Francine is a French-Mediterranean fine dining restaurant located in the luxury wing of the Scottsdale Fashion Square in Scottsdale Arizona. This restaurant is by celebrity chef/Owner Laurent Halasz. The food served isn’t the typical French style food with lots of butter and cream and is lighter, healthier and seasonal like the food served is like what the chef was raised on in France.

It’s light, bright and airy inside.

They offer a mix of different seating choices. They offer traditional tables, booths, bar, and patio seating.

Today we started with the Stefano Burrata.

We received DELICIOUS thin cut country style toasted bread with rich creamy burrata that was served over caponata. The soft cheese was adorned with olive oil, fresh torn basil and what tasted like Aleppo pepper. The caponata ran heavy with balsamic vinegar and the pine nuts were very marinated and dark colored from the balsamic.

Today I went with the quinoa with added salmon as my main.

I received a moist flaky fish with a nicely crisped skin over many things that included avocado, cabbage, lentils, eggplant, sprouts, and sweet potato. I liked that nothing was oily. Most of the flavors were natural. It seemed like only the quinoa was dressed with flavors.

My husband went with the shaved prime rib sandwich with horseradish cream sauce, pickles and house chips.

I thought the chips were very good with a very nice crispness to them. My husband likes his food saltier than I do so for him the chips lacked salt. I thought the pickles and sauce were very good. I didn’t get to taste the meat in the sandwich because my husband said that it didn’t contain much meat. For both of us the ratio of bread is too much for the meat but the flavors are good and the rich fresh bun was nicely toasted. I thought it was very unusual that the meat on the sandwich was topped with shoestring potatoes. I asked my husband how that was and said that they didn’t really add much to the taste but it gave the sandwich some texture. The sandwich was also stuffed with some watercress.

It was a special day out so we splurged and tried a Francine apple tart. It came out very different than what I was expecting.

I was expecting a little open pie. We got a round of puff pastry lined with a very thin layer of apples topped with creamy vanilla ice cream. You can’t just dig in and eat it because the pastry needs to be cut like a steak. It’s almost like an unrolled croissant.

That was a little taste of Francine Restaurant in Scottsdale.

www.FrancineRestaurant.com

The Americano Restaurant is an upscale Italian Restaurant and Steakhouse located in Scottsdale Arizona. Sometime around the end of September 2020 James Beard Restauranteur and celebrity chef Scott Conant and team took over ownership and operation of The Americano.

The Americano has a rich, modern, stunning atmosphere.

They do not serve complimentary bread. Artisan bread and smoked butter is on current menu $6. and is served with a big glass dome for presentation. I think we were the only table that didn’t order bread. I had other plates on my mind so I had to skip the bread.

We started out by sharing the braised wagyu beef cheeks that was accented with a micro green and shaved cheese. It also came with vegetable fregola and pumpkin seed togarashi. ($21.) I did question our server about the pumpkin seed togarashi but they didn’t know what it was. (togarashi is a spice mix made with Japanese hot pepper)

The beef is tender and is developed with rich flavors. The fregola is much softer than I imagined it would be……the sweet peas and the pumpkinseed togarashi gave it the needed texture that was crunchy, nutty, and a little citrusy. It’s an excellent dish!

For my main I went with the seared Faroe Island salmon ($32.).

It was served with the bloodline but there were also fresh herbs and olive tarragon salsa verde for enhancement.

Many things things about the dish that are exceptional. The peeled sweet cherry tomatoes are FORKING AMAZING! All I got out of my server that she knows the tomatoes were marinated. Somewhere there were two tiny pieces of fennel that also tasted amazing….The flavor in the fennel was so concentrated that it was like fennel bombs……The tomatoes and fennel were so flavorful and delicious! They made me happy. The fish is prepared reasonably well……It’s a little past medium but is still moist. The black puree on the plate is called charred scallion puree. It doesn’t taste like scallions….It reminds me of balsamic with another taste something like fish sauce.

We also shared the macaroni tre formaggi ($12.) with added fresh black truffles ($35.) that Scott Conant brought in from Italy.

The macaroni is made in house. WOW! This is one of the best macaroni and cheese dishes that I have ever had in a restaurant. It’s sublimely cheesy. The truffles are not the worst or the best and lack moisture and do have some flavor but are not full flavored….These I would have skipped if I knew what they were like today. But that macaroni and cheese is something that is a must to order. Between paying someone to make the pasta and all that real delicious cheese in there I bet that they don’t make any money on this dish. There is so much cheese in it Holy Chezus!

My husband had the campanelle ai gamberi ($29.).

It’s pasta with prawns, sea urchin (that butter of the sea), Calabrian chili, and breadcrumbs. He said that it was very good. He also said that the cherry tomatoes in his dish were exceptionable.

We were waited on by a team of people. Our glasses never ran dry. Plates were cleared quickly and all the glassware, silverware and plates seemed sparking clean.

That was a little taste of The Americano.

www.TheAmericanoRestaurant.com

Everything is subject to change and it often does change.