Cafe Carumba

A couple of weeks ago we had one of our monthly alum dinners that I am in charge of planning.  I couldn't quite figure out where to go; it is getting hard because I don't like to repeat restaurants, but eventually I decided on Cafe Carumba which is in Old Town Scottsdale.  I had been there once, when it just opened about 4 years ago, but after I looked at the menu I could see that it had been revamped, so I was excited to try it.  Our group arrived, and we thought the interior was cute, decorated in modern Southwestern decor, but we were shocked to see only about 2 other tables occupied....and it was 7:00 on a Friday night!?!  Nevertheless, we were there, we were hungry, and we figured we would't have to wait too long!

We started off with the Nacho Bowl, which was basically all of the nacho toppings placed in  bowl with chips to dip in it.  The girls that ordered it really liked it, but I thought that it was missing a key element to nachos...the cheese!  It was just seasoned ground beef, sour cream, onions and tomatoes; while all the ingredients were tasty, I think some cheese would have made things a whole lot better!  But it didn't stop them from scraping the bowl clean!

One of the other girls wasn't too hungry, so she opted for the Caracas Chopped Salad, which was a combination of grilled chicken, black beans, corn, tomatoes and cojita cheese served on romaine. The presentation of the salad was very nice, the bright colors of the corn and tomatoes made it look very appetizing. The chicken was nicely cooked and the combination of all the simple flavors made for a nice, light meal.

The most popular item with our group was the Taco Platter, three out of group of seven ordered it, but they all chose different fillings!  The picture below shows the grilled chicken tacos, but there was also on order of the steak tacos and the pork tacos too!  Everyone liked their tacos, the fillings were generous and the flavors were good, and since the platter came with three tacos and two side dishes....there were a lot of leftovers!  We all thought that the choices for side dishes were quite unique, not just your typical rice and beans.  We tried almost all of them amongst us; the side salad, sweet potato fries, homemade potato chips, black beans, pinto beans and even the roasted mushrooms and spinach!  The homemade chips and the sweet potato fries were our favorites, but they were all quite good.

My sister opted for the most unique entree out of group, she ordered the Chicken Oscar "Carumba" Style!  The dish was a grilled chicken breast topped with two crab cakes, asparagus and topped with an ancho hollandaise sauce.  The presentation was lovely; the chicken was cooked perfectly and the crab cakes were full of crab, but the only thing that didn't make this an out of this world dish for her was that the sauce was a bit too spicy for her.  I tasted the sauce and liked it, so if you don't mind a bit of spice, this is a fun Southwest twist on a classic dish!

There were a lot of items that sounded good to me on the menu, but ultimately I decided to go with the Green Chile Pork.  I love green chile pork, and I usually measure most against the one at Z'Tejas, so I was intrigued to try this version.  It was served in a hot skillet with warm tortillas on the side.  I tried a bite of the pork first and it was very tender, it just fell apart, but I didn't really get much green chile flavor.  I scooped some into a tortilla, along with some pinto beans and took a bite, it was good, but it just didn't have that much flavor, the beans overpowered the pork!  It was not a terrible dish, but I guess I am a bit of a Green Chile snob....and this one is not one that I will be ordering again!

Overall, we had a nice experience at Cafe Carumba, the food was good for the most part and the service was quick.  I am still perplexed as to why the restaurant was so empty the entire time that we were there, but I have heard that it is a popular brunch spot on the weekends, so I may have to go and check that out.  I would go back again to try out their happy hour as well, especially, since unlike almost all the other restaurants in Old Town, they actually have their own parking lot!

Cafe Carumba
7303 E. Indian School Rd.
Scottsdale, AZ 85281
http://www.cafecarumba.com/

Brio Tuscan Grille

We told my dad to pick a restaurant to go to for his birthday, he didn't know what where he wanted to go, so we suggested Brio that had just opened at the Scottsdale Quarter.  As I have said before, my dad LOVES Italian food, so we thought this would be a good pick for his special day, and fun for everyone since none of us had ever been there before.

We had a 7:00 reservation on a Thursday night and were seated promptly upon our arrival.  Let me just say, the interior of the restaurant is so beautiful; it has high ceilings which have been ornately decorated with chandeliers and fabric swags.  Even though the ceilings were so high, and there were so many tables, it really didn't get to be all that loud inside, so we were happy about that, especially my dad.

We were greeted by a friendly waiter within seconds of sitting down, and placed our beverage orders.  We were also given a nice basket of assorted breads and cracker breads, the cracker breads were the best of the bunch; seasoned with rosemary and parmesan cheese!

We looked over the menu and were impressed by the selection, and felt that the prices were very reasonable considering the atmospher of the restaurant, so we were hoping the food wouldn't let us down!  We decided to start with some Lobster Bisque and salad before our entrees.  My family cannot resist a bowl of Lobster Bisque, and if we see it on a menu, we generally find ourselves ordering a bowl with four spoons!

