Zinc Bistro is a New York Style Parisian Bistro Located in Scottsdale Arizona in the Kierland Commons. They offer ever changing menus of lunch, Afternoon menu, dinner, brunch and more. Whatever you order the food is finely crafted, detailed, and quality. The atmosphere is charming and sort of yesteryear…..Tin roof and classic fixtures with some nods to France.
You can choose patio, limited courtyard dining, bar seating and traditional table seating.
courtyardinside
The tables are set with crisp linen and heavy silverware.
The menus do change but one dish that is on all the menus but IS OMITTED FROM BRUNCH is the onion soup gratinee made with six month aged AOP gruyere cheese.
Traditional French Onion Soup
This soup was featured on Food Network TV Show called, “Best thing I ever ate.”
It really doesn’t taste like any onion soup I had before because it’s better….It taste like very developed onions….The onions are the star and everything thing else is just delicious with it…..
Other appetizers we’ve tried.
roasted beet salad chicken liver mousse, fig and port compote and grilled Noble bread (fall restaurant week 2021)Escargot Bougugnon vichyssoiseScottish salmonKale saladfoie gras raviolis in consomme
Lunches we tried. (We’ve also enjoyed lunches from the Phoenix Airport location called Zinc Brasserie)
chicken curry salad sandwichbrisket pastrami sandwich (this is very small)fries
Pomo Pizzeria is an Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria with around four locations in Metro Phoenix Arizona (Scottsdale, Downtown Phoenix, Biltmore Phoenix, Gilbert). Pomo Pizzeria specializes in serving certified Neapolitan Pizzas made with high quality ingredients. Other pizzas (and focaccia) that they offer are North Italy Style crispy ultra thin pizza Light Crispy Rimini, Pinsa Romano Focaccia (72 hour leavening) and paper thin Focaccia Di Recco filled with stracchino cheese with black salt. Besides pizzas Pomo also offers appetizers, charcuterie, soups, salads, handmade pastas, seasonal foods and amazing house made gelato.
Pomo offers a modern dining room and a cozy patio with screen shades and a mister system.
This day I went for the salmon salad with salmon from Chula Seafood.
Oh my goodness this is a really great salad. It is made of spring mix, gold beets, fennel, grape tomatoes, lemon dressing. The salmon could not be more perfect. The skin is crisp. The fish is so succulent and fresh with nice grill marks. This fish just melts in the mouth. The grilled lemon is a nice touch. The pink peppercorns taste so great with lemon. It’s a brilliant combination!!!!
My husband got a pizza called the toto sapore (sausage, prosciutto cotto, hot soppressata, salame parma, tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil) My husband enjoyed the pizza.
They have some amazing house made gelato here so we enjoyed a gelato dessert made with Luna flavored Luna gelato. (Luna flavored is a pistachio/chocolate flavor)
These are some of the other dishes that we enjoyed from Pomo Pizzeria.
seasonal special estiva (cold Italian soup)
seasonal special – porchetta panini
seasonal special – fregula salad with added chicken
seasonal special – stracchino & rucola (arugula) pizza
focaccia di recco (filled with stracchino cheese and black salt)
focaccia di recco with house made pesto, stracchino cheese, and black salt
diavola pizza – hot soppressata, tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil
parmigiana pizza rimini (this is an extra thin pizza with eggplant)
take out both are specials – tortelloni tartu and bianca truffle pizza
calzone napoletano stuffed with hot soppressato, ricotta, mozzarella, basil and topped with tomato sauce.
bacio di dama – chocolate gelato, gianduia gelato, chocolate mousse, chocolate pearls, a cookie, more chocolate, and hazelnuts
De Babel is a semi/fast casual Middle Eastern type restaurant located in Scottsdale Arizona. It isn’t a fancy place but seems shiny and clean. They offer many of the usual Middle Eastern Mediterranean offerings and some that are not that usual.
Some of sandwiches offered are falafel, meat shawarma, chicken tawook (classic Lebanese chicken marinated and usually made on skewers…), a burger, ribeye, wild mushroom and more. They offer some plates, platters, salads like tabouli, fattoush and freekah. Some of the sides they offer are truffle fries, cole slaw, mushroom soup, bread bowls, and roasted cauliflower.
You order at the counter, grab a beverage, pay, and seat yourself. They run your food to you when it is ready.
We shared a vegetarian platter of hummus, falafel, baba ganoush, stuffed grape leaf platter with added chicken shawarma so we could taste that too.
hummus, falafel, baba ganoush, stuffed grape leaf with added chicken shawarma
It’s very crisp, moist and green inside and flavored well. The hummus is nice and creamy and accented with oil, chickpeas, and Aleppo pepper. The baba ganoush is smoky and the top of it glistens with pomegranate. The grape leaves are very tender, rolled thinner than most and taste laced with allspice. I think that the chicken shawarma is seasoned nicely and it is flavorful but is a little dry today. Same with the meat shawarma…… It’s seasoned very nice but is a little dry. The tabouli is bright and lemony fresh and flavorful. The rice is also flavorful here too.
