Four Corners: July and August Dining Reviews

East Valley

Drunken Tiger  

Opened: October 2016
On one hand, you have traditional sit-down Korean cuisine, often with grilled meats, often accompanied by banchan, that charming smorgasbord of small-bowl pickled veggies and communal side dishes. Fun but austere. And then there’s modern street-style Korean bar food, which is, shall we say, more rambunctious. Chef-owner Justin Park’s Mesa nightspot – which we missed reviewing when it opened six years ago – falls proudly in to the latter camp. So, under the gaze of Korean aeni octopi and other high-energy wall animations, you can acquaint yourself with sweet, slurp-alicious concoctions like a platter of mushroom-tender baby octopus and shaved pork in a spicy, ketchup-like gravy ($26).

On the more orthodox side: ramen and udon bowls ($8-$9) and Korean fried chicken wings ($9-$16) mantled in a sweet-and-spicy gochujang sauce with peanuts. I would have preferred a bit more crunch on the wings, but they did the job. More mystifying: ramen chips ($7), which appeared to be nothing more than warmed, store-bought dry ramen sprinkled with sugar; and corn cheese ($10), canned sweet corn in a burbling pool of melted mozzarella. Wash it all down with a vast selection of sake-like soju drinks, including one served in a hollowed-out watermelon ($23).
Wild Card: Silkworm pupae soup ($10). “Don’t let the name scare you,” the menu advises.
1954 S. Dobson Rd., Mesa, 480-755-7555, drunkentigeraz.com

– Craig Outhier

Scottsdale

Cala 

Opened: January 2022
If you’re pushing 30 and looking less-than-sleek, you’re out of your league at this airy hotel restaurant, populated by beautiful 20-somethings who keep the place jammed and deafening all night long. Under the guidance of Food Network star and consulting chef Beau MacMillan, executive chef Peter McQuaid turns out light, sophisticated fare inspired by the Mediterranean traditions of Greece, Spain, Italy and Morocco. He brilliantly recasts Middle Eastern classics into sexy nibbles tailor-made for his audience. Think creamy white bean hummus, splashed with Moroccan matbucha (a red pepper and tomato-based sauce) and sided with crunchy, addictive baked pita. Or smoky, complex baba ghanoush, strewn with roasted vegetables and gently amped up with harissa vinaigrette and Egyptian dukkah ($24). Charred funghi pizza, topped with mushrooms, black truffles, caramelized onions, feta and mozzarella possesses gooey appeal – and far too many carbs for this crowd ($24), but seared branzino, swathed in blistered tomatoes, fennel and baharat spice blend, then set atop earthy lentils, is light and just-right ($38). If you can stomach the scene and infernal noise, McQuaid’s creative food is surprisingly good.
Wild Card: Try flaming saganaki – lemon-spritzed kasseri cheese, anointed with Greek brandy and lit on fire at the table ($21).
7501 E. Camelback Rd., 480-590-5676, calascottsdale.com

– Nikki Buchanan

West Valley

Twist Hot Chicken

Opened: February 2022
Each offered in four different heat levels, there are five hot chicken sandwiches available at this spartan fast-casual venture that go well beyond Nashville, and “hot” does mean hot. My lips never touched the top-level “Can’t Touch This,” ignited with ghost peppers and Trinidad’s seven pot pepper (which sits at over 1 million on the Scoville scale), but still tingled big-time. Fire eaters will be happy here. Built on Noble Bread brioche buns, these creative, scratch-made sandwiches are filling and fun, each plump chicken breast heavily breaded in spices and deep-fried to a serious crunch ($12 each).

Hard to pick a favorite among the sublimely simple Hot Honey, sticky-sweet with butter, honey and sweet pickle; the classic Twist Hot Chicken, layered with crunchy house-made slaw and dill pickle; the Hot Moroccan, oozing with smoky, spicy harissa and vinegary Alabama white sauce; and the Shabazi, lightened and brightened with tahini and the green chile-sparked, cilantro-based Yemeni condiment called zhoug. Hot Nashville Chicken Mac-N-Cheese – fortified with cheese curds and painted with spicy-sweet Nashville sauce – is, like everything else, lead-heavy but yummy ($14).
Wild Card: Put out the fire with fantastic sugar-dusted beignets ($7).
8386 W. Thunderbird Rd., Peoria, 623-217-2714, twisthotchicken.com

– Nikki Buchanan

Phoenix

Sushi 32 

Opened: October 2021
Call it the “Ankimo Rule.” It’s the uncanny tendency for only the best sushi restaurants – including Hana and Hiro, locally – to carry monkfish liver, a pâté-like delicacy known in Japan as ankimo. Located in the old Delux Burger off 32nd Street in Phoenix, this new-ish sushi restaurant has it on the menu, I discovered from looking at the website, so the Ankimo Rule kicked in and I paid a visit. But wouldn’t you know? No ankimo on the night of our visit. So we settled for the Japanese oysters ($15) special, a handsomely staged presentation of kumamotos with julienned daikon radish that, truth be known, looked a bit more enchanting than it tasted. Aside from three to four daily specials, the menu is on the orthodox side, with a familiar – but perfectly fresh-tasting – selection of nigiri and maki cut rolls, including the Picasso roll ($15), a roulade of spicy tuna topped with yellowtail and a sliver of jalapeño. All very tasty, but Ankimo-Rule-tasty? Near-empty on a Saturday night, the stylishly appointed restaurant lacks brightness and verve. Even the bank of hi-def TVs above the bar seemed to be purposely dimmed. Coupled with too-sweet cocktails, the overall experience is oddly unmoving. But maybe that’s just my ankimo anguish talking.
Wild Card: You’ve had edamame, but have you had edamame with roasted garlic ($9)?
3146 E. Camelback Rd., 602-787-4432, sushi32.com

– Craig Outhier