Thank you gods

There are days when you know the food gods are trying to get your goat (preferably marinated overnight and braised for at least three hours), but if you play along with humor and good grace, you’ll likely be rewarded in the end. Such was the case on Sunday night. I wanted to try the new Thai place on Shea at 70th St., mostly so I’d have something to write about, but when we pulled into the empty parking lot we realized it was closed on Sunday. My next idea was the new LoLo’s Fried Chicken at Thomas and Scottsdale, with a backup of Noodle Ranch, which is in the same shopping center. Although LoLo’s seems to be all set up and ready for business, it was closed to us, as was Noodle Ranch. Sunday. Rather than drive around Old Town looking for someplace open, we chose to go east on Thomas to Shanghai Palace, a place we remembered as being good, but hadn’t been to in a long time. You guessed it - we got there and it had been replaced by Tottie’s Asian Fusion. At least the place was open, so we figured the gods were trying to tell us something. I’m glad we listened.

It turns out that Tottie’s is the new and better Shanghai Palace. Same owner, bigger space (they took over the shop next door), redecorated and tastier than ever. The ambiance is excellent: dark wood tables and chairs, and booths upholstered in a soothing pattern. There’s lots of greenery (mostly fake, but pleasant nonetheless), and a fascinating dragon wall-hanging made of hundreds of crystals, each suspended from its own thread. This is located in the middle of the restaurant in a cute little area with couches and a coffee table for those customers waiting for a seat at the sushi bar.

The menu is a large one since it has dishes from Thailand, China, Vietnam and Japan. Ken couldn’t resist ordering a special, Javanese Iced Coffee. It was really more a dessert since it contained chocolate syrup and coconut cream mixed with super-strong coffee, but it turned out to mitigate the heat from our Spicy Cucumber Salad ($3.50). For entrees, I chose Vietnamese Bun Tom ($7.95) and Ken selected Thai Salmon with Basil Ginger Sauce ($10.95). The Bun Tom arrived in a large bowl with a mixture of lettuce, basil and mint on the bottom, topped by rice vermicelli and chopped peanuts. Surrounding this were 5 good size shrimp and pieces of pork, both of which had been charbroiled. My favorite topping was the Tottie Rolls, a creation of the chef/owner Tottie Kaya. They’re Thai style, pork filled mini egg rolls. You drizzle the slightly sweet soy based sauce over the top, and mix the whole thing up. It’s a wonderfully satisfying dish. Ken’s salmon was beautifully presented, covered with a deep brown thick sauce and served with steamed vegetables. The sauce was amazing, Ken actually spooned over rice the little that was left on the plate after finishing the fish, something he almost never does.

Sadly, since we’d had our dessert drink at the beginning of our meal, we couldn’t bring ourselves to order any of the homemade ice cream. A few years ago we tried the ice cream sampler ($12.95 and enough for four diners) and were intrigued by many of the Asian flavors. Oh well, next time.

The price is right, the portions generous, and the service gracious and friendly. Do yourself a favor and try it. By the way, a second location is opening at the corner of Scottsdale Road and Lincoln, in the Trader Joe’s shopping center.

Tottie’s Asian Fusion

7901 E. Thomas Rd. Scottsdale

480-970-0633

tottiesasianfusion.com

Tuesday-Thursday 11 - 9, Friday - Sunday 11 - 9:30, closed Monday

A New Meaning for Southern Italian

Face it, there aren’t too many places where you can get fried okra, hushpuppies and lasagna on the same plate. Probably you wouldn’t want to, but at The Italian Spoon you can. Also fried catfish, gyros and a breakfast burrito. We discovered the Spoon while combing through Restaurant.com for their latest deals. It’s not a place you’d likely find on your own, since it’s tucked away in the corner of an office complex on East Redfield Road, just west of Hayden.

Hours are from 9AM to 4PM Monday through Friday, so they’re clearly there to service the office trade. There’s loads of “for lease” signs up, but the Spoon was doing a fair business at lunchtime while we were there. Prices are quite reasonable, portions are big, and our food was good. We stuck with the Italian dishes, although we did get an order of hushpuppies ($2.65). They weren’t up to Restaurant 28 standards, but you can’t expect miracles. I had an eggplant parmesan plate ($10.25) which came with a whopping side of pasta. The eggplant was beautifully cooked, thinly sliced, not heavily breaded and very tender. My only complaint was with the sauce, which was too thin and not well seasoned. Ken had baked ziti with ricotta and mozzarella ($7.75). Every forkful had strings of melty cheese dripping down. We brought home at least half of our lunch.

The reason that there are southern specials on the menu is because the family owns a second restaurant, a fish and chips place called Mandy Fish, at 24th Street and Jefferson. Codfish and catfish, as well as shrimp are available at the Spoon. There’s pizza, which looked quite good, and some salads. Oops, I forgot about the calamari and clam strips. I’ve left out a number of items, but this is a menu you have to see for yourself. Unfortunately there’s no website, and the menu on Restaurant.com is woefully lacking. So if you’re in the area at lunch time, stop by.

The Italian Spoon

7950 E. Redfield Rd. (N.E. corner of 79th St. and Redfield)

480-596-5119

Monday - Friday 9 - 4

Let them eat fries

I went to Sapna Cafe expecting (and even wanting) to dislike it. These are some of the things I read about it that really turned me off:

“winsome”

“healthy, globally inspired food”

“funky”

Even the name Sapna (which in English has an ugly ring to it) means “dream”. All of this added up to something which in my mind was, please excuse more quotation marks, “hippie precious”.

