Avalon

My birthday is next week, but my parent's are going to be out of town, so we decided to go out and celebrate a little early. We made plans to go on a Thursday night, the only problem, as of Thursday morning I still hadn't decided where I wanted to go. While my favorite food is Mexican, I was having that for lunch, and while I have been known to eat Mexican food for more than one meal in the same day, I wanted to go somewhere a bit snazzier for dinner! After fumbling around online, I came across a review of Avalon and decided that it sounded like just what I was looking for!

As with many of the chic new restaurants around town, Avalon is located in Scottsdale, but the part of Scottsdale where it is is not what you would expect out of a new, trendy restaurant. Most of the hip new places tend to pop up in Old Town, Kierland or further North in DC Ranch, but Avalon is on McDowell Road, between Hayden and Miller. McDowell is littered with multiple fast food joints, hole-in-the wall Chinese restaurants and random dives, not an area you would think would offer any fine dining options; but then again, it does make Avalon stand out from the pack.

Upon entering Avalon, you are immediately transported into a sheik dining room, filled with cool blue colors with multiple different patterns and textures adorning the furniture and walls. It is obvious, that a lot of money was spent to transform this space into its current incarnation, and the ambiance is very serene. We all kept marveling at how beautiful the interior was. We were seated in an extra-large booth and began to look over the menu. Our waiter, Roman, appeared and took our beverage orders and answered our questions regarding the menu.

When the beverages were delivered, so was a basket of warm bread. There was a side of butter with the bread that looked like it had something mixed into it for flavoring. Laura decided to be our guinea pig, and happily reported that it was pieces of dried cranberries. The sweet, creamy butter was nicely accented by the tart cranberries making for a lovely way to whet our appetites.

Ultimately, we decided to get an appetizer to start with as well, and settled on the Crispy Calamari "Frittes." My whole family is big fans of calamari, and we tend to lean towards it on most menus to taste all of the different options out there. This particular version was served in long strips, rather than in the typical rings and legs form that we are accustomed to. The strips were served over a cantaloupe butter sauce and topped with Japanese Mizuna greens. This was probably the most unique version of calamari we had ever tried; at first, we weren't quite sure of the sauce with the calamari, but the more we tasted it, the more we liked it. The calamari was not greasy at all, and was very fresh tasting with the light cantaloupe sauce. It was an inspired twist on a classic.

Whenever we go out to dinner, one of the first things my dad usually asks is, "Who wants to share a salad?" It is funny, it is like he thinks he should eat a salad, but he doesn't really want to eat a whole one for risk ruining his dinner! I am not usually a volunteer to share, as salad is not very high on my list of things that I choose to eat, and this night was no exception. My sister was the volunteer, and they ordered the Caesar Salad. When the plate arrived, my sister's first reaction was that it didn't look like a typical Caesar, which it didn't. Instead of pre-shredded the lettuce, it was served with the hearts in their whole form and topped with a "chip" made of Parmesan cheese. My dad really liked the dressing on this salad, he said it had a good, strong anchovy flavor which was nicely accented by the sharp flavor of the cheese. After her initial reservations, my sister decided that flavors were excellent, which is all that matters in the end.

Laura wasn't feeling very well that day, and after eating some bread and salad, she really wasn't in the mood for much else, so she opted to just get a bowl of the French Onion Soup for her meal. When it came out, the customary layer of melted cheese was overlapping the sides of the bowl. She dipped her spoon in and went for the first bite, to which she made a strange face. She took a few more and then declared that there was something "off" with the soup, and wanted us to try it and give our opinions. Isn't it funny how when things don't taste good, people also want you to try it too!?!?! Both my mom and I obliged, and we too noticed an odd flavor. French Onion soup is pretty basic, and is a classic, but rather than being rich and salty, this version tasted sweet! We couldn't figure out what they would have done to it to make it sweet, but nonetheless, we chose not to finish it.

