Dom Ruggiero’s Bar Cena is a comfy, intimate 180 from his loud, casual Fire at Will.
By Nikki Buchanan | Photography by Angelina Aragon
Opened: October 2023
Last summer, chef-owner Dom Ruggiero and his wife Holly closed Vanilla Gorilla – the tap room and bottle shop adjacent to their flagship restaurant Hush Public House – and set to work putting Bar Cena in its place. It’s a comfy, intimate 180 from the couple’s loud, casual third venue, Fire at Will, which opened at Tatum and Shea boulevards in 2022. If anything, Bar Cena, centered around European classics, is the most relaxed of the Ruggieros’ three restaurants, a quiet date spot for sipping craft cocktails on couches or making dinner of old-school dishes given modern twists. Consider a crusty, monstrous popover, pulled apart so that its airy, pleasantly doughy insides can be slathered with cacio e pepe butter ($9). Or maybe potato pavé ($12), a duck fat-infused square of thin, layered potatoes, fried to a crisp, then blanketed with garlicky rouille, an egg-enriched sauce rusty with roasted red bell pepper. There’s also a classic pork pâté en croûte served with a smear of Dijon ($20). Enclosed within a tender crust and a thin layer of port gelée, the firm, fatty meat is studded with pistachios and cranberries. Meanwhile, meltingly tender osso bucco, set over Hayden Flour Mills polenta and mantled in rich sherry cream, is Italian comfort food at its best ($40).
Wild Card: For dessert, one of the city’s most luxurious affogatos, made with Grateful Spoon Gelato and Mythic Goat Coffee espresso ($9).
14202 N. Scottsdale Rd., 480-597-6526, barcenascottsdale.com
