Chris Bianco is very talented, we know. Slinging those iconic golden pies for the unyielding masses (almost) every night, the James Beard Award-wining chef’s notorious work ethic at his fabled Pizzeria Bianco has never seemed anything south of remarkable.

At Bianco’s sharper and more accessible cousin Pane Bianco, the chef manages to parlay his drive for the perfectly tailored pizza–an intuitive ratio of inspiration, meticulous ingredients and masterful execution–into one of the best sandwich shops in the city.

One of my absolutes at Pane Bianco is their peerless mozzarella, tomato and basil sandwich. Buttery, handmade buffalo mozzarella makes face time with minty basil and ripe, glossy tomatoes (both of which are house-grown), all gently pressed between doughy rounds of Bianco’s fine-tuned ciabatta-lite bread, blistered briefly in the kitchen’s sizable wood-burning oven. It’s Bianco’s nuanced skill, stockpiled for our effortless consumption.

Not one player shines brighter than its neighbor–the endgame of all moving parts; an education in simplicity done right.

This edible affair is not monogamous, however. For my ode to Pane Bianco’s tuna sandwich (and dreamy rice pudding) in the Downtown Phoenix Journal, go HERE.

Pane Bianco | 4404 N. Central Ave | 602-234-2100 | Midtown Phoenix

Good things come, eventually.

In a city full of neglected culinary forces in constant search of a permanent anchor, painfully talented chefs and bright ideas often seem to float haphazardly with no center of gravity, lacking any sense of community. Absolute talent rarely lingers long, all too often leaving Phoenix behind when serious notoriety or success is reached. Many examples exist to the contrary, but unfortunately skill here is often overlooked for more generic pastures by far too many.

Chef Justin Beckett is one of the latest local characters to push against the forces that frequently burden Phoenix’s culinary map. The adept, severely affable chef not only made a name for himself here, he decided to stay put when things took a negative turn.

Chef Beckett’s cooking career ascended most notably several years ago after the rise and crash of Canal, downtown Scottsdale’s pre-Great Recession shrine to restaurant frivolity. And though that shrine is now a tomb, it wasn’t because of the food. The sole arsenal that kept Canal afloat for longer than expected was the food—it was not only solid, it was often exceedingly so. Underneath the muzzle of $30 lobster sandwiches (which were delicious, btw) and gratuitous fashion shows, ignited routinely down a raised island catwalk through the restaurant’s dining room (I can’t make this stuff up), chef Justin Beckett was creating some of the brightest food in the city. Beckett generated interest with confident cooking—sometimes serious, sometimes sensed with needed humor.

After Canal finally raised its white flag to the reaper of misguided restaurant concepts, chef Beckett (along with his wife Michelle and close friends Scott and Katie Stephens) immediately embarked on a pilgrimage to helm a restaurant guided entirely by his own reins. As the brainstorming finalized, and the new physicality of his dream began to form, Justin Beckett also made a consorted effort to remain an active personality in the local community. Through various big-ticket media appearances, and most notably, a strong presence via social media (follow him on Twitter: HERE), Beckett amassed a devoted following anxiously awaiting his every move.

Beckett’s visibility never waned, and it appears about to pay off.

Located along the Arcadia neighborhood’s western fringe, at one far end of an otherwise homely shopping plaza along Indian School Rd. and 38th St., the eagerly anticipated Beckett’s Table exists in the entirely revised, now unrecognizable space that once housed the tortured restaurant That’s Italiano. Beckett’s eponymous eatery is the year-long (if not life-long) culmination of his focus, and enthusiasm.

The interior of Beckett’s Table straddles cavernous and cozy, polished and honest. Restaurant centerpieces exist in the form of a wide exhibition kitchen centered toward the room’s rear (chef Beckett’s main stage), and the nearly room-length communal table procured and crafted from reclaimed wood. Transmitting the chummy vibe of a well-designed living room that somehow evolved in to an energetic dining space, Beckett’s Table is gearing for neighborhood longevity.

Tapping into Beckett’s drive for classic comfort foods with pointed quirks, Beckett’s Table plans to play with a seasonal menu of time-tested benchmarks, molded with contemporary flair and technique. Think chicken and dumplings with saffron cream ($16); beef bourguignon shepherd’s pie (you read correctly; $16); pork osso bucco with a squash spätzle ($17); grits with andouille sausage ($8); and wonderfully, a vegetable-bright version of matzo ball soup ($6). For dessert? I say the s’mores, thanks to chocolate-dipped bacon ($5), and the fig-pecan pie, served adjacent to house-made cream cheese and citrus ice cream ($5).

Besides a wine and brew menu hawking varieties from both Arizona and destinations beyond our borders, Beckett’s Table also has an equally sharp listing of specialty crafted cocktails.

Now open for dinner only (5 to 10 p.m., Tuesday-Sunday), lunch service will evolve in time.

Beckett’s Table | BeckettsTable.com | 3717 E. Indian School Rd | 602-954-1700 | Biltmore Arcadia

Excited? Expected?

