Soul Full

        Andre, the owner of Off Da Hook Soul Food Restaurant, is a true foodie. When he noticed that the fried chicken breast on my plate might be a little dry, he cooked up a new one for me. His goal is to serve the same quality food in his restaurant that he’d want to eat at home. He can invite me there anytime.

     We each ordered a plate: smothered pork chops ($10.50) for Ken and fried chicken ($9.50) for me. Each came with two sides, so we opted for mac and cheese, cabbage, greens, and yams (all the sides are $4 if ordered a la carte), and corn bread. Since it was busy, Andre gave us some corn bread to “keep us busy”. It was burn-the-fingers hot. Whether it got that way in the microwave I don’t know, because it was so buttery-sweet-good it got eaten before it could change texture. The chicken was delicious, with a light peppery crust and moist meat. The two pork chops on Ken’s plate were huge, and to use Ken’s word, “astounding”. They had also been breaded and fried, but they remained succulent. All the sides were outstanding, to a great extent because they’re not loaded with salt. The cabbage was nice and sweet, and the mac and cheese gooey and rich (although I have to say that Bobby Q is still has my #1). The yams were fabulous - in a nice, lightly spiced syrup, they could have been dessert. Since the portions are more than generous, we took home a piece of sweet potato pie ($3). I’m glad that we hadn’t tried it at the end of our meal as it was disappointing. The filling was one-dimensional and the crust unpleasant. Hopefully the peach cobbler or red velvet cake are better. 

     There are lots more things on the menu I’d like to try. I’m not sure Ken will ever be able to get beyond the pork chops. Ribs, meatloaf, fried shrimp, and oxtails. Some of Andre’s family is from Louisiana, so there’s gumbo and red beans and rice. Catfish and red snapper. You can even get baked chicken - but why would you?

     The restaurant is small, with an active take-out business. It’s clean, tables get bussed quickly, and everybody is friendly. In fact, we spent a pleasant half hour talking food with Andre. There’s another location at the swap meet at 5115 N. 27th Ave.

Off Da Hook

1804 W. Glendale Ave.,  Phoenix     602-242-1922

Open 7 days,  10 - 8

no website

The Sound of Orgasmic Humming

     I was awakened from my foodie revery of perfectly seasoned babaganooj on home-made bread by an eerie orgasmic humming. I looked up and saw Ken, his eyes glazed over, humming to his glass of iced Turkish coffee, a delight of his own creation. When Tony, the owner (along with his wife Juliette) came over to investigate, he decided he had to have one too.

     This took place at Olive Tree Mediterranean Market and Grill in North Phoenix. Unlike most small groceries, Olive Tree is bright, clean and cheerful. The shelves are stocked with fascinating Middle Eastern delights - jars of olives and tahini, an interesting assortment of cheeses, sweet treats that I’d never seen before. You order at the counter   

from a good size selection of ethnic dishes, plus a few typical American items. Food is then brought to your table in a sectioned off area.

     I had discovered Olive Tree on Restaurant.com. Since we had to order $35 of food from the menu, we ended up with quite an array of dishes. Now that I think of it, the humming started with the above-mentioned baba. This roasted, pureed eggplant concoction is found in most Middle Eastern restaurants, with varying results. It can be very flat tasting if too much tahini (sesame paste) is mixed in, or it may be over-spiced. This baba was beautiful, with all the tastes dancing in our mouths. Julliette makes her own bread to go with it. The texture is very different from pita (even the pita served here was selected with great care), crustier and chewy. A special of the day was stuffed cabbage. About the same size and shape as the stuffed grape leaves (which were delicious), these are lighter and lemony good - a real treat. We shared a combination kebab plate with chicken, kefta, and shish-kebab skewers. This paled in comparison to the other dishes, since the meat was on the dry side. The baklava was quite good, it wasn’t soggy with syrup, so the layers of phyllo dough made a satisfyingly crunchy noise.

