It takes a village to raise a restaurant. Okay, that’s a slight variation on the original axiom, but it holds true for Liquor Pig, the Scottsdale gastropub that opened less than two weeks ago in Old Town. It’s been three years in the making for owners Steven “Chops” Smith and his longtime friend and sommelier-partner Scott Casey. They soft-opened this brand-new New American with a little help from industry friends Dave Johnson (a revered sommelier in this town) and well-known chefs Payton Curry (most recently a cannabis chef), Cory Oppold (Course) and Rochelle Daniel (Atria). Curry may stick around in the kitchen for a bit, while Daniel (whom Smith considers a sister from another mother) has jumped right in to make the desserts – despite running her own restaurant in Flagstaff.
Smith and Casey took over the former Medizona location, occupied many moons ago by chef Lenny Rubin, and they’ve transformed the ’50s-era house into a cozy, comfortable hangout designed with natural materials such as brick and wood. There’s a 20-seat bar (the place has only 80 seats altogether), and a gorgeous backbar enhanced by a gold mirror.
Smith promises the 50-bottle wine list will be unique, featuring esoteric wines people will “geek out on.” Casey admits to spending many months putting it together (although, naturally, it will change with some frequency) and hopes people will be willing to try new and unfamiliar varietals. He’s convinced that if they’re open-minded, they’ll find plenty of new wines to love.
Meanwhile, Casey says the bar program is phenomenal, which is what we expect from a place called Liquor Pig. Three of the four bartenders on staff are competitive on the cocktail circuit, participating in Last Slinger Standing, and all of them, he says, are super-creative. Imagine a whiskey- and rum-based tiki drink called Spam Folder, which does, indeed, have Spam in it. Just reading the cocktail menu – full of illustrations, famous quotes and mouthwatering descriptions – makes me thirsty.
As for the food menu, Smith describes it as “how we grew up,” meaning what we grew up eating in restaurants. Almost everything is a riff on a classic. For starters (literally), there’s a board called Libertine, which contains roasted bone marrow with oxtail marmalade and pomme souffle; beef tartare with caramelized onion, confit tomato and sherry agrodolce; and foie gras ganache with huckleberry mostarda, Marcona almond and duck confit floss, priced at $47 for obvious reasons. Here, you can find everything from shakshouka (with lamb Merguez meatballs), braised pork schnitzel with mustard spaetzle, duck carnitas chimichanga and tom kha gai with scallop crudo, and stout-braised short rib. Smith is famous for his handmade pasta, which he made during his stints at Fat Ox and Atria. For now, he’s going easy, offering veal pappardelle, cacio e pepe and chicken Marsala with Marsala mushroom agnolotti.
I want it all, which I guess makes me both a liquor pig and a food pig. See you there!
7217 E. Fourth Ave., Scottsdale, 480-687-3955, liquorpigscottsdale.com