Foodly politics aside, events like the already in-progress Arizona Restaurant Week (Sept. 18th-26th) not only benefit local restaurants directly, injecting often sorely needed adrenaline into otherwise deserved-but-stagnate establishments, it also helps sell to a wider society our inherent dining offerings as a whole.

In a perpetually insecure state like Arizona, often plagued with the complacency of mediocrity⎯in seemingly everything⎯the truth is, Phoenix (and Arizona) truly does pull some credible tonnage in its dining arsenal that could spar with some of the best in the nation. We may not always hold the largest in sheer numbers, the breadth of diversity, and, we may not always rank highest in the hallways of Condé Nast, but sometimes we frankly deserve a little more respect.

This week is another opportunity to help connect the dots. Widely participated events like AZRW (and others) assist in encouraging everyday diners to break from their often staid, routine trade routes, allowing them to discover local eating in an updated light.

AZRW 2010

I’m happily participating in AZRW as much as I can. Everyone should sincerely do the same, particularly in regard to the independent, one-of-a-kind establishments we need thriving so achingly⎯not the sleazy, overtly corporate spots that weaseled their way onto the list of otherwise standout participants.

For the local food-obsessed community in particular, we should never be satisfied with marginal rankings or ignorant perceptions. If you love Phoenix, if you love Tucson, if you love Arizona, we need to do a better job at selling what we already have to be proud of. What am I most excited about, every year? Observing freshman diners trying new restaurants, eating new foods, all the while discovering there’s more to their respective communities and neighborhoods than initially assumed.

Dependent on the restaurant level, special AZRW, three-course prix fixe menus are set at either $29 or $39 price points⎯some of which even work a glass of wine into the price. A very reasonable negotiation if you ask me.

What restaurants look interesting to you? Make your reservations, now.

AZRW attack plans? Pundits I respect–
+ Chef, author, critic Gwen Walter’s organizing: HERE
+ PR wizard, “food nerd” Ty Largo’s pointers: HERE

Times of change.

Laden with seafaring potential and New England bounty, at times the harvest delivered on Cape Cod doesn’t always match its geographic and human charms⎯even though it should.

From the area’s nutritious dirt, fertile for agriculture of all casts; its waters, perfect for stocks of fish, mollusks and crustaceans; and its chronicled fabric of colonial American, Portuguese, Italian and French Canadian pedigrees, Cape Cod should already be sucking on a silver spoon. In some cornered aspects it is, though with research. To the majority of lacquered tourists in fact, who flock to the seaside peninsula and islands each summer, I know they sure think it is. To genuine food lovers though, initial novelties of clam chowder, fried clams, lobster rolls and mom-and-pop homemade ice cream shops can all-too-often fade into gluey, chewy, overcooked and sweet beyond repair. One can paralyze quickly with this repeated cycle of gut-busting monotony. Food-wise Cape Cod as a region hasn’t always lived up to its inherent, God-given potential. Most gratefully, in the past 3-5 years however, things seem to be slowly evolving.

Smarter, sharper restaurants have begun sprouting, finally allowing the fantasy of a genuinely satisfying meal⎯after your tenth night of fried, fried and fried⎯not seem the stretch it had any longer. After spending ample summers on the Cape for the better part of the last decade, I’ve decided to expose a little run-down of such eye-openers. Albeit brief (and by no means comprehensive), the list below should help direct any visiting food enthusiast, wary of the generic trappings of stale Cape Cod eating, to brighter horizons. If for nothing else, to set off on sound footing.

Lobster, among other things, risotto. Mac's Shack.

Wellfleet's eponymous creatures. Mac's Shack.

Mac’s Shack: (Wellfleet, MA)
Upscale, bustling cousin of the Mac’s Seafood Co.’s family of salty establishments, Mac’s Shack delivers a full sushi bar, a manned raw bar and a rotating, seasonal roster of forward-leaning menu items⎯energetic, regional fare with refreshing worldly framings. The sushi product itself is indeed some of the best found anywhere on the Cape (though not exactly a tight race due to lacking local inventory to begin with), and the outdoor bar area alone is lively and optimal for people watching, full of polite but posing WASP-y mugs⎯pretension tailored enough to be tolerable, but after a second glass of wine, nearly enjoyable. Ordered notables on my most recent visit: briny oysters; lobster risotto, rich with local corn, oyster mushrooms and mascarpone; and, a hefty crab cake, layered atop a spicy bacon and corn salsa, and a brush of chive cream.

(click “Read More” below to continue…)

Wicked Oyster: (Wellfleet, MA)
Packed into a charming, historic colonial home, the Wicked Oyster is another altered take on the local upscale dining experience. With its weathered, original hardwood flooring, creaking with every jerk of your chair; and, its lemon-colored walls displaying expressive local art, the space is cozy, simultaneously uplifting and reserved. A casual breakfast and lunch service is presented early in the day before a daily afternoon closing to prepare the restaurant for its more formal, serious dinner service. Menu carries a wind of seasonal, playful California cooking, mixed with the gravity of sturdy New England traditions. Light buttermilk, tempura-like fried calamari; smoky, porky clam chowder; and, a cycling range of daily seafood specials quickly make the grade.

