Photo by Nikki Buchanan
Burrata & Beets at Francine Restaurant
How I love Francine! The dining room is gorgeous, and the menu, which hovers around the south of France, offers so many appealing options that I struggle to confine myself to one or two courses. I began a recent blissful al fresco lunch with this inspired combo: a pure white orb of burrata overlaid with oven-softened wedges of golden beets. If you think you’ve tired of beets, I assure you, this dish will rearrange your thinking on the topic. The contrast between the earthy sweetness of that humble root vegetable and the creamy freshness of the burrata is sensational. Raw beets and raw watermelon radish, both sliced sliver thin, offer a touch of bitterness, while pistachios bring a little crunch to the party. But what puts this salad/starter completely over the top is a one-two punch of tarragon (one of my favorite herbs for its anise-like flavor) and saba, a syrupy but faintly acidic reduction of grape must that looks and tastes a lot like balsamic vinegar ($18). In situations like this, I think it’s important to ignore the fact that the burrata adds up to around 400 calories and just tell yourself you’re having a lovely vegetable salad for lunch.
Photo by Nikki Buchanan
Beef Carpaccio at Francine Restaurant
Most of the time, beef carpaccio (paper-thin beef filet) is served with arugula, shaved Parmesan, lemon and olive oil. It’s an irreproachable classic, and I’ve always loved it. But Francine’s version, which involves black truffles and mushrooms, is so heady I think I’m ruined forevermore. The minute the plate is set before me, the perfume of the truffles drifts up to my nose. The bright pink meat is marbled with fat and shaved so thin it melts like butter on the tongue, but not before I get that satisfying burst of umami. Then again, the dish could serve as a tutorial on umami flavors — the musk and salty crunch of the truffles, the forest floor earthiness of cremini mushrooms, the roundness of Parmesan, and glistening dots of creamy truffle aioli. Last of all comes a sprinkling of chives because their onion-y flavor is just perfect with steak. At $24, it’s pricy but worth it.
Francine, 4710 N. Goldwater Blvd, Scottsdale, 480-690-6180, francinerestaurant.com
Photo by Nikki Buchanan
Matcha Cake at Sushi Roku
My buddy and I had a dinner the other night at Sushi Roku, including a tequila-based Berry Bliss cocktail, creamy with egg white, a handful of fancy sushi rolls (loved the White Lotus), a gorgeous sashimi platter and a pale green matcha cake, wrapped up jelly roll cake-style. Lightly flavored with matcha, which lends a touch of grassiness, the cake is light and full of holes, a traditional sponge cake. Before it’s rolled, its top is smoothed with a thick layer of airy strawberry mousse. Served with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and a ribbon of raspberry coulis, the dessert gets a little heft from a scoop of vanilla gelato and a bit of textural interest from a pile of sweet crumbles (a bit like streusel) tucked underneath. Give me this any day of the week over ready-made dessert mochi.
Sushi Roku, The W Hotel, 7277 E. Camelback Rd., 480-970-2121, sushiroku.com
Photo by Nikki Buchanan
The Maximus Sandwich at DeFalco’s Italian Deli & Grocery
I very seldom order anything remotely resembling a sub sandwich (yawn), but when I walked into DeFalco’s for the first time in a long time and smelled all the good deli smells, I found myself craving deli meats like capicola and mortadella — because, really, who doesn’t love a good Bologna sandwich now and then? I zeroed in on The Maximus, ordering it on a flour-dusty ciabatta roll with all the fixings. It was a crusty, delicious behemoth (and a half sandwich at that!), stacked with prosciutto, capicola, Genoa salami, mortadella and provolone, slathered with mustard and mayo, drizzled with Italian vinaigrette and layered with sliced tomatoes, onions and lettuce. I could barely get my mouth around it, and everything kept slipping out of it as I wrangled it, but hey, I’m a pro, and I crushed that thing in nothing flat. The same thing happened with a side of sweet macaroni salad: gone in sixty seconds (Half, $6.99). What took me so long to get back here, I wonder. Now I have a whole list of other dishes (the pizza, the arancini, the eggplant Parmigiana sandwich, to name three) with which I hope to get reacquainted.
DeFalco’s Italian Deli & Grocery, 2334 N. Scottsdale Rd., a-133, Scottsdale, 480-990-8660, defalcosdeli.com
