Timo Wine Bar
Our marketing intern extraordinaire, Michelle, seems to have caught the blogging bug. Here's her second contribution to The Hot Sheet.
Adding to the list of great restaurants along Central Avenue is the latest addition, Timo. This wood fire oven restaurant and wine bar opened by the talent behind Brick Urban Kitchen, features a full menu with tapas, pizzas, bruschetta and sandwiches during weekday lunch and dinner, and a brunch menu on the weekends.
I dropped in during their Sunday brunch, and found the patio already packed - I could see why. Their patio, much larger than other wine bars, was very inviting with a center placed fire pit surrounded by leather couches and tables.
Being too hungry to wait, I chose to be seated inside where I had a great spot right in front of the custom built wood fire oven.
After a recommendation by the waiter, I tried their bruschetta. With choices of smoked salmon, apple and brie, and my favorite the roasted eggplant and goat cheese, I was not disappointed! The flavors were well paired and had a great smoky flavor brought out by the wood oven. I paired this with the mimosa flight, which is three glasses of champagne with fresh squeezed grapefruit, cranberry and orange juices.
When I was looking over the menu I had noticed they had foie gras with fig jam, and feeling a little adventurous, I decided to give it a try. For those not familiar with foie gras, it’s a pate like substance made from duck liver. I tried it and as instructed, treated the items as if they were butter and jam by spreading it on the provided crostini. Well, I can say this may not be my new favorite meal, but it was interesting to say the least, with a very rich, bitter like taste.
If you miss their weekend brunch, you can stop in on Mondays they offer flatbread and a bottle of wine for only $19 from 5:30-9:30pm.
Timo is located at 8801 N. Central Ave.
Hula’s Modern Tiki
Our marketing intern extraordinaire, Michelle, recently visited Hula’s Modern Tiki in Central Phoenix. She offered to write a blog post about her experience and we happily obliged.
If you have a craving for some island style food but can’t take the time to head to Hawaii, then you can feed that need at Hula’s Modern Tiki right here in Phoenix!
Hula’s takes island style and adds a modern contemporary twist which you can see not just in the food but in the décor as well. As you enter Hula’s you’ll first encounter a large outdoor patio with modern furniture, nothing that says island; that is until you walk up to the front doors where you will be greeted by a 6 foot tall wooden carved tiki. Now that’s more like it!
The restaurant itself has an unusual L-shape layout, but the bar which is the highlight is very inviting. The dark wood bar-top has built in glass display shelves that house hundreds of different tiki glassware. On most evenings a large wall serves as the backdrop for old Hawaii movies such as Blue Hawaii or South Pacific. Hawaiian hula girls and surfers can be found in framed pictures throughout the restaurant.
This particular visit was for lunch, so I chose the South Seas Fish Tacos, made with grilled Hapu, which is a Hawaiian Sea Bass. The size of the filet they put in each taco is ginormous, almost making it difficult to actually fold the taco! These tacos paired with the black beans and rice is a plate and belly-full.
My lunch buddy had the Big Sur Black Bean Burger, which she said was the best black bean burger she had ever tried, and that the grilled Maui onions were the perfect topping.
Hula’s lunch menu offers up a variety of sandwiches, burgers and salads, while the dinner menu provides more options with more island style flare. My top choices for dinner are the coconut or macadamia crusted fish, and the Duke’s Luau Pork Plate. The Duke’s Luau Pork Plate is served with traditional style slow roasted pork, rice and coleslaw and is named after the famous Hawaiian credited with spreading the sport of surfing. For the thirsty crowd, a must-try is the Scorpion Bowl, a punch bowl of brandy, rum and juices set aflame, sharing is recommended but not a restriction!
Hula’s also offers a full brunch menu on the weekends. On Mahalo Mondays, 10% of sales go to local charities.
Hula’s Modern Tiki is located at 4700 N. Central Ave. See more photos from Michelle's visit to Hula's Modern tiki on Flickr.
The Mint
The Mint was formerly a bank, remodeled into a restaurant/lounge/club. Photo credit: Dean Studios
Formerly a bank, The Mint (Get it? Bank, money, mint…) is part restaurant, part lounge. We were recently invited to visit The Mint to try some of the menu items and to check out the newly remodeled location.
If you’ve driven down Camelback just east of Scottsdale Road, you’ve probably noticed The Mint’s huge patio. What you can’t see from the road is how cool The Mint looks inside. Colorful lights, lounge seating and an eclectic mix of house music help The Mint straddle the divide between restaurant and lounge. One of the first things that I noticed when we were seated was that the music was at the perfect level to be enjoyed, and I could still carry a conversation with my fiancé during dinner.