Dining room, Sesuit Harbor Cafe.

Roll en route to mouth. Sesuit Harbor Cafe.

Sesuit Harbor Cafe: (Dennis, MA; no official website.)
I’ve already written about this buried Cape Cod jewel several times (detailed last year by yours truly HERE), and still consider it one of the best no-fuss seafood stops in the area. If for nothing else, their lobster rolls. They do deliver⎯sweet, mouth-melting meat, flipped with enlivened (read: seasoned) mayonnaise, lazily packed into a classic, toasted New England hot dog roll. All things considered, a satisfying carnage. The cafe’s graveled, waterfront patio overlooking Sesuit Harbor can’t be a hinderance either⎯quintessential Cape Cod.

Trevi: (Mashpee, MA)
Located in Mashpee Commons, an upper Cape outdoor shopping and lifestyle center (naming aside, think New England version of Phoenix’s Kierland Commons), Trevi continues to surprise. Food-wise generally western Mediterranean, the menu focuses strongest on coastal, southern Italian, with noted Greek and Spanish blips. A casual lunch of sandwiches, salads and daily specials give way to a more sophisticated and creative offering of smaller plates intended to be shared, for happy hour and dinner. An expansive wine list and knowledgeable bar staff make for added indulgences. The modern indoor space plays with high tables, wide pendant lamps and dark woodwork throughout.

Bleu: (Mashpee, MA)
Modernized French that fails to disappoint. Also located in Mashpee Commons, Bleu is a casual, quiet lunch spot turned confident and high-er caliber as the sun sets. The menu is bistro-lite French with regional New England airs. A cozy bar area, separated at one end of the restaurant, is a welcoming corner to process the day’s thoughts over wine and well-made cocktails. It’s true, sometimes I visit late just for a nightcap.

Siena: (Mashpee, MA)
Consistently rated one of the top upscale Italian haunts on the entire landmass, I’ve always been cynical about this Mashpee Commons’ mainstay. And, I’m always (for the most part) made to eat my thoughts humbly with each visit. Modern, restrained atmosphere consistently brimming, Siena manages to serve a wholeheartedly tasteful range of pasta dishes and elevated pizza. Let the wine flow my friends, it’s a good choice.

Tuna pasta special, pre cheese. Osteria La Civetta.

Post cheese. (I know.) Osteria La Civetta.

Osteria La Civetta: (Falmouth, MA)
One of my biggest revelations this year. Discovered entirely at the benefit of local hearsay, and not, per usually, any sharp research skills on my part (ahem), Osteria La Civetta was a discovery I will not forget on subsequent visits to the area. Completely un-Cape, this charming Italian eatery has edge. Fresh, pointed, seasonal Italian food, all appropriately portioned, sauced and seasoned. This is not a Little Italy red-sauce mudslide, this is a well-designed experience overflowing with a serious European sensibility. The entire menu written in Italian, the lightning here is the selection of homemade pastas, breads and daily specials. Heavy on the seafood, Osteria La Civetta also pays homage to the local community’s noted oceanic abundance. A chilled pasta salad of the day, with buttery, firm rigatoni, piled with Italian ham and artichokes atop a plate of mixed greens; and, a bowl of thick spaghetti, twined with cubes of fresh tuna, basil, parmesan and a sauce made nearly entirely by the broth of blistered cherry tomatoes, were both definite kicks to the head⎯full of flavor, and precisely what a sour outlook (and appetite) needed that day.

Blurry black raspberry. Ben and Bill's.

Ben and Bill’s Chocolate Emporium: (Falmouth, MA)
Homemade, rich ice cream is to Cape Cod what empty coffee mugs are to my desk⎯on every corner, and unavoidable. Like a Norman Rockwell painting, the time-tested ritual of crowding mom-and-pop ice cream spots after dark, that last treat for children before heading home for their bedtime rituals, is an Americana time-warp unyielding in these parts. As twilight creeps, with towns closing up and cars alien on worn roadways, the ice cream shops remain long-lined with families, patrons foggy for the cold and creamy. Moving beyond the wispy sentiments however, much like finding worthy seafood on the Cape, locating the best ice cream here can be equally as strategic. Ben and Bill’s Chocolate Emporium in downtown Falmouth (with a few sister locations New England-wide), is easily one of the better examples of the truly homespun. As “chocolate emporium” states in the title, many may not realize their ice cream overrides, but the antiqued retailer of all things fudge, chocolate and hard sugar truly shines with the frozen sweets. Their version of the popular New England-centric flavor black raspberry is hands-down one of the selected crowd favorites.

Happy travels!

