such stirring levels.

The dish arrives at the table bubbling brown and looking peasant-plain. But Badman makes the mozzarella by hand, pulling it into milky-sweet strings. She braises fresh greens to buttery tenderness, imbues breadcrumbs with zingy mustard, fries an egg to golden-yolk perfection and folds them all together for a dish that’s as soul satisfying as a tummy rub.

Vegetables and fruit are the stars here, from the bowl of golden-breaded fried green tomatoes sprinkled with chunks of feta cheese under retro-fun Green Goddess dressing ($11), to a side dish of butternut squash brilliantly married with pear and bacon ($6). Yet, one evening’s cauliflower gratin ($5) was dry and bland, and sweet squash ravioli ($12) needed more oomph than a hint of horseradish and scattering of almonds could provide.

Salad of shaved fennel, local citrus, green olives and radishes

Dig into a salad of escarole with slivers of crispy prosciutto, chunks of poached quince and whole local pecans shimmering in champagne vinaigrette ($12). But steer away from the predictable salad of apple, celery root, walnuts and blue cheese ($11).

Starters read more like bar snacks, in a dish of citrus-marinated olives ($4), spiced roasted nuts ($4) and a plate of thinly curled Benton Farms country ham, white cheddar, pickled vegetables, grain mustard and toast ($11). Watch the kitchen action and sip a cranberry Presbyterian, a spritzy blend of cranberry-infused vodka, ginger ale and lemon bobbing with fresh cranberries ($7).

After sinking your teeth into Badman’s roast Jidori chicken, you certainly won’t be bored – the juicy bird glistens in crisp golden skin alongside spaetzle, wild broccoli raab and new garlic ($19) – but you won’t be writing home about the novelty, either.

And while it’s hard to argue with the appeal of a generous cut of flatiron steak, the meat cooked expertly ruby-rare, sliced and fanned over greens with whole fingerling potatoes, the only true spark on the plate is a chunky mantle of peppery radish salsa verde ($21). It’s the same thing with a braised lamb shank ($25) – a tasty value of a caveman size chunk resting in a savory stew of chickpeas and couscous that gets rescued from the expected only by a zap of pickled turnips. The winning dish over multiple visits was the boneless trout ($18), bringing a slab of crispy skinned fish splayed over a toothsome bed of sunchokes, onions and dill sauce.

For dessert ($6), most recipes speak of cozy home kitchens, but focus on the standout: a fat round of chocolate cherry sourdough bread pudding. It’s based on decadent bread from master baker Ben Hershberger of The Phoenician and gets topped with cherry compote in a pool of brandied crème Anglaise.

At FnB, the décor is relatively stark  and quite comfortable. But pow – the floor is a showstopper, dancing in a colorful mosaic of tiles that brings the entire space to life. If that menu had that sock-it-to-me punch, this “hit” could be off the charts.

DETAILS
FnB
Cuisine: Cal-American
Address: 7133 E. Stetson Drive, Scottsdale
Phone: 480-425-9463
Website: fnbrestaurant.com
Hours: 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday; 5 p.m. to midnight, Friday and Saturday
Highlights: Green escarole salad with prosciutto, poached quince and local pecans ($12); cranberry Presbyterian cocktail ($7); roast Jidori chicken with spaetzle, wild broccoli raab and new garlic ($19); chocolate cherry sourdough bread pudding ($6)