Colorful lighting in The Mint. Photo credit: Dean Studios
Since we were invited guests, I let the waitress make recommendations for what we should drink and eat. I started with the Life Savings martini made with Ultimat Vodka, St. Germain, basil, fresh strawberries, lemon and ginger soda. Perfectly sweet, and I could tell that fresh strawberries were used by how fragrant the drink was.
The Life Savings martini. Photo credit: Dean Studios
While waiting for our food to come out, we were mesmerized by a fiber optics light show going on over the main bar. 3D images of fish swimming, people dancing and a globe spinning to the music was pretty entertaining. I also noticed a huge table in the middle of the restaurant that would be perfect for a group celebration.
We were mesmerized by the fiber optic display above the bar. Photo credit: Dean Studios
The menu at The Mint is crafted by Executive Chef Johnny Chu and consists of pan-Asian cuisine, presented on small plates as tapas. The menu items that we tried were the Soup Gyoza, House Dynamite Chicken, Sugar Cane Pork and Hong Kong Flat Rice. Soup Gyoza has always been one of my favorites so I was excited to try it at The Mint. The pork dumplings were just as delicious as I expected them to be with a hint of ginger. The House Dynamite Chicken made with bell peppers, pineapple, carrot and mushrooms in a sweet spicy sauce was large enough to be a meal. It was a little spicy for my fiancé, but perfect for me (I love spicy food). The Hong Kong Flat Rice is one of the vegetarian items on The Mint’s menu and was very fragrant with flat rice noodles in a brown garlic sauce with vegetables. I had never seen flat rice noodles before. They were like little quarters of pasta, on purpose perhaps (quarters, money, The Mint…)? The last item was probably our favorite. The Sugar Cane Pork is made with ground, seasoned pork, formed around a sugar cane stick then rolled in panko crumbs, baked, then flash fried. These sticks of porky goodness are served with a pineapple ginger sauce. Yum.
Hong Kong Flat Rice. Photo credit: Dean Studios
The Mint is the perfect place to go for a celebration dinner with friends, a pre-evening out dinner or if you’re in the mood for a dinner with someone special. We’ll be going back soon for that Sugar Cane Pork!
See you soon, Sugar Cane Pork! Photo credit: Dean Studios
The Mint is located at 7373 East Camelback Road in Scottsdale. See more photos from our dinner at The Mint on Flickr.
Cornish Pasty Co.
Don't judge a book by its cover - Cornish Pasty Co. is located in a non-descript strip mall at University and Hardy in Tempe.
Have you ever discovered a restaurant and said, “This is it. This is that hole-in-the-wall place that I am going to frequent all the time. I am going to bring everyone I know here, because this place is awesome.” Well, that’s what I said to myself when I discovered Cornish Pasty Co.
How I discovered Cornish Pasty Co. is an amusing story. I was having some after work libations at another Tempe restaurant with a few of my co-workers when the bartender there told us we were paying too much for our drinks. I’m pretty sure our faces twisted up into confused looks. “Um, you’re telling us we’re paying too much at your restaurant?” He went on to tell us about Cornish Pasty Co. It’s where he and all of the other bartenders, waiters and waitresses from that particular restaurant would go to eat and drink when their shifts were over. We promptly paid our bill and went to seek out this mystic Cornish Pasty Co. without any idea of what we were about to discover.
Cornish Pasty Co. is narrow and dark. There is one table in the back that will accommodate larger groups.
Cornish Pasty Co. is located in a non-descript strip mall at University and Hardy in Tempe. It’s a tiny, narrow and dark space. Perfect, I think, for a restaurant that serves up dishes from Cornwall inspired by the lunches of miners. So, what exactly is a pasty? (Oh, and by the way, it is pronounced PASS-TEE.) Cornish Pasty Co.’s website gives this history:
“The Cornish Pasty originates from Cornwall (Southwest England) and can be traced back as far as the 1200’s. Mining was once a thriving industry in Cornwall and at that time pasties were baked by the wives and mothers of the tin miners. Pasties were made with a thick crimped edge along one side so the miners could use the crimp as a handle to hold onto while eating. The miners’ hands would often be covered in arsenic from the mine, so the miners would discard the handle when they were done. The crusts were never wasted though, as many miners believed that ghosts, or “knockers” inhabited the mines, and the leftover crusts would keep these ghosts content. Traditionally, pasties were made with different fillings at each end. One end containing meat and vegetables, and one end with a sweet filling. The sweet end would be marked with an initial so the miners knew what side to eat first. Today, Cornish Pasties are filled with steak, potatoes, swede (rutabaga) and onions. At one time Cornwall had nearly 2,000 flourishing tin mines, but by the 1800’s tin mining had become a rapidly declining industry. Att his time, Cornish miners began immigrating to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula for copper mining bringing pasties with them throughout mining towns across America as well as the British Isles.”