* Boston 2010 Highlights: coming soon.
* Photog note: Apologies, all above photos taken with my camera phone.

Lunch listings.

James Beard-rendered chef Nobuo Fukuda (“Best Chef Southwest,” 2007) returned to form last month, reengaging with a new Downtown eatery in historic Heritage Square, Nobuo at Teeter House. Concluding an anxious absence from the public’s regard since his previous gig at eulogized Scottsdale restaurant Sea Saw ended last June, Fukuda has been patiently amassing momentum in our shadows⎯dabbling in freelance cookery and related consulting at other restaurants around town (NOCA and Welcome Diner, come to mind)⎯waiting for an opportune moment. Well, fog cleared⎯such a fortuitous moment is upon us.

More relaxed than Sea Saw, Nobuo at Teeter House is not intended to be a straightforward copy of his former home. Still aiming for that surgical boundary between strict Japanese execution and the more limitless horizon of western sensibilities, expect a more relaxed roster of largely sharable menu items in this foodly vein⎯cross-Asian influences with near-obscure modern American undercurrents. Evocative of blue-collar taverns that also serve legit regional comfort food throughout Japan⎯izakaya⎯prepare for an atmosphere lacking vanity, pushing an understated, communal spirit.

Nobuo at Teeter House is now open for both lunch and dinner service, and in the coming weeks and months, Fukuda will re-introduce his once infamous omakase (chef’s choice) dining experience for select guests each night, by reservation only. A full menu of wine, beer and sake, also available. Full-throttle tea selection and pairings to come.

For a more in-depth feature on Nobuo at Teeter House by yours truly (including added details, menu highlights and photos) in the Downtown Phoenix Journal, go HERE.

Nobuo at Teeter House | nobuofukuda.com | 622 E. Adams St | 602-254-0600 | Downtown Phoenix

I recently had the gratifying honor of cooking with bright-eyed lifestyle personality Kathy Patalsky at the inaugural Dole Foods California Cook-Off this past June. As a team, I was sous chef to Patalsky’s recipe and direction. In the process however, I made a friend. An established blogger and entrepreneur, NYC-based Patalsky is the founding, creative spirit behind growing website and healthy living force The Lunchbox Bunch. Haven’t heard of it yet? You will.

With a blog streaming of vegan-friendly recipes, healthful living tips and gravitating photography⎯she can make tofu look like a porterhouse⎯Patalsky has managed to parlay her love of a satisfying, responsible and meat-free existence into a flourishing brand. From self-published books to themed merchandise available for sale on her website, she is clearly creating something impressive.

Kathy's Green Soy Burger.

Kathy's baked garden lasagna.

Loosely inspired by the popular last-page “Feedback” questionnaire inside every Bon Appetit issue, where simple food-related questions are posed to various tastemakers, Food Noise will be a new regular feature on my blog intended to shed extra light on the foodly inclinations of interesting people we all should know more about. Patalsky, you get inaugural dibs…

(click “Read More” below to continue…)

1. How long have you been vegan?
For about 7 years. Although, I’ve been an on/off vegetarian since my teenage years.

2. What’s one of your favorite dishes to make at home?
Mashed sweet potatoes, lemon pepper tempeh and a giant multi-ingredient salad filled with fresh farmer’s market produce.

3. Alcoholic or otherwise, what’s your drink of choice?
Coconut water⎯preferably O.N.E. brand, or straight from a whole coconut. I’m obsessed.

4. What has been one of your most memorable meals to date?
Both meals I’ve had at Dirt Candy here in NYC were amazing and life-changing. Chef Amanda Cohen is a truely innovative vegetarian chef⎯I’d take even the most die-hard meat eater to her little East Village gem of a restaurant. I also adore Pure Food and Wine, and Blossom here in NYC. I even had an unforgettable vegan meal at Le Bernardin here as well⎯yes vegans can easily dine almost anywhere⎯if they know how.

5. What are some of your favorite local restaurants right now? (New York City, NY)
See above. I also have a full list on my blog HERE.

6. What would some people be surprised to find in your kitchen?
Diet Soda. Sometimes I crave a sip of that unhealthy fake-sugar fizzy stuff! I also have frozen fish in my freezer (for my husband of course).

7. Name four things that you always like to keep in your refrigerator or pantry?
Maple Syrup grade B, coconut water, fresh papaya (my breakfast addiction), Vegenaise (because it can make just about anything taste better!), and if I could add one more item I’d say a wide variety of raw nuts/beans!

8. What would you consider to be a perfect snack?
A really fresh and moist fruit muffin⎯maybe raspberry or blueberry flavored. You know the kind where the fruit literally melts into the soft muffin flesh. A really good vegan muffin is hard to find.

9. What are some of your favorite comfort foods?
Mashed sweet potatoes, vegan mac ‘n cheese, vegan lasagna, a hearty bean and mushroom stew made with spicy Field Roast sausages sliced in, and Mexican food⎯you can always warm my heart with a big bowl of guacamole.

