First & Last at this time (Feb/22) is a newly opened modern American restaurant located in downtown Phoenix Arizona. They serve an ever changing seasonal menu of starters plates and vegetable plates, fresh pastas, and interesting and different entrees, cocktails, local beers, small production wines and more!

Innside might be shotgun style. The restaurant is mostly long and narrow but also is open and airy. There is a high ceiling with hanging plants and lanterns.

In the picture below if you look at the middle of the picture above the bar you might be able to see that they also have some seating above the bar.

They also have a small patio with a few smaller tables.

Tonight we sat inside.

We started out by sharing a vegetable plate of butternut squash.

The butternut squash was adorned with a little heat from chilis, some sweetness from grapes, some yum from pine nuts and was tied together with a ras el hanout (Moroccan spice blend) vinaigrette. This was interesting and different and not too heavy.

But my GOSH!! The WINNER WINNER was the Chicken Dinner called Chicken Et Crouton. It was FORKING FANTABULOUS!

This chicken was developed with delicious flavors and was so tender and deliciously juicy…….It just was a YUM! DINGER! Chilis, crispy Swiss chard, sweet tomatoes, lemon and rosemary pan sauce just enhanced everything and there also was this fresh made focaccia in there that just soaked up all the goodness. I do have to say that this was one FANTABULOUS dish.

My husband tried the grilled quail dish. We both were a little worried that it would be dry because almost nobody knows how to prepare quail.

No worries here! This quail was moist and delicious! It came with a little spinach, goat cheese, truffle salt, farro porridge in a brown butter jus.

I made sure that I save a little room to try dessert. They only had one dessert tonight and it was a cheesecake. Generally we both are not fans of cheesecake but we were assured that the cheesecake here wasn’t the typical cheesecake that is heavy and dense (and taste sour to me).Tonights dessert was a lemon ricotta cheesecake with a little fig jam.

It’s not a beauty but……….

It was embellished with fresh whipped cream and a little sharp tasting fig jam. The cheesecake is LIGHT and fluffy, not too sweet, with a really great cheese taste……..(It taste like my own home made ricotta)………I have to ask about the cheese and I was right. The chef made the cheese too for this dessert. I can taste it. WOW! what a great dessert this was!

First & Last Restaurant Phoenix AZ – Fantabulous Modern American Cuisine – Worth a Fork!

First & Last

www.FirstandLastPHX.com

1001 N 3RD AVE PHX AZ

602-975-8297

Parking may or may not be difficult because it is in downtown Phoenix. They have a few parking spaces by the entrance and there is a small free parking garage across the street.

Everything is subject to change.

Wren & Wolf Restaurant is located in Downtown Phoenix Arizona. It’s a very swanky spacious restaurant that serves craft cocktails and food.

It’s a mix of fancy and rich inside accented with taxidermy and paintings of wolves and wren and has a sort of retro feel.

We try craft cocktails called Fredricksons.

It has one single large ice cube. This is really strong but very smooth and not sweet. It’s the type of drink that might make you sprout hair on your chest. It’s made of rye, vermouth, Alpine & French liqueurs, saline, and citrus smoke.

For dining we started with the full bread service and stuffed peppadew peppers.

On the top tier are small puffy cheesy pao de queyo breads (Brazilian cheese breads). They are nice and light and go with the truffle butter in the fancy egg shaped container. I’ve had Brazilian cheese breads before and these are much puffier and lighter. There also is sweet chili butter in the ramekin that goes with the bing bread (flat breads……the bing bread today is a little too greasy for me) On the lower level and on the right side is a generous amount of fresh grilled local Noble Bread that is very good. This really is too much for two people but it’s a treat and we don’t mind bringing the leftovers home.

The stuffed peppadews are really great with all kinds of flavors and textures dancing around in your mouth. The peppers are stuffed with local Crow’s Dairy goat cheese. Charred romesco, Marcona almonds and local citrus enhance the plate.

For dinner I tried the wild Tasmanian salmon.

The salmon is prepared a tad over done but is reasonably well prepared. It’s a little different with bitter arugula, curry finagling potatoes and finished with serrano lime glaze. They must have accidentally gave me extra potatoes….They sure are way more than I can eat. I didn’t mind bringing them home for another time.

My husband tried the dry aged meatloaf and they were nice enough to let him substitute their mac’n’cheese for the buttermilk mashed potatoes that are normally served wit it.

Great Swap!!!! That macaroni and cheese is really very good! I was told that the meatloaf had a really great sauce one it……but it was an off day for meatloaf because my husband said that its was the driest meatloaf that he has ever tried…….The management apologized sincerely and made things right with us the best that they could.

Tonight I really. didn’t have room for dessert but. the manager insisted that we try one. The house specialty dessert is a bourbon butter cake with lots of ultra rich toppings, like cream cheese frosting, bourbon caramel, bananas foster, and candied pecans…… that might be delicious and did sound hard to pass up…….We tried the lime tart that seemed a little lighter and refreshing.

This lime tart really is VERY GOOD and is among the better lime tarts that I have tried. It’s not too heavy or too sweet with a nice bright lime taste. It also has a very tasty pecan crust.

That was a little taste of Wren and Wolf Restaurant in Downtown Phoenix AZ

www.WrenandWolf.com

2 N Central Ave Phoenix AZ

602-562-3510

You can get validated parking at Renaissance Square Garage on 1st Ave

Everything is subject to change.

Hula’s Modern Tiki Restaurant is a Tiki Bar type restaurant with three locations. They have two locations in Phoenix and one location in Scottsdale. The North Phoenix location on High Street by Desert Ridge has an indoor outdoor bar and wrap around patio and is casual and airy inside.