The ambiance served to underscore my feelings. There are gauzy Indian prints hanging from the window tops, and insubstantial tables and chairs crowded into the little pie-shaped space, which appropriately enough is in the old Bragg’s Pie Factory building on Grand Ave. So, too, the menu which is very small, weird, and “organic”.

Breakfast is served from 7 - 11 and includes omelets, scrambles and tofu with veggies. At lunch there are a few quesadillas, one with brie and onion marmalade, another with blue cheese and tomato marmalade ($5 each). There are panini ($7) such as croque monsieur (without the sauce), and brie with pears and walnuts. A number of salads are served. Ken had one of the rotating specials, eggplant, garbanzos, and couscous on field greens (the salads are also $7). He loved it. A lentil salad with onion, carrots, zucchini and red pepper also comes on field greens. I understand the tabbouleh is very popular.

To drink: there’s hot or cold mint tea, ginger lemonade, homemade orangeade with pomegranate and orange flower water, and a few other things - most strangely, gazpacho, served in a glass with a straw. It’s kind of amusing to drink because bits of vegetable keep clogging up the straw so you either get to suck it up really hard, or blow it out while trying to keep all the liquid in the glass. There are usually two or three desserts to choose from.

Now, I’m sure you can tell from my tone that I’m still not happy. And this is despite the fact that I enjoyed my panini (it was so big I took half home and ate it for dinner). The service was excellent. When Ken mentioned that he doesn’t like cilantro, our waitress made sure that his food was free of it, and offered to substitute parsley. We commented to her that our chocolate pie, while quite tasty, would have been better with whipped cream, she said that next time we should just ask, and it would be given (homemade, not canned). So what explains my grouchiness? I don’t know, maybe if it was called “unhealthy, globally inspired food” I’d feel better. Or if there were french fries.

So don’t let me keep you away. You really should try Sapna Cafe. If only they’d name it something else!!!

Sapna Cafe

1301 Grand Ave. at McKinley Phoenix

602-254-6726

Mon. - Fri. 7 - 7, Sat. 10 - 7, closed Sunday in the summer

I suggest you call and check the hours before you go.

There seems to be no website

Bone Appetit

While looking for dining bargains on Restaurant.com, I ran across a $25 gift certificate for $2 for Bad to the Bone, a new BBQ restaurant in the Promenade shopping center on the corner of Frank Lloyd Wright and Scottsdale Rd. Boy was I excited- I love BBQ!!!! We bought the coupon and made a dash for the car.

I don’t remember which restaurant Bad to the Bone replaced, but it was a large one. It’s now attractively decorated, cowboy-style, with bricks, brands, gas lamps and lariats. The menu sticks pretty rigorously to smoked treats, with a cursory nod to fish (catfish, salmon or halibut - $14.95 to $18.95), and even that can be had mesquite grilled. There are entree salads topped with meat, chicken or fish. Two of the more interesting sounding appetizers are pulled pork nachos ($8.95) and BBQ chicken pizza (also $8.95)

We went right for the meat, no fooling around here. We ordered combo plates, since we feel it’s our duty to get a good feel for what’s being served. Mine was a rib combo, with beef ribs and baby backs ($22.95) and Ken got two meats, tri-tip and brisket ($16.95). Each of these came with two sides. The usual suspects are available - beans, coleslaw, regular fries or sweet potato, corn, steamed veggies, etc. There are so-called “premium” sides for $2 more per side. These included baked potato, mac and cheese and sauteed veggies. I thought it was pretty chintzy charging extra for throwing the vegetables into a pan or a potato into the oven.

While we waited, our cheerful server brought us two corn muffins with some honey butter. Mild jalapenos had been added to the batter. The muffins were quite good. Too bad we were not asked if we wanted more. Our platters arrived, and they were huge. The sides were served on separate plates, and these were also large. Both types of ribs were outstanding, but the beef ribs were stellar. It may seem stupid, but I had never made the connection between beef ribs and roast beef, probably because usually there is so little meat left on the ribs it’s hard to tell what animal it came from. These had lots of meat and very little fat. It actually tasted like roast beef!!! What a concept. The BBQ sauce was served on the side, which was a good thing since the rub on the ribs was delicious and sauce would have been superfluous (besides, it wasn’t all that good). The rub is for sale. The pork ribs were also nice and meaty and moist. Worthy of the word YUMMY. Unfortunately the same could not be said of either the sliced meats or the sides. The corn was pretty good, but coleslaw, onion rings and sweet potato fries were just adequate (although they were served with a nice mustard sauce). The brisket and tri-tip were tough and too smokey-tasting. We ended up taking those home along with a beef rib and three baby backs. The interesting thing is that eaten cold, in a sandwich, the sliced meats were delicious. The ribs tasted as good when reheated as they did at the restaurant, pretty unusual for BBQ.

We were totally stuffed, but there was pecan pie for dessert and I had been craving a piece (what else is new?), so I got it to go. Unfortunately it was pretty bad. But with ribs this good, who needs dessert.

Bad to the Bone is not a cheap lunch (or dinner) unless you go to Restaurant.com and buy a gift certificate. But to be honest, I’d go back for the ribs even if I had to pay full price.

Bad To The Bone

7401 E. Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd. Scottsdale

480-607-2227

badtothebone-bbq.com/2009/scottsdale_restaurant

Summer hours: Sunday - Thursday 11- 10, Friday and Saturday 11 AM -

midnight