10. What’s for dinner tonight?
Good question! I’ve been craving a spicy pasta night⎯whole wheat penne, fresh spicy marinara blended with harissa spread, Daiya cheese melted on top, kalamata olives and artichoke hearts tossed in, fresh basil, capers and a handful of spicy vegan sausages. Some amazing Amy’s Bread on the side. Maybe a nice glass of pinot noir and, of course, a giant big fresh salad on the side. I have a different big yummy salad every night at dinner.

And there you have it folks, Kathy Patalsky. Additional info⎯

Explore:
The Lunchbox Bunch (main website)
Healthy. Happy. Life. (blog)

Purchase:
Books & Merchandise

Follow:
@LunchBoxBunch (Twitter)
Facebook

And the winner is? Though close, not us.

Not knowing what to expect of Dole Foods’ inaugural California Cook-Off event, I tried to prep myself mentally for anything slung my direction. What blindsided me? How much fun I had.

When I first opened the e-mail last April (first announced HERE), the one including an invite to be a participating food blogger at the freshman cooking event, I will be the first to admit I considered it spam. (I get a lot of PR spam.) It took a subsequent week of dedicated back-and-forth correspondence before finally accepting that not only the invite was legit, but, that the invite was for me. Four days, three nights in Los Angeles, paid-for? Transportation arrangements and discretionary income supplemented? Wow⎯why not.

The competition presented six recipe finalists (of 4,000 such submissions nationwide) who traveled to Los Angeles, CA, and prepared their respective recipes (utilizing at least one Dole Foods’ product) in a live cook-off that was judged by lovable, well-known chef Ben Ford. Each recipe contestant was also paired with a “sous chef,” in food blogger form⎯someone who not only assisted them in the actual cooking of their dishes, but also someone who helped cover the experience via our own blogs and social networks.

Chef Ben Ford and Kathy Patalsky.

Leading up to the event, all recipe finalists and bloggers were kept in the dark about possible pairing designations. Knowing only a list of names and some basic information, we were each left to ponder curiously about who might be our team member. There was a finalist with a chicken burger recipe; one with a recipe that included stuffed bell peppers; one with a quinoa and bacon-wrapped scallops recipe; another finalist with a tofu-anchored recipe, with candied cashews over a mandarin-ginger rice; and, a finalist with a Thai-inspired chicken recipe with a fruit and avocado salsa. Of all the selected recipes, I must be frank: I feared the dish utilizing tofu most. Having countless friends who adhere to vegetarian or vegan eating habits, I knew well that unless deftly prepared, tofu can swing abruptly from delicious to, well, something completely opposite. I didn’t want to screw anything up…

(click “Read More” below to continue…)

Station abundance.

Team Tofu.

Yours truly was called to be on Team Tofu. Of Course.

To my ironic surprise (and subsequent delight), the recipe finalist who I was paired with was Kathy Patalsky. Coincidentally an established food blogger in her own right, Kathy is the creator of the burgeoning vegan-focused lifestyle brand The Lunchbox Bunch. Suffice to say, this immediately gave the two of us a mental point of camaraderie. (Read more about Kathy HERE.)

As swiftly as the team designations were announced, Kathy and I shared a brainstorming pow-wow. Kathy was (and is) a complete gem, and any personal hesitations about dedicating focus to her recipe faded immediately. Though I’m biased, I’d even argue that we easily became the team to beat. If not for the food itself, then at least for our work ethic⎯steady, collected and deadly. After the timer began ticking, the two of us were in laser-like sync.

We had a title to win.

In true form, minutes before each team was to begin preparing their dishes, a plot twist was presented⎯each team had to also make a entirely separate, second dish in the same hour and a half time period alloted for the original. Each of the teams’ sprung recipes were randomly selected from the vaults of Dole Foods⎯volumes akin to old Betty Crocker recipes. No Chinese-Peruvian love-making; no mystical, molecular gastro-physics here⎯think June Cleaver standbys dusted off for resuscitation. Thus, our second dish was bestowed: roasted sweet potatoes, with mushrooms and wilted arugula. Easy as (an easy) pie

Mushrooms, cooking. My sweet potato assignment.

The finished, second (my sweet potato) dish.

There she is.

Tofu, sexy. Again.

With our primary dish, I’m proud to report that Kathy’s cashew tofu over mandarin-ginger rice was wholeheartedly delectable. In fact, one of the best iterations of the infamous soybean curd I’ve ever tasted⎯most especially a non-fried example. Labeled “innovative” by chef Ford, it’s a dish I’d love to perfect myself. If prepared for nothing else, to simply showcase inherent virtues of well-executed tofu to otherwise tofu-adverse friends. To put it another way: Kathy made a mean dish. It was easily apparent the recipe had the chops to compete with any of the meat-focused entries. I was a proud partner in crime.

Feast of personalities.

Grub love.

