I had the pleasure of going home to Arizona this past week, so the next few posts will be of a slightly different nature. Dad sold a house a few days before I arrived, so he kindly requested that my mom take Jill and I out for a little shopping and lunching. It has been quite awhile since I searched through the sale racks at
Anthropologie with my mom and sister, so I
was pretty excited. After about three hours, however, I was also pretty hungry and exhausted. The three of us wandered over to the Zinc Bistro in Scottsdale's
Kierland Commons. Mom and I had eaten there once before and had vague memories of it being tasty. Plus, it had outdoor seating and on such a nice day it seemed like a crime to sit indoors.
I instantly felt at home in the establishment, because the prices were basically the same as Washington, DC. A
disappointing discovery in Arizona. Mimosas were $12 and the burgers were $11
without a side of fries. After I had taken a few minutes to recover from the shock of the prices, I went with a Stella
Artois rather than the mimosa and ordered the
Basiled Chicken and Brie
Sandwich ($10) for my meal. Jill went with the Grilled Curry Chicken
Sandwich ($10) with shaved almonds and
raisins. I strongly considered the curry
sandwich myself, but bad childhood memories involving curry and
raisins changed my mind at the last minute. Mom went with the $11 Bacon Blue Cheese Burger. As a table we caved and ordered the House Fries with marjoram and paprika.
Overall, the lunch was great (but that was mostly as a result of the company). The
Basiled Chicken Brie
Sandwich was
tasty but a little too rich for my tastes. I could barely get through half and the family had to help me out with the rest. I tasted Jill's curry chicken
sandwich and realized that I was right about the evil
raisins. Mom's burger was the winner in my opinion and I got over the fact that we had to pay $5 for fries.
Zinc Bistro is a great place if you have some extra cash to burn, the weather is nice and you like watching all the fabulous Scottsdale women lunching on a Saturday afternoon. Otherwise, you could probably find more affordable and perhaps more interesting food somewhere else.
Zinc Bistro
15034 N. Scottsdale Road
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
480-603-0922
http://www.zincbistroaz.com/index.html
I have been MIA from the blog for the past couple weeks, but it was entirely beyond my control. Aaron and I have both been preparing for a summer away for work and keeping hours that are not exactly conducive to hobbies.
I have yet to have any food at the Marx Cafe but it was a great Sunday afternoon spot for having a couple beers and hanging out with friends. During nice weather they open the front windows allowing for fresh breezes and excellent people watching. Rumor also has it that they will be opening a roof deck soon. I would highly recommend Marx Cafe for those with time to kill on the weekend. And don't forgot the dominoes.
Mom and I made a little trip down to Tucson to take Jill home and visit Dean and Lewis of the famed Lew-Bear blog (http://lew-bear.blogspot.com/). After a long walk around their neighborhood in Barrio Viejo we decided to take Lewis with us to dinner and headed toward the Cup Cafe at the Hotel Congress in downtown Tucson.
wandered around a little bit while we waited for a table. After a couple drinks on the bar's patio, we moved over to the restaurant and enjoyed a really great meal. Jill and Dean have been to the Cup Cafe many times before and seemed to know exactly what they were going to have. It was the Sonoran Crab Cakes (pan-seared blue crab cakes with anaheim, red and jalapeno peppers, bread crumbs and sonoran spices) for Jill and the Rib Eye Au Poivre (pan-seared, thick cut rib eye crusted with black peppercorns served over garlic mash potatoes and seasonal veggies) for Dean.
to select our dishes but it ended up being Tournedos of Beef for me and the linguine for Mom. The Lindsey Linguine was tossed with fresh basil, fresh tomatoes, garlic, extra virgin olive oil and Parmesan cheese and Mom found it to be a great, light meal for a late spring evening in Arizona. My dish was a little heavier and consisted for grilled medallions of beef, braised red cabbage, whole roasted rosemary potatoes and a Gorgonzola cream sauce. I'm not a huge fan of cabbage, so a great deal of that was left on my plate, but the rest of the meal was fabul
ous.
The last time I was home, my dad introduced me to Humble Pie Pizza. I absolutely fell in love with their wood-smoked prosciutto pizza. From the minute I landed in Phoenix on Thursday afternoon, I started talking about Humble Pie. It was not until my last day in town, however, that Dad and I found the time for an early lunch at my favorite pizza place. I should not really call Humble Pie my favorite pizza place because I have only been there twice and only tried one of their pizzas. However, the wood-smoked prosciutto pizza with mozzarella and a sunny-side up egg, is the thing of dreams. The egg is really what does it. That and the fact that they cook the prosciutto to the point that it is practically bacon.
law. Humble Pie has Four Peaks Kilt Lifter Scottish Style Ale which is my favorite beer on draft, so that would make up for almost any shortcoming. We did not fit a visit to the Four Peaks Brewery onto the schedule this time around, but if you are ever in AZ, Four Peaks should definitely be a stop on your agenda (http://www.fourpeaks.com/).
was pretty excited. After about three hours, however, I was also pretty hungry and exhausted. The three of us wandered over to the Zinc Bistro in Scottsdale's Kierland Commons. Mom and I had eaten there once before and had vague memories of it being tasty. Plus, it had outdoor seating and on such a nice day it seemed like a crime to sit indoors.
tasty but a little too rich for my tastes. I could barely get through half and the family had to help me out with the rest. I tasted Jill's curry chicken sandwich and realized that I was right about the evil raisins. Mom's burger was the winner in my opinion and I got over the fact that we had to pay $5 for fries.