The bisque came out in an adorable soup toureen that had lion heads on either side of it, which is something that my mom, sister and I couldn't help but point out!  I was the first to take a bite of the bisque, and while I found the flavor to be nice and lots of big chunks of lobster, I found the texture to be a bit off.  A bisque is supposed to be as smooth and velvety, but this was really thick, almost like you had to chew your soup!  We all decided that the flavor was there, but that the execution was off, so next time we will probably pass on the bisque.

We had also ordered both the Caesar Salad (minus the croutons) and the Brio Chopped Salad as starters.  The Caesar was just your classic version, but both my sister and dad really liked the dressing.  It was nicely dressed and sprinkled with Paresan cheese, and the lettuce was nice and crisp.  My mom really enjoyed the chopped salad that was filled with tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, onions and dressed in a red wine vinaigrette.  Everything was chopped into similar sized pieces making it easy to eat, and she thought it all went very well together.  The salads had made up for the chewy bisque, so we were looking forward to our entrees!

I decided to order off of the appetizer menu since I wasn't overly hungry that night, and I chose the Gorgonzola Lamb Chops.  They offer an entree sized portion of these, but when the waiter informed me that it came with EIGHT chops, I decided that was just way to much!  The chops were cooked to a perfectly pink middle and were baked with a crust of gorgonzola cheese.  Dipped in the red wine veal sauce that they were served with, they really just melted in your mouth!  The sauce was one of my favorite parts of this dish, I was dipping my bread in it at the end to make sure I didn't miss any of it!

My dad chose the Veal Marsala for his entree.  The veal was super tender like veal should be, and was swimming in a classic Marsala sauce specked with mushrooms.  On the side, there were crispy roasted potatoes and green beans.  My dad loves veal, and tends to order it most of the time that he goes for Italian food and he really liked this version.  The portion was a good size and he especially liked the roasted potatoes.

My mom and my sister both ordered the same thing, the Shrimp and Scallop Risotto.  The dish came out and smelled amazing, and we could all see that it was overflowing with shrimp and scallops.  The risotto was made with fire roasted tomatoes and cream, giving it a rich and creamy flavor.  It was drizzled with a pesto sauce that added just the right amount of nuttiness to the dish.  I was able to snag a few bites and fell in love with this, it reminded me of my beloved "pink sauce" that I tend to gravitate to when ordering pasta.  They both had leftovers to take home, and reported that it was almost even better leftover!

Since we were celebrating a birthday, we couldn't not have dessert, although the birthday boy wasn't interested, so my mom and I got to choose!  We decided to get a Creme Brulee Trio that included a classic version, a caramel version and a chocolate version.  For some reason my sister does not like Creme Brulee, silly girl, so it was all for me and my mom!  They were all smooth, silky and creamy but the caramel one was our favorite.  It was not overly sweet, but had just enough of the caramel flavor that it was just divine. 

We all really enjoyed our whole experience at Brio; the service, food and atmosphere were all excellent.  The menu had quite the selection and we all agreed that there were other dishes that we would be interested in trying, so I am guessing that we will be back again in the near future!

Brio Tuscan Grille

15301 N. Scottsdale Rd.

Scottsdale, AZ 85254

http://www.brioitalian.com/

The Greene House

Starting in early December, over a span of 30 days, my family celebrates my mom's birthday, Christmas, New Year's and my dad's birthday....that is a lot of celebrating!  But even though the holiday season usually has all of our schedules packed, we always make time to celebrate together as a family.  My mom's birthday was on a Thursday night, and when we asked her where she wanted to go, she immediately said The Greene House.  Now for most people this wouldn't sound strange, but my mom is one who doesn't like to have a fuss made about her, and usually responds with an "I don't care" or "You choose," so I knew that The Greene House must be good if my mom actually chose to have her birthday dinner there.  She and my dad had been there a handful of times and she declared that they had her favorite scallop dish, which is why she picked it, since neither my sister nor I had ever been there we were equally excited to check it out.

The Greene House is located in Scottsdale in the Scottsdale Kierland shopping center.  If you have never been to Kierland, I suggest checking it out, especially at night, and during the holidays.  In a city so spread out like Phoenix, it is a true gem; with shops and restaurants on the bottom floors, and condos above, it gives you that city living feeling that we don't really have here.  We had a reservation for 6:30 and were seated promptly at a corner booth/table combination.  My first impressions of the interior were this, crisp, clean, loud and the tables were too close together!  I know that I said Kierland gives you that big city feel, and much like the restaurants that are found in New York and Chicago, The Greene House really packs in the tables to make the most of their space.  I guess I am just spoiled as far as roomy seating goes, but I enjoy a good booth with high backs where I can't overhear the conversation of the people sitting next to me.  But, we were here, and we were hungry, so I just ignored the noise and the extra conversations floating around and focused on the food.