Prior to the verdict, everyone in attendance participated in a communal feast of our entire groups’ creations. As a self-enlisted cynic at the outset of this entire experience, I can now willingly concede that I couldn’t have imagined such a gratifying spread made largely utilizing Dole products. Though entirely justified and commendable, in a world frothing over the severely organic⎯farm-to-table this, independent purveyor that⎯this growing event shows that elevated quality, genuinely healthy and incredibly flavorful eating can also come from some of our corporate brethren. For fear of sounding like a shill for Dole Foods (and not loosing any shred of food-worthy street-cred I’ve ever managed to retain), as a general rule, I do always prefer foods fresh, organic, in-season, local and or market-sourced to a majority of items found in your average suburban grocery isle. Again, with that said, it’s also nice to know there are some corporate mainstays out there who have been able to maintain a standard above the often bleak, mass-produced monotony that (unfortunately) exists out there. So for that, thanks Dole. Color me surprised.

The recipe finalists.

Chef Decider.

Winning team. (L-R: Janice Elder, Chef Ford & blogger Gabriela Lopez)

Janice's winning dish.

With that, the preeminent winner of the first annual Dole California Cook-Off was Janice Elder who prepared those Thai-spiced chicken thighs “crowned” with an avocado and orange salsa. I had the pleasure of sharing light dinner-table conversation with Janice, dining across from her (and her equally affable husband) during the event’s communal feast. She was a sincerely delightful person. A very gregarious woman worthy of every accolade, most especially this one. In jest I say “preeminent winner” because, well, I hold that Kathy and I also knocked it out of the park⎯we were definitely winners in our eyes.

Once again, big thanks to every party involved. New friends were definitely made.

Winner and dish:
Janice Elder (Charlotte, NC) – Orange and avocado crowned black Thai grilled chicken thighs.

Runners-up in no particular order, and dishes: (Dish recipes found HERE.)
Laura Greenberg (Lake Balboa, CA) – Pineapple-glazed, bacon-wrapped scallops with a pineapple-macadamia nut quinoa.
Harold Cohen (Hollywood, FL) – Mandarin chicken burger.
Kathy Patalsky (New York City, NY) – Ginger-mandarin rice with cashew tofu.
Laura Ploeger (Brandy Station, VA) – Turkey and pineapple stuffed peppers.

Other selected bloggers:
Alice Currah of Sweet Savory Life (teamed with Laura Ploeger)
Cathy Danh of Gastronomy Blog (teamed with Harold Cohen)
Erin Forney of Food Tramp Diaries (teamed with Laura Greenberg)
Gabriela Lopez of Gabriela’s Kitchen (teamed with winner Janice Elder)

Worthy links:
The Lunchbox Bunch (my partner Kathy Patalsky’s website and blog)
Dole Foods (the mother organization)
The Rogers Group (event organizers)
Epicurean School of the Culinary Arts (the event location)
Ford’s Filling Station (chef Ben Ford’s eponymous restaurant)
Andaz Hotel West Hollywood (our lively home away from home)

* Photog note: Above photos are mix of images taken by myself, and by the Rogers Group/Dole Foods. If unable to decipher my photos from those taken by the hired professional, contact me. I will gladly provide proper credits.

Recently, yours truly was selected to be one of several guest bloggers invited to help cover the Dole California Cook-Off later this month in Los Angeles.

As a food blogger, requests for product reviews, kind offers of free meals and event invites of varying quality inevitably spill my direction. Most of the time however, I decline. Being that this silly website of mine is more ‘labor of love’ at this point, accepting such sponsored solicitations has never been my prerogative.

Despite Dole Foods not exactly being a mom-and-pop outfit (I lean less corporate, it’s true), I accepted this particular invitation because of its generous scope. Plainly, it promises to be a fun, diverting experience. Besides being graciously accommodated by Dole Foods, I will also have an opportunity to meet scores of talented, interesting and like-minded people along the way–fellow bloggers, chefs, home cooks, you name it.

The premise of Dole’s California Cook-Off is simple. Everyday home cooks submitted their tried-and-true recipes utilizing particular Dole products, and the chosen finalists will then be shuttled to Los Angeles for a competitive, live cook-off event at the Epicurean School of Culinary Arts. The ultimate winners will be ranked by a panel of local food industry notables, including chef Ben Ford (as in actor Harrison Ford’s offspring) of Ford’s Filing Station. The ultimate winner takes home, among other things, a $1,000 cash prize, and the printing of their recipe on selected Dole canned food labels.

Myself and the other selected bloggers come into play in the form of kitchen assistance. Each of us are being coupled with a recipe finalist, acting as de facto sous-chef, helping to prepare their submitted dishes for said judging. We will also be reporting about the event via our respective blogs.

Ironically, among the diverse list of guest bloggers chosen nationwide, I was pleasantly surprised to discover Erin Forney, the personality behind Food Tramp Diaries, will joining me as well. Always nice to share such an experience with a familiar face.

Stay tuned.

Main dining area, circa two weeks prior.

Update 12/06/2010: Barely 7-months in, Verde is now officially closed for business.