That was a little taste of De Babel in Scottsdale AZ.
The Craftsman Cocktails & Kitchen is an American Restaurant and distillery located in North Scottsdale Arizona. If you were a fan of the now closed fine dining Italian restaurant called Sassi then you should be a fan of The Craftsman because the chef is the same. This restaurant offers lunch and dinner menus and a new brunch menu will start up sometime fall 2021. The patio is large and wraps around the restaurant and also is dog friendly.
They also have garage door windows that open during nice weather that expand the patio even more. It so airy and comfortable here….I think this is the most comfortable restaurant I ever dined in…..The air conditioner is blowing and the garage doors are open. It just feels great here.
There is a variety of indoor seating, a bar area and the distillery.
distillery
The dinner menu is made of small plates like AZ chicken lollipops, charcuterie curated by chef Chris, and the popular chips and dip or dips that I noticed every table ordering. So I came back after a few visits and tried it.
chips and dip
The chips are really great….So crisp and seem free of oil….really great chips. The dips are different. The dips aren’t bad at all but not my favorite thing here….(but others might disagree since this is the popular dish from what I observed dining here several visits)
I thought the shipwright ahi salad was very good and was made with exceptional produce.
It was made of togarashi coated ahi, local greens, three colors of carrots, watermelon radishes, marinated shiitakes, wasabi peas, yuzu aioli, and ginger, passionfruit, sesame, dressing. (FANTABULOUS)
There’s the tomato and melon burrata.
It’s made with DELICIOUS fresh sweet heirloom tomatoes, creamy burrata, arugula and sweet watermelon….It was so light and delicious! I really LOVE this one! (FANTABULOUS)
Sandwiches like the distillers porcini crusted burger (ground in house) is on the menu. (the salads here are unusually good)
distillers porcini crusted burger with side salad
A wagyu pastrami on pretzel bun is also a sandwich that is offered.
to go – wagyu pastrami sandwich
There is (or was?) also a porchetta sandwich called hammer and advil.
hammer & Advil porchetta sandwich
The last brunch menu offered a dish called short rib hash.
short rib hash AZ chicken lollipops, wagyu pastrami sandwich with side salad, hammer & advil porchetta sandwich with house chips
My husband really enjoyed the Craftsman muffuletta.
Craftsman muffuletta
The sand was made with delicious house made bread, capicola, cabernet salami, prosciutto, fontina, and olive salad. (FANTABULOUS)
Some of the dinners offered are the desert branzino..
desert branzino
It was prepared to perfection with some chimichurri and a very fresh high quality salad made with arugula, watermelon radish and farm fresh heirloom tomatoes. (FANTABULOUS)
According to my husband the volcano pork is a FORKING FANTABULOUS Dish!
volcano pork
It’s basically a southwest style osso buco. It falling off the bone tender as can be shank of pork that was slow braised with incredible flavors in a mild hatch green chili jus. There is also this amazing dreamy cheesy cilantro lime queso and spiced black beans. Tortillas and jalapeño slaw are on the side. (FANTABULOUS)
Sadly I haven’t saved room for desert yet but maybe next time.
The Craftsman Cocktails and Kitchen is Worth a Fork! Some FANTABULOUS dishes can be found here.
Campo Italian Bistro is a casual full service Italian Restaurant located in Scottsdale Arizona. This restaurant is brought to you by a group called Genuine Concepts Group that also have at least five other restaurants or bars in metro Phoenix. Campo Restaurant is unique and does differ a bit on the menu and from the atmosphere of other Italian restaurants.
On the menu for brunch they offer a full bar, baked goods, coffee, fresh juices, toast plates, salads, pizzas, classic breakfast plates with an Italian twist, panini and more.
They offer seating at the bar and inside by the bar are high top tables.
They also offer seating on the patio.
And traditional table seating.
On the special board was a snack of the day that we tried called goat cheese mousse with apples, beets pistachios and a cheese crisp.
It was tasty and not too much.
For brunch I went with the arugula salad with added salmon.
The salad with made with arugula, marinated fennel, pistachios, and citrus vinaigrette. The salmon seemed very fresh and was a good quality really moist salmon with a very crispy seasoned skin. The flavors all worked well together.
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.
The FANTABULOUS Dish means – Top of the line, marvelously good, peachy keen and dynamite.
The FORKING Amazing FnB Restaurant is located in the arts district by Old Town Scottsdale Arizona. The restaurant is co-owned by James Beard Award Wining chef Charleen Badman. She serves an ever changing menu of global farm focused contemporary sharing plates that often feature local vegetables. The menu is vegetable heavy but also features enough meat to please meat eaters. Arizona wines are always featured on the menu.