We decided to get a few appetizers to start, first choosing the Herb Hummus that was topped with tomatoes, onions and feta cheese and served with warm flatbread.  My first impression was that I loved the flatbread!  It was definitely made fresh, which was evidenced by the grill marks, and was served warm which brought out a slight sweetness to it.  The combination of the herbed hummus with the cool tomato, onion and cheese with the warm bread was just heavenly.  The portion was quite generous, and could easily be a meal for a non-meater.  I would order it again just for the flatbread alone!

We also decided to get the Tempura Calamari to start with, and we were in for a pleasant surprise when it arrived.  Not only did the dish include delicious, tender pieces of lightly battered calamari sprinkled with sea salt, but there were thinly sliced pieces of zucchini mixed in with it as well!  The zucchini slices were paper thin, giving them a nice cruch, almost like a potato chip, when you bit into them.  We all loved this little bonus, and I may have liked them even more than the calamari!  The dish was served with a sweet chili vinaigrette for dipping; it had just the right balance of heat and sweet that went well with both the zucchini and calamari.  We almost didn't order this dish to begin with, but the empty plate that was left in front of us proved that it was a good last minute decision.

Soon after we finished our appetizers, our entrees arrived, with my mom's beloved scallops coming out first.  The plate had four large scallops that were nicely seared and served with carmelized cauliflower, snap peas and bacon, with the sauce from the veggies drizzled on the plate.  The first thing my mom did once she got her dish was hand the bacon to my dad!  While my mom has nothing against bacon, she is not a huge fan, and knows how much my dad loves it....how sweet is that?  After the bacon was gone, she started in on the scallops, she said they were cooked perfectly as usual, and loves the flavors in the sauce and with the cauliflower. I tried a bite of a scallop, and while they were cooked well, I wasn't as big of a fan of the flavorings, it tasted a bit blah to me, but I have had some amazing scallops lately so maybe that was part of my problem.  Nonetheless, my mom loved her dish, and since it was her birthday, thats all that mattered!

My sister ordered the Harvest Chopped salad and added a grilled chicken breast on top.  She loved the combination of the dark, leafy greens paired with the sweetness of the grapes, apples and strawberries and the tang of the goat cheese.  The salad also was sprinkled with walnuts to give it some crunch, and was dressed in a light vinaigrette.  My sister loves a good salad, and she really loves goat cheese, so she was very happy with her meal.

I had a hard time deciding what to order that night, but ended up going with the Grilled Mahi Tacos.  The dish came with two large tacos loaded with shredded cabbage, pico de gallo, avocado and sprinkled with cojita cheese.  They also came with a side of seasoned white beans.  I tried the beans first, and wow, they were good!  They had a nice smokiness to them, with just a bit of heat; they too had been sprinkled with cojita cheese.  I next tried my taco, it was pretty good, I liked the fresh tortillas and the toppings, but I felt that the fish was a bit overcooked, which made it dry.  I also think the fish lacked some initial seasoning, because besides being dry, they were pretty blah.  The lady at the table next to us had ordered the steak tacos, they looked to be really juicy, so I am thinking I just got some overcooked fish.  But I think my heart still belongs to the fish tacos at Loco Patron...if you haven't tried them....they are a must!

My dad ordered the Twin Kobe Burgers as his entree, I guess he was in a red meat mood but didn't want to mess with a steak.  The burgers were a bit larger than a traditional slider, so the made for a substantial meal.  They were topped with fontina cheese and homemade pickles and served on brioche buns.  My dad ordered his medium-rare, and was very happen to discover upon his first bite that they were cooked perfectly.  As his side dish, he upgraded to the White Truffle Parmesan and Chive French Fires....and Oh My Goodness....they were AMAZING!  Cooked to perfect golden brown and sprinkled with flavor, they were truly some magnificient french fries, and we were all very happy that my dad was in a sharing mood that night!

Since we were there celebrating a birthday, of course we had to get some dessert, and of course we let the birthday girl choose!  I can't say that I wasn't secretly thrilled when she happened to choose the one that I had been eyeing on the menu, the Blueberry Crostata a la mode. It was basically like a mini blueberry pie minus the top crust and topped with vanilla ice cream.  This was delicious!  The crust was rich, buttery and flaky, and the blueberry filling was smooth and sweet.  The crostata was served warm, so eating it with the cool vanilla ice cream was just divine.

Now that I have been to The Greene House, I would likely go back, because overall I felt that food was of superb quality and flavor.  My mom told me that the best time to go there is when the weather is nice, because they do have a patio, and it is not nearly as noisy.  So once the spring comes around again, I might just find myself venturing back to The Greene House for another delicious meal!

The Greene House

15024 N. Scottsdale Rd.

Suite 100

Scottsdale, AZ 85254

http://www.foxrestaurantconcepts.com/

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/