*******NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS********S Maranto’s Market and Bar (and restaurant) has recently opened in Scottsdale Arizona just before the beginning of 2022. This is a casual Italian style deli, restaurant, bar, market and soon to be Pizzeria. They offer sandwiches, salads, meatballs, wings, pastas, platters, Italian beer, Italian wine, Italian spirits, some groceries, and more!
It’s casual.
You order at the counter, pay, grab your drink and seat yourself in the dining room or get service seated at the bar.
order here or seat yourself at the bar
Pick a table inside or on the dog friendly patio.
Browse the market while you wait for your order to arrive.
Soon our order arrives.
I got the spicy turkey sandwich.
It’s different. I really like the olives that the sandwich is topped with. The olives are spicy and citrus-y. I’ve never tasted an olive like these before. My sandwich is made mildly spicy with pickled goats horn peppers..(they taste similar to cherry peppers). The sandwich was made with smoked turkey lunchmeat….with a slice of mild provalone, lettuce, tomato, onion, and vita sauce. When we asked what vita sauce was we didn’t get a description. The person we asked just said that it was good so I can’t say exactly what it was but it was sort of creamy and was a little spicy with a smoked paprika type flavor. The baguette was a soft roll. It also came with a tasty cucumber salad that you can see in the next picture.
My husband tried the sausage and pepper sandwich.
He said the sausage was good. His roll came toasted but was also a soft roll.
That was a little taste of S Maranto’s Market and Bar – Newly Opened (and pizzas soon to come) in Scottsdale AZ.
There are several different kinds of restaurants out there. Most go under the categories of neighborhood restaurants….and neighborhood restaurants also are very good restaurants. We LOVE neighborhood restaurants……….but…… Some restaurants out there are destination restaurants. Destination restaurants serve the FANTABULOUS dishes. These are the restaurants that you drive across town for. We lost some of our destination lunch restaurants like Tarbell’s Tavern, Christopher’s and Vincent Market Bistro possibly due to the pandemic. Some restaurants have cut back lunch service to limited days. It is important that we still have some destination lunch restaurants. These restaurants are great for a special lunch out. Some only offer lunch on the weekends. Maybe you want to impress a friend or a relative. Maybe you want a special lunch for an anniversary or a birthday. Or maybe it’s for just because…….
Here they are in no particular order.
The Craftsman (lunch Fri, Sat. Sun.) in North Scottsdale offers some expectational cuisine. When you taste just even a salad you know that it isn’t ordinary. It’s the highest freshest quality.
crunchy quinoa salad with chickenCraftsman muffuletta with friesshipwright ahi saladtomato and melon burrata
www.TheCraftsmanAZ.com
We have Elements at Sanctuary (lunch Mon., Tue., Wed., Thurs., Fri.) in Paradise Valley with celebrity chef Beau Macmillan. The menu is ever changing and seasonal. But you are sure to find a variety of appetizers a special of the day, bento boxes, a very good exceptional chicken dish, and pastry chef quality desserts.
bento box house made cavatelli with duck confitseasonal chicken thigh dishfive spice beef tenderloinchef crafted dessert
www.SantuuaryCamelback.com/dining/Elements
Ocotillo (lunch Sat., Sun. subject to change) is a restaurant and more. It is technically also a coffee bar, cocktail lounge, wine bar, event space and park. They offer a mostly American menu laced with global cuisine. The menu offered is a large brunch menu of mostly sharing plates of salads, vegetable plates, sweets (breakfast), light plates, savory plates. I counted over 20 different plates to choose from. The menus are seasonal and do change. Also the hours change. Before the pandemic Ocotillo offered a great lunch everyday. Currently brunch is offered on the weekends of mostly lunch sharing plates.
house smoked salmon platecrispy chicken meatballstandoori chicken salad pita with tomato watermelon saladvanilia roasted pear with goat cheese and bitter chocolate with mintsmoked brisket on parmesan polenta, fried egg, crispy onions, brisket jusJapanese fish and chips
It’s easy to see why Ocotillo is a destination restaurant.
www.OcotilloPHX.com
Superstition Downtown Meadery (lunch 7 days a week) in Phoenix offers chef crafted food and award winning meadery (ancient honey wine). They offer sharing boards, small sharing plates and large sharing plates and food and mead pairings.
12 mead sampler $24.piri piri chicken & warm cannelli bean saladgorgonzola. & herb butter skirt steak blondies with cocoa nibs and Marion berry mead sauce whipped cream
www.SuperstitionMeadery.com
Another one of the top destinations for a special lunch would be the small restaurant in Carefree called Confluence (lunch Wed. Thurs., Fri., Sat.) They serve ever changing seasonal menus of elevated modern cuisine….You can order appetizers, lunch, and don’t miss dessert….because the desserts are equally amazing as the food.
Some of the amazing detailed and delicious lunches from Confluence that we tried were- –
kampachi crudo appetizermiso braised beef cheek (don’t miss out on any beef cheek you ever come across from Confluence) (this was only on the lunch menu maybe one week)Wagyu pastrami sandwich cubano sandwichBBQ chicken sandwich, celery root, spicy pickle, beet greens, smoked onion mayo, on a house made fontina roll (This might have been the most delicious sandwich that I have ever eaten anywhere)buttermilk fried chicken with broccolini, grits and chili tepin honey mustardmixed fruit granitespiced plum with black pepper oat crumble, sake poached cherry, candied manderanquat, mint, matcha creme anglaisechocolate mousse smoked toffee risotto, spiced pear, cocoa nibs, hazelnut, mint
www.RestaurantConfluence.com
These are some of the destination restaurants of metro Phoenix for lunch.
In no particular order-
The Craftsman Cocktails and Kitchen – (Fri-Sun.) North Scottsdale
