After several chef and menu changes, this Tuscan fine-dining fortress has relaxed its style but not its standards or its penchant for culinary surprises.
Since Sassi opened in 2004, the Arizona restaurant scene has undergone a sea change: High-end, white-tablecloth dining has been largely phased out in favor of more casual experiences. At the same time, customer appreciation for superb food has grown.
Hankering for a chunk of artfully-coagulated curds? Satisfy your next cheese fix at one of these Valley fine-food purveyors.
Cheuvront Restaurant & Wine Bar
Equal parts hipster and gourmand, Ken Cheuvront retails about 45 top-quality cheeses with an American focus, and his in-house cheesemonger hosts a tasting class the last Sunday of each month. A popular cut is Barely Buzzed from Utah’s Beehive Cheese Co., a cheddar-like cheese rubbed with coffee grounds and lavender, which infuse it with notes of butterscotch
Fresh botanicals are making a slow migration from the kitchen to the bar, with more Valley mixologists showcasing a veritable mise en place of garnishes far surpassing the old-school tray of lemon and lime wedges, cherries and olives.
Is recession-related stress spiking your blood pressure? Relax with a heart-healthy glass of vino at these wallet-friendly wine bars.
5th & Wine
7051 E. Fifth Ave., Scottsdale
480-669-8001
5thandwine.com
The contemporary comfort food and courtyard patio at this fun, funky Old Town Scottsdale spot would be tempting enough even if it weren’t for the doozy daily deals.
These days, beer is increasingly nudging wine aside as the preferred food-pairing potation. So it’s fitting that Scottsdale-based Sonoran Brewing Company is teaming up with four Valley chefs to brew small batch beers (1,000 bottles or less) made with local ingredients. The first offering comes courtesy of Chef Jeremy Pacheco of Lon’s at the Hermosa. It’s called 7 Wives Saison – a nod to Hermosa’s founder, artist Lon Megargee, who married seven times.
Think you’re a big eater? Tackle these belt-busting victuals with an unexpected caveat: The food actually tastes terrific.
Papi Chulo’s Mexican Grill
& Cantina
5101 N. Scottsdale Rd., Scottsdale
480-543-1043
papichuloscantina.com
Facing down a 6-pound, 2-ounce burrito can be intimidating. Imagine a sofa cushion crossbred with a tortilla, and then fathom trying to cram the whole crazy thing down your gullet. Since the Big Papi Burrito Challenge began last September, more than 50 contenders have gone teeth to tortilla with this brobdingnagian burro.
Gavin Jacobs transforms a historic hideaway in Chandler with a wonderful wine list, stellar soups and sandwiches, and a happening back patio.
For years, East Valley residents have been yearning for a real wine bar in downtown Chandler – one with outstanding by-the-glass selections, a full bar, cozy lounge ambiance and something good to eat. Last November, our prayers were answered.
FnB owners Pavle Milic and Charleen Badman combine culinary class and convenience at this quaint Scottsdale bistro.
How much buzz can conceivably be generated by a single sandwich – even a first-rate focaccia concoction stuffed with Tender Belly bacon, butternut squash, goat cheese, greens and crispy onions ($10)? And how many people are going to beeline to a café that offers just one salad, albeit a fantastic salad featuring crunchy, sweet-tangy apples, celery, pecans and bleu cheese atop winter greens ($9)?
A culinary classic modernizes its menu with Continental cuisine and cotton candy.
In the years since I first dined at The Arizona Biltmore, the resort’s signature restaurant morphed from The Orangerie into Wright’s. It’s gone from cascading crystal chandelier formality to an attempt at casual-chic involving spectacularly ungainly wicker chairs. And it’s experimented with virtually every known food style, from Continental
Flour Power - Forget Paris – the Valley is home to world-class pastry chefs that satisfy our cravings for creatively-crafted cupcakes, shortbreads, tarts and petit fours
DRINK THIS
The “greenhouse effect” is the process in which gases in the atmosphere absorb thermal radiation from the Earth and then re-radiate it in all directions. Similarly, the “Greenhouse Cooler” is a drink in which the flavors of fresh, tangy tomatoes and sweet, juicy watermelon are absorbed by alcohol and then re-radiated across your palate.
Want to catch your favorite team and maximize your going-out dollar? These all-star happy hour haunts offer game-changing food and drink specials.
SWEET SPOT
The creative genius behind restaurant Noca’s inventive desserts is Kriss Harvey, a pastry chef nomad currently based in Southern California. Thankfully for us, Harvey’s sugar-rush wanderlust often leads him to Phoenix. Noca owner Eliot Wexler contracts the pâtissier to develop desserts and train staff on how to execute them. Wexler has hired Harvey to consult and train several times a year since he opened in 2008, and Harvey’s desserts at Noca are dependably quirky and show-stopping.
Take, for example, the playful Passion & Fruit ($9) presented on a rectangular, black-slate plate. “The idea was to create a dessert that looks like real fruit, made with fruit, of course, but it isn’t really fresh fruit,” Harvey says.
LOCAL PRODUCT
Fresh dry pasta isn’t an oxymoron, even though it sounds like one. Most dried pasta available commercially – spaghetti, fettuccine and elbow macaroni, among other shapes – probably isn’t fresh and was likely mass-produced in industrial factories. But the delectable dried pastas from Pasta and Sugo in Phoenix are made fresh and air-dried naturally (sans heat) in specially made boxes, locking in flavor and freshness. Some of the company’s dried pasta tastes as if it were rolled and cut right in front of you.
Patrick Grindatto and his wife Doria Dphrepaulezz – who moved to Phoenix from Milan, Italy – own the three-year-old company and make both dry pasta and fresh frozen pasta (cheese ravioli and tagliatelle).
With a daily-changing menu and a bit of an identity crisis, reinvented coffee hangout Lux seems indecisive, but its comfort food is decidedly tasty.
For longtime fans of Lux Coffeebar, the reincarnated Lux Central is like a buffed-up – but still recognizable – after-shot of their beloved but bygone coffeehouse. For everyone else, the new Lux can be confusing. Is it a coffee shop or a restaurant or a bar? The answer is: all three.