    After lunch we did a little shopping. We got some delicious feta cheese and something called Chicago cheese, which reminded me of mozzarella. I could have bought more, but Ken wisely herded me out the door.

Olive Tree Mediterranean Market and Grill

1930 W. Pinnacle Peak   Phoenix  (at 19th Ave.)

623-582-0222

I couldn’t find a web site

Monday - Thursday  9 - 7,   Friday and Saturday   9 - 8,  Sunday  11 - 7

A Grand Surprise

1. It was raining.
2. We had to get out of the house for a few hours.
3. It was lunch time.

     So we decided to go down to Scottsdale Fashion Square, figuring there must be someplace to have lunch, we’d be out of the rain, and we could walk around for a while afterwards. However, it seemed to be a bad decision. The mall was mobbed, the food court gross, and the uninspiring restaurants near the food court had long lines. I was ready to leave, but Ken has more forbearance than I do, so we went up half a level, following a sign pointing toward Yard House and Grand Lux Cafe. Fortunately, the sidewalk led us to the Cafe, a place we had never noticed before.

      We entered the imposing lobby, done up in black marble (faux?), with a nice display of desserts in a glass case. There was a short wait, during which we looked over the extensive menu. The dining area is cavernous, with high, high ceilings. There are lots of chandeliers, gilt moldings, and art deco touches. All very Vegas. But with an eerily Cheesecake Factory vibe about it, too. Actually, now that I think about it, Vegas is very Cheesecake Factory. And as it turns out, the creator of the Cheesecake Factory was commissioned by the owners of the Venetian Resort and Casino to create a casual, upscale restaurant for them. And, voila, the Grand Lux Cafe was born. There are now about 15 of them scattered around the country.

     As you probably know by now, I’m not a big fan of corporate food, but there were some interesting items on the menu, it was still raining, and by now we were starving. We decided to share a cup of chicken/cream of mushroom soup. It was actually more like a bowl, a serving-size trend which was to continue. Beautifully seasoned and creamy, it came as a great surprise. But even better was the accompanying bread. Both the white and whole wheat slices had such crisp crusts that we were sending shards all over ourselves and the tablecloth when we broke the slices apart. 

     Within a reasonable time our sandwiches arrived. Mine was short rib, grilled cheese and carmelized onion. A sublime combination, and one that had never occurred to me. There was a little container of a sweet and sour salsa, which helped cut the richness of the sandwich. I had asked for my side of fries to be extra crispy, but there were none on the plate. The waitress brought them a minute or two later - they had obviously spent extra time in the fryer because they were perfectly cooked. They’re at least as good as those at George’s Gyros, and maybe even a little better. For me, that makes them the best in town. Ken went with short ribs, too, but in the form of a sloppy joe. It came in a large hot dog style bun that had been nicely grilled. Mild,sweet onions and a serving of mustard sauce (which was heavenly on the fries) were on the plate. Ken liked my sandwich a little better than his, but I thought they were pretty much equal. I believe my sandwich was $12, and Ken’s was $10 - not bad for the quality and quantity.

     As I said, the menu was quite large. I’ll mention a few of the items which caught my eye. Appetizers: cheese steak springrolls, duck pot stickers. The Oven and Broiler section: chicken pot pie and Jamaican pork tenderloin. Pan and Grill: fried chicken, thai caramel chicken, jambalaya, and weiner schnitzel. Many of the desserts are baked to order and must be ordered at the beginning of your meal. There’s molten chocolate cake (isn’t there always?!), roasted pineapple upside down cake, beignets, and a few more. From the bakery come sticky bun bread pudding, banana cream pie, five kinds of cheesecake and chocolate layer cake. I could go on but you get the idea. I’ve left out lots of things on the menu, salads, pizzas, and a specialty cocktail of the day for $5 - you can see the whole thing on their website. Unfortunately the prices aren’t listed there. The entrees seem to range from about $13 to the mid twenties. Not cheap, but not outrageous, and lots of things are share-able.

     I’d happily go back, particularly if it’s not raining. There’s outdoor parking right near the door, so you don’t have to set foot in the mall.