So I think I am weird. Why do I say that? Because when it comes to crab and lobster, I don't really like it in its pure form, steamed and dipped in butter. I am not sure why, because butter usually makes everything taste better, but I just find it to be too plain. I love both crab and lobster, but would rather have it in the form of a crab cake or mixed into something rather than just plain. But on this night, the item on the menu that stuck out to me was the Butter Poached Maine Lobster. It was served with ricotta gnocchi and a tomato confit in a saffron lobster demi sauce, so I figured I could take a bite of lobster with all the other stuff and then it wouldn't be so plain. The plate came out with two large portions of lobster atop the gnocchi and vegetables. It was just lovely, what was not so lovely, was that the tomato confit also included mushrooms and asparagus, two of my least favorite items. Since there was no mention of either of these in the description, I didn't think to ask, but decided to just buck up and eat it; and to my surprise, I actually enjoyed it. I am not saying that I actually ate a piece of the mushroom or asparagus, but the flavors that they infused to the dish actually weren't bad. I took a bite of the lobster and it was tender and sweet, quite delicious, especially when combined with one of the ricotta gnocchi. I don't think I had ever had ricotta gnocchi before, just the potato kind, but I have a new love! It was much lighter than its potato relative and I loved every bite of it, it just melted in my mouth! In all honesty, I enjoyed the dish as a whole, but would have easily given up the lobster for more gnocchi!

My mom loves scallops, and even though the menu had duck (one of her all-time favorites), she decided to go with the Seared Maine Diver Scallops. The plate came out with three large scallops each placed atop a different accompaniment. There one was atop a marscapone creamed corn, another atop saffron couscous and the last was served with a white bean pancetta ragout. She took a bite a declared that they were cooked perfectly, each tasting a tad bit different depending on which side she tried them with. I have never really been into scallops, but wanted to give them a try, so I took a bite of the one with the corn, and oh my, I now like scallops! The sweet scallop and the creamy corn went really well together. Of all the different accompaniments, my mom's favorite was also the corn. She said if she were to return, she would just ask for all corn and skip the other two sides! There was also a sauce on the side, some sort of rich butter sauce, but the scallops and sides had so much flavor, it wasn't necessary.

My dad is a red meat kind of guy, and even though he makes the most amazing steaks at home, he is ultimately drawn to them in restaurants as well. He ordered the Aged Prime Rib-Eye Steak in a bordelaise sauce served with fingerling pancetta potato hash and cipollini onions. He likes his steaks medium rare, and it came out cooked perfectly. The rich bordalaise sauce accented the flavor of the meat well and he especially enjoyed the potatoes with the pancetta. The size of the steak was quite large, and even dad couldn't finish it, even though he really wanted too!

We were all quite full from our meals (well, maybe not Laura) but since we were celebrating my birthday, and I am not one to turn away a dessert, we had to try out some of the creations. While looking over the dessert menu we overhead the waiter tell the table behind us that the chef at Avalon, used to be the pastry chef at Olive & Ivy, a hip restaurant on the Scottsdale Waterfront. With this new found knowledge, we suddenly realized that if the chef was really a pastry chef by trade, and with the entrees being so delicious, the desserts should be out of this world! We decided to try two different items, mostly because I wanted something chocolate and Laura wanted to try the Strawberry Shortcake, and after her soup fiasco, we figured she was probably hungry.

I love a good strawberry shortcake as well, but the menu described this as being a "twist" on the original. Part of the twist is that it was served with a tangerine poundcake, rather than a typical shortcake. When it came out, it was this little tower, and not a strawberry to be seen, save for the strawberry shaped cookie on top, but upon the first bite we were all in love! The light flavor of the tangerine mixed really well with the strawberry filling, making this so light and refreshing; the prefect summer dessert, the flavor was so good that even my dad, the non dessert eater, snared a few bites.

In order to feed my chocolate addiction, we also ordered the Avalon Brownie Sundae, and let me just say, this was the best brownie sundae I have ever had! The rich chocolaty brownie had a fudge frosting smeared on one side of it and a scoop of strawberry gelato on the other side. Around the edges was a drizzle of caramel, and, drum roll please.....caramel corn! A bite consisting of rich brownie, cool ice cream and the sweet crunch of the caramel corn was heavenly, I just couldn't get enough! Even my mom and sister, both skeptical at first realized the greatness of this dish! It is amazing how three simple items, while delicious separately, are taken to a whole new level when combined!

I really enjoyed my experience at Avalon; the service, ambiance and food were all top notch. And while I probably won't frequent it, because it is a bit on the pricey side for just a random Thursday night dinner, it is definitely a cool place for a special occasion, even with its quirky location.

Avalon

7707 E. McDowell Rd.

Scottsdale, AZ 85257

http://www.avalon-restaurant.com/