Verde is coming.

Hostage to the city of Phoenix’s antiquated permitting process, Downtown’s newest dining gain is near-ready to serve. Verde is the eagerly expected, fast-casual Mexican eatery located on the southwestern corner of 1st and Garfield Streets. Sitting just south of Roosevelt Row among a growing collage of well-respected restaurants and watering holes⎯Matt’s Big Breakfast, Sens, PastaBAR, Royal at the Market, Roosevelt Tavern, etc.⎯Verde will easily benefit from certain geographic rewards.

Verde's tortilla room.

Driven by local industry veterans Joseph Aguayo (Tiburon) and Matt Avilla (Hillstone Group), Verde intends to a be a modern, serious snapshot of regional Mexican cooking. Think simple but sharp⎯tacos, slow-roasted meats, tortillas house-made daily in a custom wood-burning brick oven courtesy of Arizona-grown pecan wood, and an always rotating (and updating) roster of specials like tamales, menudo, moles, and so on. An eventual liquor license will allow for a modest selection of beers, wine and appropriate cocktails.

Takeaway window. Local food media wallpaper.

As of now, Verde will be open daily for lunch and dinner. Eventual late-night and breakfast menus soon to follow.

For a more in-depth feature on Verde by yours truly (including the restaurant’s sincere eco-friendly ethos) in the Downtown Phoenix Journal, go HERE.

Verde | verdeaz.com | 825 N. 1st St | Downtown Phoenix

Exterior presentation.

More FnB. I know, right?

In the hurried realm of blogging, “hiatus” is profane terminology. Equally toxic are the countless half-started, unpublished posts that continually pile up, likely never to reach the light of existence. I have so many.

Thankfully however, an old writing spell with FnB couldn’t remain suppressed any longer. After umpteen glorious features both in the media–locally and nationally (hello, NYT)–and among the growing crowd of fellow local food bloggers, the fact that I still hadn’t revisited my own favorable FnB experience(s) became a cry increasingly too loud to ignore.

I’ve now had the pleasure of eating at FnB on multiple occasions in the fairly brief time the new restaurant has been open. Where frequently a new spot of similar aim takes time to truly hit its stride, FnB seems to have bypassed many of the common, initial shortfalls that have bemoaned many of its contemporaries before it. In fact, not since NOCA (and yes, a few others) has a new Phoenix area restaurant generated so much palpable, critical buzz within the local food community in such a short period of time. Mind you, the restaurant has only been open a few months, yet already feels like it has been for years.

Taking food out of the equation for brief moment, FnB owes a substantial part of its mounting allure to its cheerleader and all around soul, owner Pavle Milic. By now, anyone who pays even the slightest ounce of attention to local restaurant chatter has heard this man’s name echoed around town. With a local managing resumé that includes Prado and the now plundered Digestif, Pavle’s charisma and very-present confidence reads like a respectful, welcoming next door neighbor. Part guide, part headlining server, Milic makes the rounds–table-to-table–ensuring all of his customers are as captivated by their first course as they are their last.

Plans of attack.

The kitchen is helmed by determined duo Charleen Badman (co-owner and head chef; past resumé includes Rancho Pinot) and her handy sous Sacha Levine. To say these two focused, ever-so grounded women are simply talented would be to make a grossly undervalued declaration…

(click “Read More” below to continue…)

The physical space itself, once the address of Nobuo Fukuda’s legendary eatery Sea Saw, briefly also provided shelter for Digestif’s short-lived relocation (a relocation that should have never occurred in the first place). With what seemed like a hurried change-over at the time, one might have thought FnB to be yet another half-ass regurgitation of another old Kasperski favorite; the next in a surgically premeditated line of stylish new restaurant concepts. One might be further from the truth.

Lets put it this way: if FnB hasn’t hit its stride yet, this entire city is in for a genuine dining triumph. Something magical is happening here, and the cynic in myself has managed to remain at bay. When talking about FnB, the border between high praise and hyperbole becomes increasingly blurred.

The focus of FnB is obviously on the food. From its industry jargon-inspired salutation “FnB” (food and beverage, folks), its seemingly effortless service and uncluttered decor, to its off-centered island kitchen protruding into the middle of the “efficient” dining space, the food is directed to be our full attention.

Much like Sea Saw before it, the dining bar surrounding said island kitchen is easily the restaurant’s prime real estate. From local food socialites to casual diners alike, the horseshoe bar has become known front-row territory for those not merely looking for the most interactive and stimulating dining experience to be had, but for those looking for the most conspicuously visible as well.

Yes, the food. Lightly (and incredibly controversially) referred to as a “gastropub” by some in the local food community–despite its still evolving but limited selection of brews–FnB confidently serves premium quality, casually modern American food (local and or organic whenever possible) in a lively and intentionally straight-forward atmosphere. The food is simultaneously homespun and forward, executed with a relaxed sensibility. It’s an accumulation only a few local restaurants can deliver so successfully.