Grand Lux Cafe

7014 E. Camelback Rd. Scottsdale

On the East side of Scottsdale Fashion Square, next to Starbucks

480-949-7800

Monday - Thursday  11 - 10, Friday and Saturday  11 - 11, Sunday 10 - 10

grandluxcafe.com

Satisfaction

     If  you kiss enough princes, and you’re very lucky, one of them might just turn into a satisfied frog. Good fortune has smiled on us - if you go to 2827 E. Bell Rd. in Phoenix, you’ll find one there. Crazy Ed’s Satisfied Frog (a.k.a. The Little Frog on Bell) opened last night.

This is the home of my favorite fried chicken, and some mighty good ribs, beef and pork. The original Satisfied Frog lived up in Cave Creek in Frontier Town. He’d been around since 1981, and his demise came amidst a swirl of controversy, about two years ago. Crazy Ed and his wife Maria kept in touch with the faithful by e-mail, and he continued to sell his “world famous” Cave Creek Chili Beer on line. Then came the news that he was planning a come-back, and we hung on his every communication. Last night was our reward.

The new Frog is much smaller than its predecessor, but much cuter. There are rustic wood chairs and red tablecloths. Terrific lantern light fixtures, and for those who can’t do without, 12 TV screens. And the food is even better!! Our chicken ($14.99, enough for two) had crackly good skin, the fries were just the way I like them (you know, nice and crisp). A house salad was included, unlike at the old Frog. The price for this dinner was $3 less than previously. For dessert we had our old favorite, strawberry shortcake ($6.99, again, enough for two). The quality of the ice cream has been upgraded, and nice biscuits sop up the syrup, instead of cake which used to get soggy. This was $2 less expensive.

In fact, all the prices are quite reasonable. The meats, which all come from Harris Ranch and are organic and hormone free, range in price from $6.99 for a ground-fresh burger, to $18.99 for a full rack of St. Louis ribs. All-you-can-eat beef ribs (boy, did they smell good!) are available daily for $10.99. There’s pulled pork and brisket, and fish and chips ($9.99 for a basket and $12.99 for a platter). A new item on the menu is cream of green chili soup ($6.99), described as heavy cream blended with mild green chiles and butter, then topped with croutons and cheese. I’ve got to try that next time. There’s lots more on the menu, which you can find on line.

I think I’ll go find some more princes to kiss and see what pops up next.

Crazy Ed’s Satisfied Frog

2827 E. Bell Rd.   Phoenix     602-765-7777

satisfiedfrog.com

11AM-10PM Sunday - Thursday,    11-11 Friday and Saturday, bar open til 2AM

Time Travel

It’s 1961 and we’re having lunch in the courtyard of our Miami Beach hotel. Parker House rolls, sweet and salty, an open-face meatloaf sandwich with mushroom gravy. There’s a surf board and a tiki carving amidst the flowers. But wait - something’s wrong!! There’s no humidity! Those are imported mushrooms in my gravy! I work to orient myself in time and space and find, what a relief, that I’m actually in Cafe ZuZu in downtown Scottsdale and it’s 2010.

The Valley Ho Resort, which houses the Cafe, is such a wonderful period piece. It opened in 1956 and was renovated in 2005 by a very wise design team that left the mid-century architecture and spirit intact. Cafe ZuZu is at the far end of the lobby, and its charming patio is surrounded with flowers. The decor is late 50’s. If you’re as old as we are, you’ll recognize it instantly. The menu consists of “Flavorful American comfort food. Familiar favorites with a contemporary twist.” There are goodies like warm Maytag blue cheese fondue ($7.50), truffled grilled cheese ($9), beef stroganoff ($17), and (gross) tuna salad with cottage cheese which brings me back to my childhood a little too clearly.

