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 You guessed it - we got there and it had been replaced by Tottie’s Asian Fusion.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

A Road Trip

Since we had some business to conduct in Mesa, we decided to go to two new places that were on our “To Try” list. We started heading east on Shea to get to the 101 and got stuck in construction traffic. Our stomachs started rumbling, and we knew we’d never make it to Mesa, so we took a detour to Goldman’s Deli at Indian Bend and Hayden.

For as long as we’ve been in Phoenix, Goldman’s has been our go-to place for good Jewish food. Lately, however, I’ve noticed a sad decline in food quality and quantity. This was confirmed by our pit stop. Ken ordered half a tongue and swiss sandwich for us to share before our real lunch in Mesa. The sandwich was quite skimpy, especially for the price, but this didn’t matter since it wasn’t worth eating. How do you get tough tongue? I started imagining what the cow could have been doing to make it so, but this was particularly unappetizing and not a good path to go down. So I decided it must have been in the cooking. Very sad. We’re not particularly fond of Chompies - our hopes are now with Miracle Mile Deli which is opening this fall at Frank Lloyd Wright and Bell.

We continued on.....and on and on, to Val Vista Drive just north of Baseline and arrived at Pastis Delicatessen and EuroGrille.. It’s divided up into a little Eastern European grocery, a takeout deli which seems to specialize in smoked meats, and a casual, attractive restaurant and bar. The menu has some very interesting items, I read that they’re “Balkan/Mountain Slav”. One of the appetizers is skirt steak served with potato pancakes and garlic spinach with smoked tomato and oregano sauce ($9.25). There are also pierogi, calamari, crab cakes, and muscles (sic) in wine and garlic. Soup changes daily. We shared mushroom soup, very different from what we’re used to, loaded with mushrooms in a fairly thick but not creamy broth and quite spicy. The large bowlful was $4.75, and we didn’t leave a spoonful.

The grilled entrees were a must-have. We split a chevapi sandwich. This is Slavic ground sirloin links served on grilled lepinja bread (which reminded me of the bread Mexican tortas are served on) accompanied by homemade hummus and chopped onions so mild Ken was happy munching them solo. The spice blend in the meat was delicious. There were 8 links, more than enough to share, and not a bad deal at $9.75. Other items from the grill are a 16 ounce rib-eye ($18.75), sudjuk sausage, and portabellas covered with hummus and feta.

There are lots of sandwiches, hot and cold. Bratwurst, pastrami, meatball and sausage subs. Also five or six salads. And more entrees, not from the grill. The specialty dessert is crepes ($5.75) with many fillings available. Not made in-house, but very good looking are the little composed cake/mousse/ganache treats so popular now ($4.50). I have to write the description of one called Paradisio:

Vanilla genoise, mango/passionfruit mousse, coconut

mousse, dark chocolate and cape gooseberry decoration

The service was concerned and personable, the food outstanding, and the price reasonable. Despite the long drive, we’ll happily return.

We decided to do our business errand, then tackle dessert. We were very excited about going to Udder Delights since good ice cream is hard to come by in Phoenix. This little shop, tucked away in a strip mall in Gilbert is co-owned by two people very much into “local first”. In fact, the family of one owns a dairy farm. This may help explain the luxurious richness of the ice cream produced here. The flavors, of which there are 45 (they are rotated throughout the year) are spot-on, too. I was drawn to key lime pie, and found it more satisfying than the pastry version. It was perfectly balanced between sweet and tart, and had graham cracker crumbs mixed in. Ken tasted a chocolate/coffee mix that was so chocolaty it didn’t even need hot fudge.

Currently, Tracy Dempsey, a well known pastry chef is creating desserts for Udder Delights before the opening of her own dessert restaurant. We ordered some banana fudge bread pudding to go with Ken’s ice cream choice. What a combination!!

The shop is tiny, and feels very crowded even when there aren’t lots of people there. It also didn’t strike me as particularly clean, but there was only one employee, so I guess it was hard for her to keep up. Besides, I can overlook almost anything for ice cream this good. I’m glad Udder Delights is so far away. This place is truly dangerous.

We managed to make it safely home despite our carb hangovers. Needless to say, we skipped supper.

Pastis Delicatessen & EuroGrille

1935 S. Val Vista Dr. Mesa

480-926-3354 pastisaz.com

open 7 days, 11-9

Udder Delights

1385 E. Warner Rd. Gilbert

480-507-3859 udderdelightsaz.com

closed Monday

A Whole Meal Experience

We wanted to give an out-of-town friend an interesting dining experience, so we decided to try a northern Indian restaurant in Tempe called The Dhaba. It’s in the India Center on Apache Boulevard. While sharing space with the grocery, it feels entirely separate and is attractively decorated in an interesting shade of green which seems to be a mixture of lime, avacado, and chartreuse. There are orange accent pieces, and the tables are dark brown wood. They’re set with metal chargers and drinking cups. During dinner I came to appreciate the metal cups: they magnify the coldness of the water, and are great to hold against tingling lips.

