Proof Restaurant is located at The Four Seasons at Troon in North Scottsdale Arizona. This is a casual restaurant that serves American Food. House cocktails have a whiskey or bourbon theme. Ice cream is fresh made in house.

As soon as we turned in the sky changed and this is how it looked.

It was very chilly tonight in mid December but I wanted to sit on the patio anyway and take in the stunning views.

And then as fast as the sunsets came they have gone.

While we were waiting for a portable heater to be set up we enjoyed a rye based cocktail.

They had trouble getting the heaters to fire up. The third one was successful…but only for about three minutes. I heard a pop and then it went out. Without a heater it was too cold to stay on the patio so we sat at a table inside.

The inside is casual with a big shuffle board, a big screen TV, a bar and an ice cream bar.

I thought we’d start out by sharing the wild mushroom soup ($16.00). That is listed under the start or share section on the menu.

I see them serving us two small crocks that are half full with lots of bread topped with shattering crisp cheese. I was thinking that it was so nice that they split the soup for us and gave us extra bread (only to find out at the end of our meal that we were INDEED CHARGED FOR TWO SOUPS)

Anyways-

The soup is actually very good and has a very intense mushroom flavor. It contains trace amounts of heirloom grains….like not a spoon full more like a small pinch..like the amount of ground pepper that you would add. the minuscular amount of grains get stuck in my throat when I eat the soup. I’d rather have slightly more grains that I could eat or no grains added. The noble bread with the shattering crisp cheese tops were very good. They gave us so much bread we took a bunch home and had it for breakfast the next day.

For dinner I went with the Light as a Feather section of dukkah crusted salmon ($29.00).

The salmon is prepared to a perfect medium and has a very nice sear and is lightly coated with a tasty sort of spicy crushed nut seasoning called dukkah. Also on the plate are little open rings of sliced squash, cauliflower pilaf and turmeric cauliflower puree.

My husband had the shrimp and grits ($32.00).

The shrimp were cooked to perfection. The sauce was delicious and the grits were full of lots of cheese. This was a very good plate.

The ice cream is made in house so we thought we’d share a bananas foster sundae ($10.00).

The ice cream taste very fresh and has a perfect creamy consistency. Maybe it’s just me (and my husband) but I’m not real found of the flavors with this one. This doesn’t sing banana to me……The sugar crisp taste burnt and sticks to my teeth. The ice cream and banana jam doesn’t taste like bananas foster to me and lacks a sweet caramelized banana flavor, lacks cinnamon and lacks dark rum…Maybe I’d feel different about another flavor…The little cakes are tasty and moist and citrusy.

That was dinner at Proof in Scottsdale.

I was a little bummed that the portable heaters didn’t function. I also was slightly upset that the server didn’t tell us that the soup was too small to share and decided to just order us two soups without asking. If I knew the soup was too small to share I would have ordered something different to share. But in the end the soup and entrees were very good. I wasn’t a big fan of the bananas foster sundae but I did previously enjoy a bourbon pecan pie that I tasted from Proof at a recent food festival. For the most part the food really was very good and the outdoor atmosphere is exceptional.

www.ProofCanteen.com

Every THING is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

Vic and Ola’s Tavola Italiana is a small restaurant in North Scottsdale (DC Ranch) that serves Italian Style Food.

Pictured above are most of the indoor tables.

Reservations are necessary for a table indoors or on the patio.

If seating is available at the small bar you can sit there without a reservation.

We arrived very early and they were already very busy. We didn’t have a reservation so we sat at the bar on the indoor side because they were the only available seats to us. It’s a loud atmosphere. Not from music but everyone’s chatter.

Fleming’s Steakhouse is next door.

We started out by sharing the Happy Hour Roman Style Artichoke (Carciofi Ripieni ($8.50).

The all edible artichoke was dressed with bread crumbs, pecorino cheese, garlic, raisins and pine nuts. It was the tastiest artichoke that I had in recent memory.

We also shared the cacio e pepe (spaghetti, black pepper and pecorino) ($16.00) (it was accidentally served with the dinners)

The pasta was prepared to perfection. The dominate flavor was butter….I thought the pepper and cheese should be kicked up a notch for balance….

For my main I had the branzino ($28.00).

It was listed under large plates and yes it truly is a large plate and brought half home. The pan seared branzino was moist and flaky. On the side was tasty farro, butternut squash, red pepper, pumpkin seeds, figs and fine shreds of bitter radicchio. This plate was for the most part very good. It did arrive almost cold but the pasta and my husbands meal arrived piping hot so I didn’t complain. ( I don’t send things back….especially if it’s not an open kitchen….that sort of thing gets some cooks very upset and I’ve seen too many of them lose it. I also I didn’t want my husband’s meal to sit and get cold.)

My husbands main was the veal osso bucco ($36.00).

It wasn’t tough….but it wasn’t the most tender or most flavorful osso bocco. Overall it was OK. The spinach on the side was very good. The risotto was slightly under done and not very creamy or developed with flavors. But I do note that you almost will never get a great risotto out anywhere. I think the only great risotto I’ve ever had out was from Binkley’s.

The Roman Artichoke was Great! The Branzino was very good but the kitchen timing was off.

At the time of this posting (November 2019) Vic and Ola’s is a newly opened restaurant and may or may not be still working things out.

www.VicandOlas.com