Old photos of miners line the walls at Cornish Pasty Co.
So basically, the easiest way for me to explain what a pasty is that, it’s dough filled with yummy ingredients then baked to perfection, almost like a calzone, but not Italian. Cornish Pasty Co. has a long menu full of pasty options, including vegetarian options. I would recommend trying a traditional pasty on your first visit, then moving on from there. On my most recent visit I had the Chicken Tikka Masala (red curry) pasty and my fiancé had The Chicken Greek. We were both happy with our choices. The Tikka Masala pasty comes filled with marinated chicken breast, tikka masala sauce (red curry), green peppers and potatoes with a side of mint yogurt dressing and tahini. The Chicken Greek is filled with chicken breast, spinach, fresh mozzarella, feta, sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, artichokes and roasted garlic with a side of tahini and tzatziki.
The Chicken Tikka Masala pasty. Yum!
One of my favorite things about Cornish Pasty Co., aside from the food, is that they have a fantastic beer selection at reasonable prices. From Boddingtons, Strongbow Hard Cider and many more on tap, to over two dozen bottled choices, you’ll be sure to find a great brew to complement your pasty. On this particular visit they had Four Peaks Pumpkin Porter on tap, win! Two things to note here, Cornish Pasty Co. has happy hour daily from 3-6pm and 10pm – close. They are also known for their $3 Car Bombs (Guinness, Bailey’s and whiskey). $3 all the time.
Four Peaks Pumpkin Porter
To finish out our meal, we ordered the Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding, which I had not noticed on the menu before. Made with homemade bread, baked in rich chocolate brandy sauce and served with crème aglaise or ice cream, this is hands down the best dessert I have ever had anywhere. Chocolatey, warm and moist on the inside, and crispy on the outside I instantly proclaimed that for all future birthdays this would be my birthday cake. On my next visit, I may or may not order the Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding before my dinner, it’s that good.
Best. Dessert. Ever.
Cornish Pasty Co. has two Greater Phoenix locations. Tempe (where we visited for this post) at 960 W. University, Suite 103 and Mesa, at 1941 W. Guadalupe. More photos from our visit to Cornish Pasty Co. can be found on Flickr.
El Chorro
With views of both Camelback and Mummy Mountains and its famous sticky buns, dining on the patio at El Chorro is one of those quintessential Arizona experiences. I recently visited the property to take a tour of the newly remodeled bar, restaurant and event venues. The staff was nice enough to provide a lovely spread of food and drinks, and sent me home with a box of their famous sticky buns to enjoy later.
Cool fall temps + El Chorro's patio + cheese and charcuterie plate + wine = a perfect evening.
Heaven awaits inside...
El Chorro was originally built in 1934 as the Judson School for Girls, and in 1937 it was converted to a restaurant and lodge. Since then, it has been host to some of Arizona’s most famous families and visitors such as Barry Goldwater and Frank Lloyd Wright. The recent remodel is unique in its restoration of the historical aspects of the property, but also in receiving a LEED Gold Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. That’s pretty impressive if you ask me!
No matter where you are on the property, the views at El Chorro are fantastic.
Aside from all the technical aspects, El Chorro is a gorgeous property. Whether you are a visitor or a local, I highly recommend stopping by.
El Chorro Fall 2011 Schedule
Tuesday – Saturday
• Happy Hour 4-7pm
• Dinner 5 – 7pm
Sunday
• Brunch 9am – 3pm
• Happy Hour 4 – 7pm
• Dinner 3 – 9pm
Happy Hour
• Tuesday thru Sunday from 4 – 7pm
• Happy Hour Menu
• House wines and beer half price
• Daily martini and margarita specials
Live Entertainment
• Friday evenings from 6 – 9pm
El Chorro offers a fantastic three-course prix fixe meal prepared with seasonal and local ingredients for $30 during dinner hours.
El Chorro is located at 5550 East Lincoln Drive in Paradise Valley. Find more photos from our visit to El Chorro on Flickr.
P.S. El Chorro is also a great place to hold an event, meeting or wedding!
Deseo at The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa
Our friends at the Westin Kierland Resort & Spa were kind enough to invite us to visit Deseo for a fun event that included live Latin music and a painting exhibition by Cuban artist Nelson Garcia-Miranda.
It was a fun night. Deseo has a romantic, Latin feel and I can’t wait to go back soon for dinner.
Here are a few highlights from the event:
Fancy bartending with liquid nitrogen.
Delicious tropical smoothies with pineapple, guava and rum.
Lychee mojito with our favorite dish that night - shrimp with a mango salsa. Yum!
Deseo is located inside the Westin Kierland Resort & Spa at 6902 East Greenway Parkway in Scottsdale. See more photos from our visit to Deseo on Flickr.