Natural light come in the glass front during the day. You also get a view of the farmers market on Sundays.

They offer and all day menu and the weekend brunch menu. Both menus offer starters, sides, bowls, tacos, burgers, and sandwiches. The all day menu offers more starters like ceviche, poke, and wings. fresh fish, jerk plates, and Hawaiian kalbi ribs.

I tried the spicy Thai chicken bowl.

I received a generous amount of sliced chicken breast, fresh shredded cabbage, creamy fried plantains, beans, avocado, soy glaze and Thai Sauce. I was surprised that this wasn’t spicy. The sauce today doesn’t taste Thai to me but does have something soy or soy sauce like in it. This dish is not for me and I would not order this again but have heard that this dish has been a beloved favorite from this restaurant for over twelve years. I did enjoy the plantains….they had a nice creamy texture and a natural sweetness to them. They seemed less starchy than others I’ve had.

My husband enjoyed the hunkin Samoa burger. he did much better than me.

This burger came with jack cheese, fried Spam, linguisa sausage (he said it was very good), sunny side up egg, and Hula sauce (ketchup, mayo, ginger, other ingredients).

That was my trip to Hula’s Modern Tiki in North Phoenix.

www.HulasModernTiki.com

5450 E High St PHX AZ

480-597-5808

NoRa Asian Fresh is a fast growing chain of fast/casual restaurants that offer limited sushi, American Chinese and other bowls, ramen, Asian Entrees, soft beverages, and more. At the moment (subject to change soon) there are around a dozen locations of NoRa Asian Fresh in the valley and two locations in Texas.

It’s very casual here. You order at the counter and seat yourself.

A few minutes latter our order arrives.

We tried a nigiri combo (It’s tuna and salmon at this location)

The fish is clean and fresh tasting today! The rice under the fish holds together very well without falling apart. The wasabi paste is a bit on the dry side. You have to add the wasabi paste under the fish if you like it seasoned that way.

We also shared a tuna lover roll (spicy tuna topped with fresh tuna)

It’s mildly spicy. The rice holds together very well and doesn’t come apart. They don’t have chopsticks here so you have to pick up pieces with a fork. The tuna doesn’t look like hand cut tuna?????? I’ve never seen tuna cut so perfect before. Looks like it was cut on a slicer but I don’t know how they did it.

We also tried a chicken egg roll and chicken dumplings.

We both didn’t care for the egg roll or either of the dipping sauces. The chicken dumpling were fried nicely but were just ok.

While the sushi we tried is not high end sushi it was fresh and clean tasting. There is something to be said for that! Many of the sushi restaurants in this area didn’t serve me sushi as fresh tasting. So this seems to be a quick low priced option.

That is a little taste of NoRa Asian Fresh in North Phoenix.

www.NoraAsainFresh.com (locations differ slightly with prices and menu items)

www.Nora OnlineOrdering.com

4225 W Bell Rd PHX AZ

602-675-0301

Everything is subject to change.

Tarbell’s is a New American High Quality Restaurant owned by a very decorated chef Mark Tarbell. Chef Tarbell has been featured in numerous publications and TV shows including The Talk, and Food Network’s Iron Chef. On Iron Chef he chef Mark Tarbell won the cooking battle. Not only is chef Tarbell a famous chef he also is a wine expert, a serious skier, a pilot, a dancer, and a musician. He owns at least three businesses in the central Phoenix Corridor. His casual restaurant called, The Tavern. His wine store called, The Wine Store and of course his namesake restaurant called Tarbell’s.

Recently they added a nice patio inn front of the restaurant.

Inside there is a long bar and traditional tables and booths dressed with crisp linen, and set with heavy silverware.

There are some good deals on the wine list if you know your wine….

They started us off with complimentary hot from the oven bread and herbed oil.

We shared the cotija cheese crusted cauliflower.

You can’t tell by my photo but it seems that the cauliflower was steamed. I wasn’t expecting the cauliflower to be steamed…..It’s very soft and almost collapsing. This plate is also adorned with tomato braised lentils, red bell pepper, radish, beets. The description also reads butternut squash puree and creamed peas but the squash and peas are there to color the plate…you can’t scrap much off the plate to taste. This plate is mostly mildly seasoned and the cauliflower is extra soft. I don’t mean to complain but this cauliflower is so scant with the cotija cheese that it doesn’t seem cotija. crusted.

The dinners were both excellent.

I had the pan seared Argentine Sea bass.

The flaky, moist, mild, seared fish is topped with tasty tomatillo and pumpkin seed relish and sits over curry tomatoes, carrot, spinach, saffron rice, butternut squash puree, and coconut reduction. The flavors all go together well here.

My husband had the Tarbell’s Bolognese.

All I know about this plate is that it was made with a combination of beef and pork and takes four days to prepare…….My husband said that it was the best bolognese he’s ever eaten……..

During our dinner they sat a party next to us.

It might be hard to see in my photo but the party sort of overflowed into our space…..It was impossible for me to exit on my side and we had to be careful not to bump into the woman hanging off the end of her table. I’m surprised at a nice place like Tarbell’s that they would squish that table so close to ours when the table on the other side of the party wasn’t being used.

I was too full to try dessert so we were done.

Suggested tipping at Tarbell’s is 21-29%

They did hand us fresh baked cookies on our way out.

That was dinner from Tarbell’s. I’d recommend the sea bass and Tarbell’s bolognese.

www.Tarbells.com

3213 E Camelback Rd PHX AZ

602-955-8100