The menu is quite large, so we nibbled on the papadums and sauces while reading. Under “starters” there are “street treats” such as ambala tiki chaat - potato pancakes served with garbanzo beans, onions, mint and tamarind chutney and yogurt. Marinated chicken wings cooked in the tandoor sounded good, but being great fans of Indian cheese, we went with the paneer fritters. These were nicely cooked, lightly dipped in batter and deep fried, but not very interesting. Next time we’ll go with something more exotic.

There are a large number of vegetarian entrees, and many tempting dishes cooked in the tandoor, but I ordered one of the Dhaba Thalis, a “Whole Meal Experience”. I selected the Maharaja which came with a salad, two kinds of chicken, a curry (I chose lamb), daal, rice pilaf, naan, raita, and dessert. All for $15. Our friend chose a different Thalis, and Ken, bless him, decided to try the goat. Our server said that the goat could be prepared in any manner, but he suggested that it be done in a mint sauce. I couldn’t resist adding an order of Kashmiri naan which had almonds and pistachios and a crackly sugar coating.

The salad arrived first, and was beautifully presented in a papadum basket. The diced cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and mangos were in a light mango vinaigrette. I enjoyed it thoroughly, but at the end of the meal realized that I would have appreciated it much more served after the entree, as a palate refresher.

Our two Whole Meal Experiences arrived, with all the different entrees on a large charger. My two chickens sat on a bed of rice pilaf which had fruits and nuts and was exceptionally good. Each chicken dish was moist and flavorful, which can be tricky when the tandoor is involved. The lamb curry was relatively mild. Actually the spiciest thing on the plate was the raita. Our guest was happily munching away on his whole meal.

The outstanding dish was the goat. The sauce was delicious - a tomatoey base with lots of mint and spices. The meat was actually tender. It must have been braised for hours and hours. The Kashmiri nan was a treat, and provided a nice foil for the varied sauces. All in all, there was a huge amount to eat for a very reasonable price, which I find is not often the case in Indian restaurants. Ken and I couldn’t finish our meals, but Matt can’t stand to see food go to waste so we had no leftovers.

Dessert was a sampling of rice pudding and fried cheese balls. I sampled, but I’ve never been a fan of Indian desserts and these didn’t change my mind. Matt finished them up. The three of us agreed that The Dhaba was a great find.

The Dhaba

1876 E. Apache Blvd. Tempe

480-446-2824

Monday - Friday 11-3 and 5-10

Saturday and Sunday noon - 10

A Preliminary Report

After reading about it in the New Times, we decided to try Avalon Restaurant in south Scottsdale. It’s located next to 3 Palms Hotel at 77th Street and McDowell. The hotel sure doesn’t look like much from the outside, but it has many favorable reviewer’s comments. Avalon, on the other hand, is fairly impressive outside, and even more so inside. It’s decorated in a cooling slate blue color and has interesting tables raised up on a platform, with love-seat seating. One side of the building has garage doors (nicely disguised) which can be raised in the nice weather. Too bad the adjacent patio isn’t shielded from the hotel’s parking lot. Some bushes or a decorative screen would make it a lot more pleasant.

We had wanted late lunch, but only the Happy Hour menu was being served. There were seven items available - we chose the ‘Golden’ Goat Cheese and Fig Plate ($9) and the Crispy Calamari Frittes ($10). Interestingly, some of the items on the Happy Hour menu were more expensive than on the regular menu, and some less. Go figure.

Before our appetizers arrived we were served a mini loaf of bread, appropriately warm, not microwaved. A delicious butter, which had what I think were cherries mixed in, accompanied it. We also ordered a cocktail which resembled sangria on steroids. I liked it so much I drank more than my share, which was probably a good thing since Ken was driving.

The appetizers were attractively plated. The goat cheese had been pan fried and therefore had a crispy outer coating. It was served atop a raspberry gastrique (a thick syrup) and came with candied nuts. At first glance the three little cheese rounds looked like an inadequate amount, but they were very rich and filling. The perfectly fried calamari strips were topped with a Japanese mizzuna (a leafy green) saute and they sat on a pool of intriguing spicy cantaloupe butter. This was really soul satisfying food, with lovely textures and unusual flavors.

As you probably guessed, we couldn’t leave without trying dessert, especially since there was Dark Chocolate Decadence ($8, as were all the desserts). This turned out to be even better than a similar item from Scratch Bakery, which had been our standard of excellence. There were several kinds of chocolate in the dessert, and some cherries in liqueur on the bottom. Again, totally satisfying.

Of course we’ll be going back to try lunch, dinner, and maybe even weekend brunch. Now through at least August, and probably longer, there’s a prix fixe dinner available; three courses for $30, which would be a savings of about $15. Avalon isn’t cheap, but for the quality of the food and ambience, we considered it more than reasonable.

Avalon - “Contemporary American Coastal Cuisine”

7707 E. McDowell Rd.

Scottsdale 480-656-0010

avalon-scottsdale.com