Built largely around the idea of sharing, the majority of FnB’s menu exists as a ride to sample more. If you visit the restaurant preferring to navigate the staid appetizer-entree-dessert dining construct, you may be missing out on the breadth of satisfaction FnB can offer–most especially if you don’t happen to dine out with much consistency, let alone with dedicated repetition.

Shaved fennel and citrus. Arizona-grown.

Green apple salad.

With a menu that is tweaked often (changes and updates have been seen to occur within days of each other), FnB also provides an experience that can be enjoyed frequently without burnout. It’s a neighborhood dining venue intended to be patronized often. And, not just by tourists and those seeking to satisfy a special event. There are no gimmicks here, no condescension or pandering to our cheapest dining desires, just a decidedly high-brow product and experience wrapped in an honest package.

Of the smaller plates (running from $4-13), there were several standouts. One in particular–and one that equally seems to be an audience favorite–is the braised leeks, crowned in house-made mozzarella, mustard bread crumbs and the eternally easy-sell: a fried egg. Reporting about this even now, the overtly simple yet perfectly executed dish, my stomach growls. My only complaint? I’d add a second egg.

Green tomatoes. Definitely fried.

Romanesco cauliflower.

Other examples of what I’d simply call delicious: the country ham plate–paper-thin sheets of the meat accompanied with fans of sharp cheddar, a heady mustard and a variety of snacking vegetables pickled in-house; fried rock shrimp with a deserved condiment of jalapeno tartar; roasted romanesco cauliflower (often called romanesco broccoli as well; tastes like a cousin of both) soaked in a herb-friendly salsa verde; firm fried green tomatoes covered in feta crumbs and a green goddess dressing; spigarello (think purebred broccoli-rabe but less bitter), faintly pan-charred, with chili and garlic; and a sublime example of what is often a common restaurant standby these days: the shaved fennel salad. Their presentation of said shavings are intermixed with a routinely updated variety of Arizona-grown citrus (orange, grapefruit, etc.), and a welcoming ration of bitter radishes and salty green olives thrown in for good measure. This dish in particular is a great illustration of how the quality of individual ingredients alone can elevate an otherwise ordinary dish so dramatically.

So simple, so confident.

Larger plates ($18-27), equally worthy of sharing: a jidori chicken (uncaged, free-ranging birds absent of chemicals, never frozen) roasted skin-crisp with young garlic, atop doughy spaetzle (tiny pan-fried dumplings) and wild mushrooms; a heaping lamb tenderloin, grilled exactly, served with potatoes, artichokes, olives and mint; and an example of trout, butter-soft, dressed with caramelized onions, sunchokes and fresh dill.

Jidori chicken.

There is an equally updated and rotating selection of desserts perfect for sugary post-meal group therapy. One such standout at the time was a thinly rich, cake-like bread pudding constructed from Ben Hershberger’s (the Phoenician’s acclaimed former baker extraordinaire, soon to be new such guru for Thomas Keller in NYC) locally notorious chocolate-cherry sourdough bread. There was also the clafouti (sweet pancake-like batter, usually molded with fruit), a terrificly light and spongy copy, with tart berries.

Chocolate-cherry, sourdough bread pudding.

Clafouti, my friends.

Though all too often an unforgettable dessert option at many restaurants (unfortunately), FnB happens to serve a nearly sinister crème brûlée–a version bolstered in flavor by meyer lemon shine, and well, the depth of thyme. Each ramekin of sugar-layered custard is burnt not by the modern gadgetry of kitchen blow torches or broilers, but by the quaintly other-era method of a crème brûlée iron–a gangly, crooked instrument to be exact–which sits patiently, blistering hot all night, waiting to toast the next order.

Burnt cream.

If you’re like myself (and many of my close companions), a worthy cocktail, brew, or glass of wine, can also all exist as a barometer of a well-executed dining experience. Perfectly crafted and inspired specialty cocktails exist as refreshing as they are, well, sometimes useful. Beloved personal standouts include the ginhound (gin, grapefruit juice and mint) and the cranberry Presbyterian (cranberry-infused vodka, lemon juice and ginger ale).

Ginhound, please.

Cranberry Presbyterian.

As a proud native Zonie in particular, I would be remise not to give a shout (I mean, everyone else has) to their wine and beer offerings. All of which are sourced entirely within the state–the sole exception being a Blanc de Noir sparkling via New Mexico’s famous house of Gruet. Yes, the Land of Enchantment can hang with the cool kids too.

On Friday and Saturday nights after 10pm, FnB has become a particularly well-haunted venue for loyal FnB patrons and local industry herds. Offering impromptu (and often very diverse) nightly specials.

Can’t complain there, either.

FnB | fnbrestaurant.com | 7133 W. Stetson Dr | Downtown Scottsdale | 480-425-9463 (reservations accepted)

* Photog footnote: Please excuse lacking picture quality. It is not one of my–or my camera’s–strongest talents.