We enjoyed an amazing meal like we always do at FnB but one dish really stood out. So much so that I actually dreamed about it that night. The flash fried eggplant with fresh dill, pickled shallots, garlic, pistachios, and honey…….
You can’t make this dish at home because you’d never be able to purchase the speciality farm fresh eggplant that this dish was made with………..and even if you could find such an eggplant who on earth can give you a big slab of eggplant that is very hard to describer but is firm…that you could cut like a potato, but also sort of custardy. This eggplant was extra special….like an eggplant just grown for the GODS……..The flavors were so different and so delicious and unlike anything imaginable with eggplant. They were a genius embellishment. But what was phenomenal was the texture and taste of the eggplant. This eggplant was sweet like white eggplant and seemed seedless. This was really FANTABULOUS eggplant with fresh dill, pickled shallots and pickled garlic. (I think I dreamed fennel was also in it….not sure if that was real or just added on in my dream ?) All that countered with the pistachios and just the right amount of honey was darn yummy. This eggplant was firm almost like a custardy potato with the skin falling off like the way fish skin can fall off. The eggplant was cooked but wasn’t oily…..It was a magical kind of firm texture but almost custardy texture unlike any eggplant that I have ever had anywhere. It was so light and so delicious and was so easy to whoof down.
The Flash Fried Eggplant from FnB Restaurant in Scottsdale AZ is an official FANTABULOUS Dish.
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.
hostess stationthe bar1/2 moon booths traditional tables main dining area with a private roomopen kitchen
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.
The YUMDINGER dish does taste marvelously good, It’s a FORKING Tasty dish.
Ok you might not get this one because it looks like just a salad…but you are wrong…..It’s not just a salad. This plate of food is distinctive and uncommon. This one taste like an explosion in your mouth. What we got here is marinated moist flavorful deliciously charred chicken thigh in a bed of heathy greens and tomatoes. There is yellow rice in here, black beans, curry mayo and RUM SOAKED cranberries……..All this is really delicious and then it POPS when you add the pique (Puerto Rican Hot Sauce. OMG there is so much delicious going on. You got sweet, curry, some heat, some smoke some delicious, tart, sour and rum soaked cranberries! It’s really FANTABULOUS!
you MUST add the pique!
The Kokomo Chop Bowl from Little Cay in Scottsdale is a YUMDINGER DISH.
Campo Italian Bistro is located in Scottsdale Arizona. This restaurant is by Genuine Concepts Group that also has at least five other restaurants or bars in metro Phoenix. This is a casual restaurant that does differ from other Italian restaurants in atmosphere and on the menu.
They offer patio dining.
They also offer a variety of indoor dining.
There is seating at the bar and several high top tables.
There are two mini living room type areas.
Here is the main dining area.
The menu has lots of small plates and many of the small plates feature amazing cheeses. They also offer salads, pasta, pizza, panini, and a few entrees. It’s hard to pass on stracchino cheese when you see it on a menu so we started with that.
Ohhhh it’s so good! It’s finished with olive oil, peppercorns and fresh herbs. It goes amazingly well with the delicious lavosh crackers. It was bigger than I expected it to be since it was only $6 (subject to change…and it might!)
There were many other small plates that we wanted to try but found it impossible to turn down the artisan cheese plate.
This was also bigger than I expected it to be and we had to take a bunch of it home. BUT HOLY CHEEZUS….WOW was this FORKING Great! Some of the cheeses were robiola, taleggio, and pecorino. One cheese had truffles in it….The taleggio with the honey comb was BOMB! This also came with grilled Noble Bread.
I couldn’t try all the cheese that Campo Italian Bistro offers but they also offer a handmade mozzarella.
The special tonight was also cheesy and I might have ordered it if I wasn’t trying so many cheeses already. The special was wild mushroom mascarpone pasta…(wow that sounds good!) and the pizza of the day was zucchini, pancetta, pesto, pistachio, and caciccavalo cheese.
My husband went with the creste pasta.
They use pasta that is locally made. This dish came with locally made Schriener’s sausage, broccolini, roasted peppers and feta cheese. This came out a little too dry for our taste…but the crispy salmon was outstanding.
The salmon is crispy on both sides and stayed crispy. The flesh was moist, succulent and medium cooked. It rested over creamy beans with kale and tomato butter and was topped with herby greens. WOW! It was a really great salmon dish.. If you don’t think you like salmon then maybe it might be because you never had really good salmon…THIS was REALLY GREAT Salmon.
We enjoyed the cheeses and I enjoyed the salmon.
That was a little taste if Campo Italian Bistro in Scottsdale.
www.CampoItalian.com
Everything is subject to change and it usually eventually does change.