While waiting for our entrees, we received a basket of Parker House rolls. These are the nice squishy white bread treats that, if you can manage not to eat them all, make wonderful toys. You can mold them into sculptures, or shape them into little round beebees to shoot through your straw. My meatloaf sandwich ($11.25) was served on a thick piece of grilled white bread topped first with melty cheese, then the meatloaf, then the gravy. There was a mound of lumpless mashed potatoes alongside. They were so smooth Ken wondered if they were made from instant, but they tasted much too good for that. The portion was huge, I took half home (of course I knew I was going to have dessert). Ken had sauteed liver, beautifully prepared, atop a mound of kale that had been cooked with high quality bacon, sauced with a Madera reduction. He loved it. I surprised him by ordering a lemon meringue tart ($6) for us to share. There were several chocolate desserts that sounded good, but I had a vision of the mile high meringue toppings of my childhood. The tart had only modest swirls of meringue, but it had been made in such a way that it was creamy, as opposed to foamy, and it was really good.The lemon custard was the star. I remembered a gelatinous filling, but this was smooth and velvety, with just the right tart/sweet balance. The pastry was a cross between cookie and pie crust, and stood up well to the filling.

This was not an inexpensive meal, but the portions are large and quality is excellent. Plus we had joined an organization called The Lunch Club, which every weekday, emails it’s members a discount coupon for a restaurant in their specified zip code. So one of our entrees was free! (The discount coupons differ, some are 20% off the bill, others merely are for a free drink). But, to pay Cafe ZuZu the ultimate compliment - I’d come here and pay full price.

Cafe ZuZu in the Valley Ho Resort

6850 E. Main St.   Scottsdale

480-421-7997

Breakfast (6-11:15AM), Lunch (11:30-2:30) and Dinner (5:30-10) daily

hotelvalleyho.com

The Big Cheese

Cheese lovers rejoice!! We have a great new resource in Scottsdale at The Quarter, that oh-so-ugly, still a work-in-progress shopping center on Scottsdale Road at the Greenway-Hayden Loop. It’s called Oakville Grocery, and it comes to us from Napa Valley where it’s been in operation since 1881.

The concept is similar to that of The Kitchen (see below). Shelves are stocked with all sorts of gourmet items you didn’t know you had to have. There’s an extensive collection of primarily California wines. There’s prepared foods to-go, and a salad/pizza/sandwich counter. Also charcuterie, a butchers station, and - fanfare - an awesome cheese section. We hit it from one end, where there was a bowl full of little cheese cubes to sample. It was Grana Padano, fresh off the boat from Italy. Like a cross between Emmenthaler and Parmesan it can be grated, shredded, or just eaten out of hand. (I went to the refrigerator just now to check on its name, and I couldn’t leave without cutting off a piece to munch on). We worked our way down the display, which took a while because we were reading about all the cheeses that were new to us. There were some old favorites, too, like those from the Cowgirl Creamery in San Francisco. The friendly and knowledgeable staff say that they will be happy to order anything not in stock (this is store policy, and they have a number of speciality catalogs for you to look at). This is probably the largest and most eclectic selection around. The prices are comparable to those at Whole Foods, or AJ, expensive, but “such is life”. 

The same cannot be said for the rest of the merchandise. I spied an Italian ham for $130 a pound, lamb chops for $40 a pound. When I compared the price of jarred, imported tuna filets at Oakville and AJ’s, AJ’s was $3.00 cheaper ($7 versus $10 for a 7 ounce jar). The sandwiches are several dollars more expensive than those at The Kitchen, and pretty much on a par in terms of taste and quality. We had a serrano ham and machengo cheese sandwich on MJ bread for $8.99, served with a side of pasta salad, both quite good and big enough to share, so the price is not totally outrageous, but still... The Kitchen is cheaper. And speaking of bread, while MJ bread is very good, the selection is smaller and less interesting than the house-made bread at, you guessed it, The Kitchen. Oakville’s pastry selection is, in my opinion, boring at best, and unappetizing at worst.

The aisles in Oakville are cramped, it’s difficult for two of their small carts to pass each other. In an effort to display more merchandise the shelves are set up like a maze, and when lines form at the checkout counters, gridlock results. 

But cheese lovers, don’t let these negatives deter you. Go see and taste for yourselves, you’ll be glad you did.

Oakville Grocery

1501 N. Scottsdale Rd.   Scottsdale     in The Quarter 

480-596-8200

Monday - Saturday 10 - 9     Sunday  10 - 7     

espresso cafe  opens 7AM Monday - Saturday,  8AM Sunday

oakvillgroceryarizona.com  the website does not seem to be working yet

Changing Tastes

Lately I find my tastes changing. These changes ambush me without warning: not long ago I stopped putting Splenda in my tea - cold turkey. I started liking pastrami instead of corned beef. I stopped watching the news on TV. Is this a function of aging? I don’t know.

One of the more dramatic changes has been my growing appreciation of the overall “character” of a restaurant. I find myself much more willing to overlook small gaffes in the food preparation if the staff is friendly and knowledgeable, or if the ambience is cheerful and interesting in some way. It doesn’t have to be fancy - but it can’t be gloomy and boring.

This was brought home to me today at lunch. Our friend Sue picked a place I had never been to - Spinato’s Pizza. It’s a family owned and run local chain with four locations. We went to the one at Bell and 16th Street. Sue brought along her friend/employer Lee. It happens that Lee’s grandson works in Spinato’s kitchen. He always makes it a point to arrive 35 minutes before his shift begins so he can take advantage of employee dinner and he appreciates being treated like family. The place is cute - decorated in red, green and white. There are striped awnings above the booths, and trellises with vines. The chairs are white with green (or red) seats, and the table tops are white with the Spinato logo in the corners. The patio has tables with red-checked cloths. We were warmly greeted , and our server arrived promptly to offer drinks.

Ken and I ordered a large Spicy Italian pie ($19.50) with added ricotta. We also got a salad ($3.99). Lee requested garlic bread ($3.99, $4.79 with cheese), and a small spinach calzone, one of the house specialties ($9). Sue got spinach too, but in the form of a “lil” (smaller than small) pizza ($7.50). The salads arrived first, notable mostly for their large size. While the ingredients were fresh, there was nothing exciting there. The olive oil and balsamic vinegar served with them were of good quality. The garlic bread, eight pieces in the order, was outstanding - lots and lots of fresh garlic and a generous amount of butter. You have to make sure that everyone you’ll be talking to in the next few hours has eaten some too. The staff checked in frequently to ask if we were happy. The pizzas were served on a wire rack, a great idea since the thin crust remains nice and crisp. Instead of slices, our pie was cut into many small squares. I found that for some reason this caused me to eat less. The pizza wasn’t loaded down with sauce, and it had plenty of toppings. I tasted Sue’s spinach pie and it was really good. The spinach is marinated before being put on the pizza, and there’s tons of fresh garlic. Lee’s calzone was quite large - he took half of it home.

The menu isn’t extensive. Besides the pizzas (10 varieties, plus design your own)  and calzone (there’s a spaghetti and meatball one) there are two pastas and five sandwiches. We didn’t inquire about dessert. The story behind Spinato’s is told on the back of the menu. The family was worried that when they left Chicago for Phoenix, back in the “70’s, they wouldn’t be able to find good pizza. What choice did they have but to open their own pizza parlor?! As the family grew so did the number of parlors. While the prices aren’t low, you can go to lunchclub.com and get a 25% off the entire bill coupon. Aren’t coupons great!!

I have to say that if I was doing a blind taste-test between Stumpy’s pizza (see the archives) and Spinato’s, I’d probably give the nod to Stumpy’s. But if you add in those other factors which have become important to me, as a dining destination Spinato’s wins. It’s also won awards from Phoenix New Times, the Scottsdale Culinary Festival and City Search.

Spinato’s Pizzeria

1614 E. Bell Rd.   Phoenix     see website for other locations

spinatospizza.com

Tuesday - Saturday  11 - 9    Sunday  4 - 9      closed Monday